Importance of coasts to humans include many factors such as premium economic industry sites for industry and marine trade, water for cooling systems or for delivery of bulk items brought from over sea’s, habitats such as ecosystems, coastal natural protection from sloped beaches, defensive sites for human/ residential development.
What is a shoreline management plan?
‘A document which sets out a strategy for coastal defence for a specified length of coast taking account of natural coastal processes and human and other environmental influences and needs’
This is used to divide up the coast and take in consideration of the problems occurring in each individual sediment cell, there are 11 sectors, which need to be cared for with things such as:
- Natural coastal processes
- Coastal defence needs
- Environmental considerations
- Planning issues
- Current and future land use
---- Major Cell boundary
Fetch = Distance of open sea that the wind can blow over
‘Waves are undulations (bumps/ripples) of the water surface caused by winds blowing across the sea’
The energy waves posses are determined by: duration, fetch and wind velocity.
Orbital movements of water molecules which deminish with depth.
Swash
Tides
Tides are controlled by gravitational effects mainly by the moon but partly by the sun.
Mass of moon smaller than the sun but it is closer to Earth.
- Attracts/ pulls water to the side of Earth where it is situated
Other Factors:
- Earth rotation
- Destruction of land
- Depth of oceans
Bulge = High tide
Moon orbits Earth (29days) = Lunar Month
Moon and sun alignment = Spring tide
Moon and sun at right angles = Neap tide
