Diamantidou, E.; Santinelli, G.; Giardino, A.; Stronkhorst, J., and de Vries, S., 2020. An automatic procedure for dune foot position detection: Application to the Dutch coast. Journal of Coastal Research, 36(3), 668-675. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. Coastal indicators are a useful proxy in coastal zone management to describe the status of a physical system and to assess the effectiveness of possible interventions. They can be used as a basis to implement and evaluate coastal erosion policies, as it is done, for example, in The Netherlands. One often used coastal indicator is the position of the dune foot. In the current definition used in The Netherlands to describe the dune foot position, the actual geometry of the profile is, however, not accounted for, but this is simply based on one reference value for the entire coastline. In the present study, an automatic procedure for the detection of the dune foot position is proposed based on the actual shape of the cross-shore profile and on the evaluation of the first and second derivatives of the cross-shore topography. The methodology is compared to visual observations as well as satellite images for case studies in The Netherlands and Portugal, hence showing that the methodology is generally applicable. The algorithm to derive the dune foot position in a cross-shore profile and the database derived from this study are publicly available.

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The Eastern Scheldt, a tidal basin in the southwest of The Netherlands, underwent large physical and ecological changes due to a system-wide human interference. The construction of a storm surge barrier at the seaward side and closure of the upstream branches in the 1980s resulted in intertidal flat erosion. This has far reaching consequences for the ecological functioning of these habitats, especially as foraging ground for many wader species. Therefore, a 1.3 million m3 sand nourishment is foreseen on the Roggenplaat intertidal shoal to mitigate the erosion and preserve suitable foraging habitat for waders for the coming 25 years. This paper presents an integral nourishment design approach. It consists of the following steps: (i) understanding the morphology and ecology, (ii) translation of the nourishment objective into an evaluation framework, (iii) construction of a suitability map indicating potential nourishment locations, (iv) generation of nourishment designs, (v) short-term morphodynamic numerical model simulations, (vi) estimation of the long-term shoal development using a simplified approach, (vii) integral evaluation leading to the preferred design. This integral approach resulted in a design that is expected to fulfill the Roggenplaat nourishment objective, accounting for ecological, morphological, economical and technical aspects. This integrated approach could form a basis for future intertidal shoal nourishment designs worldwide.@en