ORCID

Abstract

This thesis leverages remote sensing methods to advance understanding of shoreline morphodynamics from storm to decadal timescales, focusing on three interrelated objectives. First, regional patterns and timescales of beach recovery following the extreme 2013/14 winter were quantified using bi-annual LiDAR and RTK-GNSS surveys of 23 south-west England sites. Recovery trajectories exhibited consistent patterns aligned with pre-existing storm response classifications, demonstrating that both storm response and post-storm recovery can be classified into four groups governed by intrinsic geomorphological and hydrodynamic controls. Almost 90% of sites had recovered at least 75% of lost sediment within three years, while some fully exposed beaches remained depleted over multiple (3+) winters. Second, to enable longer-term investigations, the study evaluated the accuracy and transferability of existing satellite-derived shoreline (SDS) extraction tools in high-energy, meso-macrotidal settings. Analysis at two contrasting sites revealed that these characteristics, combined with high cloud cover, present challenges for SDS applications, leading to shoreline position errors exceeding 100 m at dissipative sites. An optimum SDS extraction strategy was proposed depending on beach type and scale of application. Third, it utilises this strategy to investigate the morphodynamic evolution of 45 gravel systems across the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the Isle of Man over the past four decades, examining links with large-scale atmospheric variability. It presents a nationwide inventory of gravel beach evolution with accompanying wave datasets. Results revealed large variability in behaviour, with 36% of gravel sites experiencing significant shoreline change trends (-0.60 to +2.24 m/year). Interannual shoreline variability showed moderate, significant relationships with leading atmospheric indices at one-third of sites, highlighting the combined influence of climatic, geological and hydrodynamic controls. Collectively, this thesis advances scientific understanding of shoreline morphodynamics by integrating multi-scale analyses with robust remote sensing approaches to provide insights into the spatiotemporal variability large-scale resilience of beaches under varying climatic forcing.

Awarding Institution(s)

University of Plymouth

Supervisor

Tim Scott, Gerd Masselink, Christopher Stokes, Daniel Conley

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Date

2026

Embargo Period

2026-04-28

Deposit Date

April 2026

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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