FORMOST

Datasets

Recently, comprehensive measurements of near-bed sediment processes have been made in the full-scale Deltaflume of Delft Hydraulics, the Netherlands. Co-located synchronous profiles were collected of suspended sediment concentration, particle size, bed-forms and flow, with sufficient temporal and spatial resolution to probe intra-wave and intra-ripple processes. The data covers the regime from flat bed through to vortex ripples, with the associated changes in sediment transport mechanisms. This data set is one of the most detailed and wide-ranging collected to date and was obtained using state-of-the-art laser and acoustical sensing technologies. Process model developments will be benchmarked against these data.

New field measurements will be carried out in the Dee Estuary, and extended use will be made of field data presently being gathered at Sea Palling, Norfolk. As coastal sites that exemplify many issues of increasing concern, they have both been the focus of studies of circulation and sediment transport. POL has undertaken an extensive field campaign since winter 2004 in the Dee as part of its Coastal and Sediment processes programme within the framework of POL's Coastal Observatory, and has contributed to the observational studies at Sea Palling as part of the EPSRC LEACOAST2 (2005-2008) Project. From the standpoint of this project, the two sites represent contrasting hydrodynamic and sedimentary environments for new local process research to be conducted within established larger-scale frameworks.

DELTA FLUME

The STABLE tripod was deployed in the Delta flume of Delft Hydraulics, the Netherlands in 1997 and 2001. This has produced a comprehensive set of near-bed measurements of sediment transport processes under full-scale laboratory conditions (see Williams et al , 2005). Some of the instrumentation available was:

• Sector scan sonar
• 2D ripple profiler
• ADV
• Coherent Doppler

SEA PALLING

In the framework of the LEACOAST2 Project (2005-2008) a large amount of data from the Sea Palling site has been collected. The main objective of this project is the evaluation of the generic effects of shore-parallel breakwaters in tidal conditions on coastal morphology on scales of kilometres and years, using a combination of deterministic and probabilistic morphological modelling and newly collected hydrodynamic and morphological data. Three STABLE-type bottom rigs have been deployed on 3 occasions as part of the LEACOAST2 Project to understand the cross-shore and alongshore sediment transport pathways both seaward and landward of the breakwater system.

The detailed process-based data gathered by POL at Sea Palling will be used in the FORMOST Project as a site that typifies a sandy environments. Data is mainly from:

• ADCP
• ADV
• ABS
• 3D Ripple profiler
• 2D sonar
• Aquascatt
• LISST

DEE ESTUARY

POL has undertaken an extensive field campaign since winter 2004 in the Dee as part of its Coastal and Sediment processes programme within the framework of POL's Coastal Observatory.

A met-station and X-band radar have been installed at its mouth. Other instruments have been deployed in the vicinity (including STABLE), as part of process studies of the near-bed physics and sediment transport over successive winters. Some collaborative work has already taken place between POL and UWB related to the observation of fine sediments in suspension in the area.

The seabed in the outer Dee Estuary comprises sand, combined with a fine fraction, in a dynamic setting exposed to waves and currents.

• X-band radar
• Lidar survey data
• STABLE
• CTD
• ADCP
• ABS