The Unit’s brief is to:
- Provide scientifically-informed input for the better management of shorelines and their associated ecosystems.
- Facilitate and promote multi-diciplinary research into all aspects of shallow water marine science by bringing together natural and social scientists in Cambridge University and other governmental and non-governmental research institutions.
- Inform coastal management and decision-making within governmental and non-governmental institutions and organisations in the UK and overseas.
Research interests
The CCRU carries out fundamental research on coastal, estuarine and nearshore processes, landforms and ecosystems; environmental monitoring in the coastal zone; and research consultancies for both governmental and non-governmental agencies. In addition, it offers scientifically-informed advice on the sustainable management of coasts and coastal ecosystems. Current and future research projects include:
Temperate Environments
- Large scale (>1Km), long-term (>1yr) coastal evolution
- Waves and tides in UK East Coast Estuaries
- Numerical and physical scale modelling of coastal hydrodynamic processes
- Application of remote sensing to the study of sedimentation and vegetation in the coastal zone
- Wave/tide – sediment – vegetation interrelationships in the intertidal zone
- Wave energy dissipation over intertidal surfaces
- Monitoring of foreshore recharge and salt marsh creation schemes
- Nutrient fluxes in tidal ecosystems
- Coastal settlements and flooding risk, UK East Coast
Tropical Environments
- Global biodiversity in coral reefs, mangrove and seagrass ecosystems
- Large-scale space-time dynamics of coral bleaching in the western Indian Ocean
- Records of sea level change from Central Pacific and Indian Ocean corals
- Coral reef dynamics and environmental change on Cuban coral reefs
- Biogeomorphology of tropical coasts
- Fish population dynamics on coral reefs in the Seychelles
