ESTUARINE VALLEY EVOLUTION DURING THE EUSTATIC SEA-LEVEL RISE - ASSESSMENT OF CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS THROUGH THE CONFRONTATION OF PALEOENVIRONMENTAL DATA WITH TWO TYPES OF MODELS - EVEDUS

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Organizational Unit

Publications

Guadiana estuary: present state, past evolution and prospects for the future

Publication . Boski, T.

The Guadiana catchment extends over an area of 66 889 km2, between the catchments of the Tagus and Guadalquivir rivers, of which 11 525 km2 are in Portugal. Its upper part in Spain corresponds to what is called the Western La Mancha province. To the North the watershed is limited by alignments, of the Sierra de Altomira http://www.castillalamancha.es/sites/default/files/documentos/paginas/archivos/altomira_liczepa_fich.pdf ) with heights between 700 and 1,000 meters and the Mancha de Toledo, with profusion of endorheic lagoons between 600 and 800 meters above sea level. The origin of the Guadiana was historically placed in the area of Campo de Montiel under the name Rio Pinilla.

2017-08Book part

Open Access

Decadal morphological response of an ebb-tidal delta and down-drift beach to artificial breaching and inlet stabilisation

Publication . Garel, Erwan; Mendes da Silva de Sousa, Carlos A; Ferreira, Óscar; Morales, J. A.

The morphodynamic response of a mixed-energy ebb-tidal delta (Guadiana estuary, southern Portugal) and its down-drift barrier island (Canela Island) to channel relocation and stabilisation by jetties is examined using a series of sequential bathymetric maps and vertical aerial photographs spanning five decades. Morphological analysis indicates that the ebb delta is in an immature state, characterised by weak sediment bypassing. Landward-migrating shoals on the swash platform have been produced by the jetty-induced artificial bankbreaching and by the collapse of the eastern portion of the delta. The welding of these shoals has largely controlled the evolution of the coast, with local accretion and erosion lasting for years, and large amounts of regional accretion occurring over decades due to sand accumulation against jetties located further down-drift. These observations provide insights into the potential response of a coast to very large, locally concentrated sand nourishment in the form of shoals. The main effects of the jetties on the coast are observed at the centre of Canela Island, with the production of an erosion hot-spot associated with a temporally persistent and divergent longshore transport providing sand to the adjacent areas. Significant accretion is anticipated for the next decade along the entire island due to the ongoing attachment of the presently observed shoals. After the depletion of this sediment source, and in the context of weak sediment bypassing, the most severe down-drift erosion induced by the jetties is predicted to occur some decades after their construction. This study demonstrates that the geomorphic response of an ebb-tidal delta to jetty construction must be considered at multiple temporal and spatial scales when assessing the impacts of jetties on the down-drift coast

2014Journal article

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Compensating for source depth change and observing surface waves using underwater communication signals

Publication . Ijaz, S.; Silva, A.; Jesus, S. M.

Underwater communications impose great challenges due to the unpredictable changes in the environment. In order to accommodate for these changes, equalizers are used to track the Impulse Responses (IRs) and compensate the intersymbol interference (ISI). Source and array depth shifts are one of the major contributing factors to continuous amplitude and phase changes in IR. These changes magnify the problem of data processing in which correlation between successive received signals is involved, e.g. passive Time Reversal (pTR) where a probe signal is sent ahead of the data for post cross-correlation. In this paper, an environment based algorithm is used for pTR equalization, where an appropriate frequency shift of the estimated IR compensates for the geometric changes such as source and array depth shifts. We have applied this Frequency Shift pTR equalizer (FSpTR) on real data collected from Underwater Acoustic Barrier 2007 (UAB’07) sea trial having 1000 baud BPSK signaling at carrier frequency of 6.25 KHz with a sudden source depth change of 0.5 m at various known instants of time. The results illustrate that a considerable gain can be attained using the environment based equalizer in the presence of source and/or array depth changes. Moreover by close analysis of the FSpTR results we have detected surface wave motion through the frequency shifts caused by the array depth variations.

2010-07Conference object

Open Access

Modelação morfodinâmica a longa escala temporal: aplicabilidade de um modelo baseado em processos

Publication . Gabriel, Selma; Martins, Flávio Augusto Bastos da Cruz

Os estudos de modelação morfológica e de enchimento de bacias englobam simulações levadas a cabo tradicionalmente por modelos conceptuais, geométricos, orientados por comportamento ou, mais recentemente, por modelos dinâmicos de difusão. O aumento da capacidade computacional, bem como o desenvolvimento de novas abordagens matemáticas, permite a aplicação de modelos mais complexos. A utilização conjunta de algoritmos numéricos que resolvem explicitamente as equações físicas dos processos relevantes, juntamente com a resolução de equações empíricas e semi-empíricas, cria a possibilidade de trabalhar com uma ampla gama de escalas espácio-temporais. No presente trabalho, aplica-se um modelo baseado em processos, com a finalidade de se obter a evolução morfodinâmica de longa escala temporal. O modelo utilizado é o sistema de modelação MOHID, que simula a hidrodinâmica, o transporte sedimentar, e a evolução da morfologia de fundo. Para este efeito, construiu-se batimetrias esquemáticas, representativas de uma zona costeira com comprimento variável (50 e 100 km) e 1 km de largura. O modelo considera a acção da maré, imposta na fronteira aberta, sendo negligenciadas as fontes de água. Os resultados das simulações para um período de 2000 anos foram comparados e validados com trabalhos resultantes de modelos com diferentes abordagens. Uma vez que a aplicação de um modelo baseado em processos exige um considerável esforço computacional, foram propostos e testados vários esquemas de extrapolação com a finalidade de o reduzir. Os resultados obtidos mostram uma diminuição do esforço computacional para 1/3, mantendo a consistência dos dados. Utilizando os dois esquemas de extrapolação que permitem obter os melhores resultados, simulou-se a evolução morfodinâmica para 10000 anos. A 5 influência da subida do nível do mar no preenchimento sedimentar e na evolução de fundo foi testada como um exemplo da aplicabilidade deste modelo. O conjunto de resultados obtidos no presente trabalho sugere que o sistema de modelação MOHID constitui um método promissor para avaliar a evolução morfodinâmica de um sistema natural em longas escalas temporais.

2010Master thesis

Open Access