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Daniel Friess BSc

PhD Student

Monitoring and modelling the impacts of managed realignment on low-lying coasts using GIS and remote sensing.

Biography

Qualifications

Research

Dan is focusing on the impacts of re-engineering highly alluvial coastlines as an alternative method of coastal defence; using abandonment and the artificial breaching of existing sea defences to create intervening intertidal areas. These intertidal areas provide a buffer to incoming wave energy and an opportunity to create an ecologically important habitat type.

These intertidal areas are currently in decline due to reclamation and sea level rise; frequently marshes can not migrate landwards as they front fixed coastal defence structures (coastal squeeze). In several locations, artificial breaching of existing sea walls is being used to counteract these habitat losses.

Whilst much research has focused on the internal processes of managed realignment schemes, little is known about their external physical and ecological impacts. Dan will use NERC ARSF imagery, LIDAR data and aerial photography to (a) map the distribution of coastal habitats and their subdivisions, (b) estimate the physical properties of these habitats and their stability and (c) identify rates and styles of intertidal morphology and habitat change prior to and after breaching. Multi-spectral imagery from airborne platforms offers a rapid, repeatable, non-intrusive and relatively large scale monitoring system for assessing these external impacts.

A conceptual model will then be developed to predict the likely impact of altered tidal exchange on saltmarshes and mudflats outside the managed realignment site, tested by field observations. This can then form the basis of a sustainable design for future realigned schemes and can be used by coastal planners during the decision-making process.

This project is based on a managed realignment trial at Freiston Shore, Lincolnshire, and is a collaboration between the Cambridge Coastal Research Unit (Tom Spencer, Iris Möller) and the Section for Earth Observation, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Monks Wood (Geoff Smith, Andy Thomson).

Teaching

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External Activities