Coastal regions present a complex dynamic web of natural and human related processes. Although coastal zones are narrow areas extending a few kilometres on either side of the shoreline, and occupying small strip of ocean and land, they play a very important role as they account for nearly a quarter of all oceanic biological production, which in turn supplies approximately 80% of the world's fish. About 60% of the human population lives in the coastal zone, and around 70% of big cities are placed in this narrow area. Concomitantly, more than 90% of the pollutants generated by human economic activities end up in the coastal zone. In order to reach satisfactory solutions for the demands imposed on the coastal areas and the protection of its environment, one needs to understand very different aspects and their interaction. The problems are essentially interdisciplinary and scientists need to be able to exchange ideas with colleagues from other disciplines with a variety of different experiences.Thus, an acceleration of research is needed to improve the quality of the coastal processes prediction, together with an adequate level of scepticism about the model results and a continuous comparison with well-documented case studies and field experiments. This is the reason why, after the successful experience of the first Conference in Malta, the Wessex Institute of Technology, the University Parthenope of Naples and the University of Las Palmas, Gran Canaria decided to convene a second International Conference in Coastal Processes (of which this book comprises the edited papers) grouped into the following topics: Coastal Management; Coastal Processes and GIS; Coastal Geomorphology; Extreme Events and Sea Level Rise; Coastal Processes and Navigation; Sediment Transport and Erosion; Interaction between Coastal Defences and Processes; Pollution and dispersion; Hydrodynamic Forces.

Table of Contents:
Contents Section 1: Coastal management A sustainability index for offshore wind farms and open water aquaculture; Recent evolution and the present-day conditions of the Campanian Coastal plains (South Italy): the case history of the Sele River Coastal plain; Integrated coastal management for local municipalities in Latvia: sustainability governance and indicator system; Coastal adaptation to sea level rise along the Nile delta, Egypt; Yachting and pleasure crafts in relation to local development and expansion: Marina di Stabia case study Section 2: Coastal processes and GIS Cartography and remote sensing for coastal erosion analysis; Changes in land use and their impact on the coastal zone in northern Sinaloa (Gulf of California, Mexico); Intervisibility analysis of an offshore wind farm using GIS tools Section 3: Coastal geomorphology Wave climate and coastal processes in the Osmussaar-Neugrund region, Baltic Sea; Radar and optical hybrid images to improve geoenvironmental mapping in Rio Grande do Norte state, Brazil; Far-infragravity and infragravity pulsesA" in a rip current Section 4: Extreme events and sea level rise A new approach to calculate extreme storm surges: analysing the interaction of storm surge components; Pacific Island Land Ocean Typhoon (PILOT) experiment; Control of salt water intrusion due to sea level rise in the coastal zone of Bangladesh Section 5: Coastal processes and navigation The satellite positioning evolution in coastal processes; Longshore current velocities prediction: using a neural networks approach Section 6: Sediment transport and erosion Temporal and spatial variability of bottom sedimentation for survey periodicity; The hydrodynamic response of beach nourishment in the Cancun Beach, Quintana Roo, Mexico; Connecting river to sea by a 2-D mathematical model Section 7: Interaction between coastal defences and processes Shoreline behind a breakwater for wave energy absorption in Reggio Calabria: comparison between theoretical models and experimental data; A model to follow the evolution in time of free beach fill Section 8: Pollution and dispersion Application of the MSB model to ballast water exchange in tidal embayments; Environmental impact assessment based on a potential oil spill scenario: Eastern Black Sea coastal zone, Turkey; Coastal and marine impact assessment for the development of an oil spill contingency plan: the case study of the east coast of Sicily; Relation between natural cleansing effect and angularity of coastal gravel Section 9: Hydrodynamic forces Influence of seasonal sea ice conditions on hydrodynamic processes and oil spill drift; Hydrodynamic forces acting on an oscillating structure