EU H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions


OVERVIEW



NEARCONTROL addresses a major challenge of contemporary coastal research, characterized by the fundamental need to quantify the role and impact of nearshore geological control in hydrodynamic and morphosedimentary processes along natural and developed coastlines. This will be accomplished by ground-breaking methods, combining techniques and concepts from long-term coastal stratigraphic evolution, medium-term morphological processes, state-of-the-art instrumental analysis and modelling of nearshore short-term processes.
In order to bring together these embedded scales of analysis and innovative approaches, this project is based on and established and well-positioned partnership of international-leading experts from the fields of coastal geomorphology (Ulster-ESRI, UAlg-CIMA), marine geology and geophysics (UKZN-MGRU) and coastal modelling (UBordeaux-EPOC).
NEARCONTROL is organized into seven work-packages, and include eleven deliverables to be produced and ten milestones to be achieved in the course of the 36 months duration of the project.



WORK PACKAGES



WP1 - TRAINING IN HIGH-RESOLUTION GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYING AND PROCESSING

  • Develop skills in high-resolution geophysical instrumentation and analysis following a training-through-research approach, which will provide an updated technical framework for WP2.
    Public Deliverables: D 1.1 (to be included)



WP2 - HIGH-RESOLUTION GEOPHYSICAL SITE CHARACTERIZATION AND MONITORING

  • Perform dedicated geophysical data collection campaigns in a range of locations along the KwaZulu-Natal coast, followed by high-resolution morphological monitoring during the austral maritime winter.
    Public Deliverables: D 2.1 (to be included)



WP3 - EVENT-BASED HYDRODYNAMIC DEPLOYMENTS

  • Perform event-based deployments for characterization of hydrodynamic forcing during energetic events, concurrent with the period of morphological monitoring (WP2).
    Public Deliverables: D 3.1 & D 3.2 (to be included)



WP4 - FIELD DATA ANALYSIS AND INTEGRATION

  • Develop process-response relationships between forcing and morphological response based on the analysis and integration of datasets collected in WP2 and WP3.
    Public Deliverables: D 4.1 (to be included)



WP5 - HPC NUMERICAL MODELLING IMPLEMENTATION

  • Implement the state-of-the-art models SWAN and XBeach in a High-Performance Computing cluster in order to perform high-resolution simulations of nearshore hydro and morphodynamics for real world settings and based on realistic scenarios from moderate to extreme storm conditions.
    Public Deliverables: D 5.1 (to be included)



WP6 - OUTREACH ACTIVITIES AND SOCIETAL KNOWLEDGE TRANSFERENCE

  • Develop a public outreach and science communication strategy for disseminate coastal knowledge and promote environmental education, alongside specialist outreach activities aimed at coastal authorities and stakeholders.
    Public Deliverables: D 6.1 and D 6.2 (to be included)



WP7 - SCIENTIFIC DISSEMINATION AND ACADEMIC KNOWLEDGE TRANSFERENCE

  • Implement an integrated strategy for scientific dissemination including conference presentations, specialist publications, open data dissemination, and post-graduate training.
    Public Deliverables: D 7.1, D 7.2 and D 7.3 (to be included)


Partners



This website reflects only the views of the authors and the Research Executive Agency of the European Union and partner institutions cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.