The abstracts of this issue are below. Note that ASBPA members now have access to a full digital edition of Shore & Beach (click here). Become a member now to get immediate access to the latest issue!
Guest Editorial: Successes and challenges in coastal research, applications, and advancements
Julie Dean Rosati and Tracie Sempier
https://doi.org/10.34237/1009420
The future of coastal processes research: USCRP Decadal Visioning Workshop
Nicole Elko and Hilary F. Stockdon
https://doi.org/10.34237/1009421
The future of coastal processes research, Part 1: A community-driven vision for the next decade of coastal science
Hilary F. Stockdon, Jessamin A. Straub, Jenna A. Brown, Nicole Elko, Gregory Dusek, Katherine L. Brodie, Angelos K. Hannides, Tracy L. Mandel, Margaret L. Palmsten, Jack A. Puleo, Peter Ruggiero, Katherine A. Serafin, A.R. Siders, Amanda S. Tritinger, and Meagan E. Wengrove
https://doi.org/10.34237/1009422
In June 2024, more than 100 professionals across coastal science and management disciplines—including academics, federal representatives, and community stakeholders—participated in the U.S. Coastal Research Program (USCRP) Decadal Visioning Workshop in St. Petersburg, Florida. This paper presents the primary management challenges identified by coastal communities, knowledge gaps and fundamental research to address these issues, and applied research essential to ensure that the science is useful and usable. A consensus emerged that improved understanding is needed on the following priority research topics: Coastal flooding, morphodynamics and sediment transport, and ecosystem change and health. Additionally, adaptation and applied coastal research, including observations, modeling, and decision support, were viewed as essential to ensuring that scientific information addresses user needs. We present key research questions for each topic area and offer a set of recommended actions, cutting across all topics, to make meaningful progress on advancing the science and building coastal resilience: (i) Embed social science into coastal research and community risk assessment; (ii) Enhance the translation and uptake of scientific knowledge; (iii) Collect more comprehensive and higher-resolution data; (iv) Maintain and share key open-source long-term national data sets and co-production platforms; (v) Develop coupled and holistic modeling frameworks; (vi) Strengthen promotion of integrated solutions; (vii) Apply artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to data analysis and application; and (viii) Support funding mechanisms that advance interdisciplinary, holistic, community-driven solutions to coastal challenges.
The future of coastal processes research, Part 2: State of the science
Gregory Dusek, Jessamin A. Straub, Jenna A. Brown, Nicole Elko, Hilary F. Stockdon, Katherine L. Brodie, Angelos K. Hannides, Tracy L. Mandel, Margaret L. Palmsten, Jack A. Puleo, Peter Ruggiero, Katherine A. Serafin, A.R. Siders, Amanda S. Tritinger, and Meagan E. Wengrove
https://doi.org/10.34237/1009423
In June 2024, more than 100 professionals across coastal science and management disciplines—including academics, federal representatives, and community stakeholders—participated in the U.S. Coastal Research Program (USCRP) Decadal Visioning Workshop in St. Petersburg, Florida. The first part of this paper shared primary management challenges identified by coastal communities, knowledge gaps and fundamental research to address these issues, and applied research essential to ensure that science is useful and usable. This paper provides a deeper exploration of the state of the science for the priority research topics outlined in Part 1: coastal flooding, morphodynamics and sediment transport, and ecosystem change and health. We further examine how advances in fundamental coastal science are translated into operational tools, predictive capabilities, and decision-support applications relevant to coastal stakeholders. Through a synthesis of progress in observation, prediction, modeling, and multidisciplinary collaboration, this paper provides a scientific foundation to guide the next generation of coastal research in alignment with the needs of the coastal communities it serves.
Training the next generation of U.S. coastal scientists and engineers: A 2024 & 2025 update
Tiffany Roberts Briggs, Reza Marsooli, Bret Webb, Jon K. Miller, and Annie Mercer
https://doi.org/10.34237/1009424
Barriers to co-produced coastal science for early-career researchers
Kendall Valentine, Christie A. Hegermiller, Celina Balderas Guzmán, Bethany M. Gordon, P. Joshua Griffin, Francisca N. Santana, and Sameer H. Shah
https://doi.org/10.34237/1009425
A significant portion of the global population lives in the near-coastal zone; these communities are often described as being on the front lines of climate change. In these communities, increasing hazards of flooding and erosion due to sea level rise and changing patterns of coastal storminess are exacerbated by aging or nonexistent infrastructure, loss of protective ecosystems, and inequities in community resources. Many coastal communities lack access to the expertise needed to understand local hazards and potential adaptation strategies. Research on coastal-coupled human-natural systems plays a critical role in filling this vital community need. Recognition of these gaps has resulted in a changing landscape of coastal research in which co-production and collaboration between academic disciplines and local communities have been highlighted as the way forward and are frequently required for funding. However, early-career researchers — who often have more formal training in interdisciplinary work compared to previous generations of scientists — face important structural limitations in their ability to participate in transdisciplinary research efforts. In this perspective, we outline barriers for early-career researchers, and researchers at large, to participate in co-produced science and suggest methods for mitigating these challenges at the individual, departmental, university, and national levels. These suggestions can provide guidance as scientific agencies consider priorities and funding structures.