shorerelated

Shorerelated is an adjective used to describe things that pertain to shores or coastlines—the interface between land and sea. The term can be applied across disciplines, including geography, geology, ecology, and civil engineering, as well as policy and planning contexts. Shorerelated topics encompass natural processes that shape coastlines, such as coastal erosion and accretion, longshore sediment transport, wave run-up, tidal regimes, and storm surge impacts. They also cover ecological communities in nearshore environments, including beaches, dunes, tidal flats, and coastal wetlands, as well as the organisms that inhabit them.

Human activities and management are central to many shorerelated topics. Coastal hazards, sea-level rise, and climate-related impacts drive projects in coastal engineering and planning, such as beach nourishment, dune restoration, and the construction or maintenance of revetments, seawalls, groins, and breakwaters. Policy approaches include integrated coastal zone management and adaptation strategies to reduce vulnerability of coastal communities and infrastructure.

Methods and data for studying shorerelated phenomena include shoreline mapping and change detection using aerial photography, LiDAR, GPS, and GIS, bathymetric and hydrodynamic modeling, and field surveys of beach profiles, sediment characteristics, and coastal habitats. The term is used in scientific literature and professional practice to denote topics that concern the land-sea boundary, its processes, and its protection.