Waves and Tidal Flat Ecosystems

The authors explain and describe the mutually rewarding insights that resulted from the interdisciplinary collaboration between an environmental study group working coastal ecosystems and effects of oil spills and applied mathematicians modelling wave motion on sandy beaches. By using the unified Navier-Stokes equations with a Bingham fluid model for spilled oil, multi-phase flow analysis were made. Decomposition of spilled oil by bacteria was simulated as a chemical reaction, and the theoretical and numerical analysis suggested a countermeasure to help reduce stress on coastal ecosystems. The new understanding of how the ecosystems both depend upon, and help to determine, the nature of the shoreline demonstrates promising ways to better assist and exploit the regenerative powers inherent in nature. TOC:What is a Tidal Flat.- Effects of Waves and Tide on Tidal Flat Ecosystems.- Unified Model for Wave Breaking Action.- Oil Pollution: Human Damages on Hydraulic Regime in Sandy Beach Ecosystems.- Theoretical Study of Oil Pollution.- Oil Pollution: Human Damage on Hydraulic Regime and Benthic Communities in Tidal Flat Ecosystems.- Decomposition Mechanism of Spilled Oil by Bacteria.- Breaking Waves and Ecosystem Dynamics.- Methodologies for Theoretical Studies