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FD2107 Development of Estuary Morphological Models FD2117 Development and Demonstration of Systems-Based Estuary Simulators ERP Home The Estuaries Research Programme UK Estuary research, managed under the Estuaries Research Programme (ERP), promotes both fundamental and high-level research to deliver an Estuary Management System (EMS). The ERP, which began in 1998 and will run until 2009, is in three phases. Four projects have been completed and three more are underway (see www.environment-agency.gov.uk/floodresearch/). These projects fall under the themes Broad Scale Modelling and Fluvial, Estuarine and Coastal Processes. ERP Phase 1 was completed in 2000 by the Estuarine Morphology and Processes Holistic Assessment system (EMPHASYS) consortium, which was led by HR Wallingford (www.hrwallingford.co.uk/projects/ERP/). EMPHASYS collated and tested existing knowledge and models of estuary morphology and produced a guide to the prediction of morphology change in estuary systems. This will assist the development of an Estuary Impact Assessment System that will form part of the final Estuary Management System. ERP Phase 2 is now ongoing, and included the Estuary Process Research Project (EstProc), which began in 2002 and will continue to 2005. EstProc aims to deliver fundamental research on hydrodynamic and sediment processes in estuaries and the interactions between biology and sediments. This research will inform the further development of the management tools for estuary morphology, water quality and ecology assessed in ERP Phase 1. Ongoing developments of EstProc can be viewed at www.estproc.net. Three further projects are underway under Phase 2. These are:
The first of these will be conducted over three years and will involve the refinement of the estuary models that were evaluated during ERP1 and the development of hybrid approaches capable of medium term (50-year) prediction of morphological (and associated ecological) changes under different intervention and climate change scenarios. The second project will be conducted over a year and will include a review of current geomorphologicial understanding and concepts related to the medium to long-term behaviour of estuaries. This will lead to a formalisation of historical trend analysis and expert geomorphologocal assessment approaches. The third project will apply a systems-based approach to estuary project impact assessment. This approach will be demonstrated through the production of computer-based estuary simulators, which will be designed to function at a timescale of between 1 and 50 years to maximise their usefulness in estuary management and strategic planning. This project will link with the other two to make use of their outputs, and to communicate needs identified with the systems approach. This project represents the ongoing development of the Estuary Management System, the final envisaged output of the Estuaries Research Programme. ERP Phase 3 will run from 2006 to 2009 and will deliver a holistic Estuary Management System. This will be constructed from the most useful scientific and systems knowledge assimilated and developed during the first two phases. The EMS will combine science with socio-economic and legislative factors using a systems approach to provide a tool that promotes and enables informed and balanced estuary management choices. ERP Home | Top of page |