The most practical approach would be to use a problem oriented definition that is case or project oriented, where each case or problem may require its own, problem specific operational definition of "coastal zone"..

In extreme simplification, we consider the littoral (tidal) and sub-littoral zone, possibly including the entire continental shelf on the sea side, and a band of land that is under more or less direct influence (physiographically, ecologically) of the sea.

Possible problems, application cases or projects within this framework can include:

• Regional development planning, land use dynamics, economic development and related resource use and emissions;
• Environmental and strategic impact assessment for any such development projects; typical examples are urban development and water front development including dredging or artificial islands, harbors with or without assoziated industrial zones, large individual industries taking advantage of coastal locations, off-shore installations (mainly from the petrochemical industry, mining) coastal fishery (from development to restrictions) and aquafarming, tourism, or environmental protection.
• Baseline studies, mapping of physiographical, ecological and biological (biodiversity) data as a baseline for both impact assessment and monitoring of trends and developments;
• Vulnerability studies, addressing endangered species including coral, and the identification of threats, e.g., emanating from coastal development; examples of typical stressors include waterwater outfalls from urban or industrial sources, with or without wastewater treatment; cooling water from thermal power stations; brine from desalination plants; structural/morphological changes to the coastline that affect flows, coastal erosion and sediment accretion; any (industrial or transportation) activity that may lead to accidental spills of hazardous material, oil spills being the most copmmon case;
• Simulation studies for existing or plannd projects,
• Continuous monitoring (with or without simulation) for the identification of trends but also as early warning systems in case of accidental spills;
• Long-term strategic monitoring projects that address climate change impacts, both in terms of water temperatur and associated biological stress; sea levael rise, increased frequence and severity of storms and wave action, and their impacts on coastal erosion.

The information technology tools to be applied to this range of problems include:

• Information systems: data bases and GIS with the associated tools for data analysis, including dedicated editors and data processing tools for bathymetry; data bases are geo-referenced, and provide a multi-media display of the data combining, text, numbers, and imagery;

• Meteorological simulation: operational forecasts and scenario analysis that generates meteorological inputs to atmospheric and coastal flow and transport, sediment and wave models; 3D non-hydrostatic model MM5 or WRF are run from NCEP FNL (re-analysis) or GFS (operational forecasts) data;

• Oceaonographical models (3D ROMS) for the simulation of physcial and biological marine parameters; the Regional Ocean Model System is used for flow and transport modeling, dispersion of pollutants, sediment interaction (erosion transport, sedimentation), biological processes, and as the basis for oil spill modeling;

• Impact assessment: rule-based expert system for screending level EIA/SEA, based on ISO1400 principles; hierarchical (intelligent, problem and context specific) checklists are used to guide the analysis in a dialog (backward chaining inference) to the assessment of potenital problems;

• Dynamic land use simulation modeling for long-term predictions of land use/land cover changes; a dynamic state-transition model based on transition probabilities, dynamic external driving forces including policy, zoning, master plans, regulatory guidelines, and first-order production rules that can modify the primary transition rules and probabilities.

• DSS: discrete multi-criteria decision support tools for ranking and selection of alternatives. Alternative solutions from scenario analysis are compared and, ranked by one or more criteria to find a compromise solution and trade-off between competing objectives, also supports a multi-user participatory approach.

 

3D wind fields for coastal models

Brine from an RO desalination plant

Phosphogypsum sludge release

Marine biodiversity data base

EIA by rule-based expert system