2016 Ocean Sciences Meeting

February 21-26

Coral reefs function as protective barriers that shelter many of the world’s tropical and sub-tropical coastlines from storm and tsunami waves while producing carbonate sediment that form most of their beaches and reef islands. Physical processes along these coasts tend to be quite distinct from open coast shorelines because hydrodynamics over coral reefs tend to be strongly influenced by steep slopes, complex topography, and large, often spatially variable, bottom roughness. Sediment transport is complicated by the small-scale interactions with corals, as well as in situ biogenic sediment production and diagenesis that ultimately make determining sediment budgets in these areas challenging. Although reefs reduce wave energy reaching the coastline, their role in shaping coastal morphology through short-term processes such as storms and longer-term changes in oceanographic forcing or sediment supply is often unclear. This session aims to synthesize recent advances in this broad, multi-disciplinary research area, including hydrodynamic and sedimentologic processes in reef environments and their resulting impacts on coastal geomorphology, ecosystems, and hazards both at present and under future climate-change scenarios. Studies focusing on a diversity of reef types using process-based field, laboratory, and numerical modelling approaches are encouraged.

• ME - Marine Ecosystems
• MG - Marine Geology & Sedimentology
• PC - Past, Present and Future Climate
• PO - Physical Oceanography/Ocean Circulation