TYPE Editorial

PUBLISHED 17 May 2023

DOI 10.3389/fmars.2023.1213689

Editorial: Coastal environment

OPEN ACCESS in a changing world
EDITED AND REVIEWED BY
Marta Marcos,
University of the Balearic Islands, Spain J. Benavente 1*, A. Ruiz de Alegrı́a-Arzaburu 2, T. A. Plomaritis 3,
*CORRESPONDENCE M. Sedrati 4 and E. H. Ariffin 5,6
J. Benavente
javier.benavente@uca.es
1
Faculty of Marine and Environmental Sciences, Earth Science Department, University of Cádiz,
Puerto Real, Spain, 2 Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, Instituto de Investigaciones
RECEIVED 28 April 2023 Oceanológicas, Ensenada, Mexico, 3 Faculty of Marine and Environmental Sciences, Applied Physic
ACCEPTED 04 May 2023 Department, University of Cádiz, Puerto Real, Spain, 4 Geo-Ocean, Univ Bretagne Sud, Univ Brest,
PUBLISHED 17 May 2023 CNRS, Ifremer, UMR6538, Vannes, France, 5 Institute of Oceanography and Environment, Universiti
Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, Malaysia, 6 Faculty of Science and Marine
CITATION Environment, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, Malaysia
Benavente J, Ruiz de Alegrı´a-Arzaburu A,
Plomaritis TA, Sedrati M and Ariffin EH
(2023) Editorial: Coastal environment KEYWORDS
in a changing world.
Front. Mar. Sci. 10:1213689. coastal evolution, coastal erosion, coastal risks, climate change, anthropogenic impact,
doi: 10.3389/fmars.2023.1213689 coastal management, coastal adaptation
COPYRIGHT
© 2023 Benavente, Ruiz de Alegrı´a-
Arzaburu, Plomaritis, Sedrati and Ariffin. This
is an open-access article distributed under
the terms of the Creative Commons Editorial on the Research Topic
Attribution License (CC BY). The use,
distribution or reproduction in other
Coastal environment in a changing world
forums is permitted, provided the original
author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are
credited and that the original publication in
this journal is cited, in accordance with
accepted academic practice. No use, Coastal areas are among the most dynamic environments on Earth, affected by diverse
distribution or reproduction is permitted continental and marine forcings, such as waves, tides, ocean currents, wind, and river
which does not comply with these terms.
discharges, interacting at different temporal and spatial scales. These areas also host 13% of
the global urban population (McGranahan et al., 2007) and a large proportion of human
activities, including industry, transport, tourism, and recreation. Overpopulation and an
increase in intensive exploitation activities are currently disrupting the evolution of coasts
worldwide and undermining their future resilience (Kombiadou et al., 2019). Moreover, the
effects of climate change, associated with sea-level rise and changes in the magnitude and/or
frequency of storms, may further contribute to altering the dynamics of these environments.
The aim of this Research Topic was to provide insights into some of the most prevalent
processes that currently endanger our coasts and to assist in improving coastal
management in the future. To achieve a comprehensive understanding of these
problems, it is essential to conduct sustainable coastal monitoring activities and research
that provide continuous information. This Research Topic consists of 10 papers that
underscore the importance of addressing multiscale issues using a multidisciplinary
approach that highlights crucial physical and environmental factors. The papers can be
classified into four groups based on their themes.
Two of the contributions focus on the issues arising from ecosystem changes. Uribe-
Martinez et al. address the growing problem of sargassum seaweed reaching tourist beaches.
They provide valuable information that could assist the tourism industry and decision-makers
in planning and prioritizing monitoring, collection, and restoration efforts. This would enable
them to be prepared for unexpected arrivals of sargassum throughout the year, given the high
variability of its distribution. On a different subject, Leichter et al. describe long-term patterns
of giant kelp sea surface canopy area along with recent patterns of water column nitrate

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Benavente et al. 10.3389/fmars.2023.1213689

exposure inferred from temperature measurements at different sites

on the southern California coast. They contribute to the
understanding of the potential roles of seasonal and higher
frequency nutrient dynamics for giant kelp persistence, under
continuing ocean surface warming and an increasing frequency and
intensity of marine heatwaves.
Coastal management is a topic that has also received attention due
to the impact of climate change on coastal areas, with four articles
addressing various management aspects. Fontá n-Bouzas et al.
emphasize the importance of identifying vulnerable sectors of
beach-dune systems to support coastal management and propose an
operational framework to construct a beach-dune system vulnerability
map. In the same vein, Ferná ndez-Montblanc et al. present a new
methodology for assessing the risk to underwater cultural heritage
sites in coastal areas due to wave-induced hazards. They provide a
stepping stone toward a sustainable blue economy by ensuring the FIGURE 1
preservation of coastal environments and cultural heritage sites in the Insights into coastal processes provided by this Research Topic and
their relevance to coastal management practice.
face of climate change. From a coastal development perspective,
Saengsupavanich et al. examine the effectiveness of sand bypassing
as a solution to jetty-induced coastal erosion in Thailand and
identified the amount of sediment deposition that can inform sand The final group comprises two contributions focusing on the use of
bypassing budgets and implementation plans. Authorities build these satellite imagery to forecast future flood issues and anticipate changes
coastal structures to protect the coast and improve living conditions. in the coastline. Cisse et al. assess the vulnerability of the densely
However, these structures can have significant environmental impacts, populated city of Saint Louis in Senegal to potential coastal flooding by
such as altering wave movement, seabed formation, and shoreline combining satellite-derived data with sea-level observations and
erosion. Therefore, it is crucial to understand and estimate sediment reanalyses. The results indicate an increased flood risk due primarily
movement to ensure sustainable coastal management. Understanding to rising sea levels, underscoring the urgent need for countermeasures
littoral drift, the process by which natural forces move sediment along to protect communities and infrastructure. The last paper by Ibaceta
the shoreline, is essential for sustainable coastal development. et al. proposes a new shoreline modeling approach that uses time-
Tenebruso et al. discuss the significance of barrier islands and varying model parameters and tests it with multidecadal satellite-
associated backbarrier environments in protecting populations and derived shorelines, thereby reducing the uncertainty associated with
infrastructure from storm impacts and provide a morphodynamic the misspecification of physical processes driving shoreline change.
model to describe their evolution. They also emphasize the need to
understand the response of these environments to sea-level rise and Author contributions
anthropogenic effects to inform future management efforts. All the authors have contributed to the review of the submitted
Additionally, two other contributions focus on wetlands and cohesive articles as well as to the writing of this editorial. AEH has made
sediment processes at the microscale and mesoscale, respectively. Chen the figure.
et al. (2022) examine erosion processes in cohesive sediments through
the development of a new formula for the critical shear stress of the Funding
surface erosion of cohesive sediments, which are composed of fractal
aggregates and based on the balance analysis of momentums acting on This special issue has been promoted within the project CRUNCJ
an aggregate in the bed surface. From a medium-term perspective, Jin (FEDER-UCA18-107062) founded by the European Union under the
et al. provide new insights into the dynamics of marshes through field 2014-2020 ERDF Operational Programme and by the Department of
observations from the central Jiang coast and numerical simulations, Economi Transformation, Industry, Knowledge, and Universities of
with the aim of improving predictions of the overall evolution of tidal the Regional Government of Andalusia and the the project CRISIS
flats. They contribute to the understanding of the morphological (PID2019-109143RB-I00) funded by the Ministry of Science and
evolution of tidal flats in relation to the salt marsh edge and provide Innovation and the European Union. AEH greatly supported on this
a formidable dataset for testing models of biomorphodynamics. research under the funding by the Malaysian Ministry of Education
Figure 1 summarizes the insights into coastal processes provided by under the Fundamental Research Grants Scheme (FRGS) [FRGS/1/
this Research Topic and their relevance to coastal management 2022/WAB02/UMT/02/1].
practice. Hence, this Research Topic can be summarized by the
notion that for any potential coastal management practice, the
positive and negative impacts need to be considered in detail before Conflict of interest
implementation. To confirm these impacts, coastal management The authors declare that the research was conducted in the
managers need to undertake a comprehensive study of the aerial absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be
imagery and simulate the impacts through a modeling approach. construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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Benavente et al. 10.3389/fmars.2023.1213689

Publisher’s note organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the
reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or
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References
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Matias, A. (2019). Bridging the gap between resilience and geomorphology of complex risks of climate change and human settlements in low elevation coastal zones. Environ.
coastal systems. Earth-Science Rev. 198. doi: 10.1016/j.earscirev.2019.102934 Urban. 19 (1), 17–37. doi: 10.1177/0956247807076960

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