Shoreline modelling and mesh optimisation: a critical review of advances, challenges, and implications for coastal management
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Shoreline models are critical for informing coastal environmental management decision-making. However, current shoreline modelling practices are uncertain, which can compromise such decisions. A key source of uncertainty in shoreline modelling stems from the mesh generation process. For coastal environmental management decision-making, we need shoreline predictions to be mesh independent. This requires a careful mesh optimisation process that ensures both mesh independence and appropriate discretisation of the coastal system. We, therefore, critically review current mesh generation practices for shoreline modelling, by examining related studies from 2019 to 2024. From this, we identify the current advances, challenges, and uncertainties in mesh generation for shoreline modelling. We discuss the wider implications of these for coastal management and identify new research pathways and a conceptual framework for optimising the mesh generation process, to better inform coastal environmental management decisions. Our review is timely, as such decisions are becoming increasingly critical, given the accelerating effects of climate change on coastal systems globally. • Mesh discretisation errors undermine shoreline model reliability for decision-making. • Adaptive meshing balances computational cost with shoreline model accuracy. • Numerical instabilities in shoreline models stem from mesh growth rates and aspect ratios. • Standardised guidelines for mesh generation are needed in shoreline modelling. • Shoreline modelling paradigms should treat mesh discretisation as a calibration process.
Authors: Kristen D. Goseine, Avidesh Seenath
Institutions: University of Portsmouth, University of Oxford
Language: English
Topic: Coastal and Marine Dynamics
Subfield: Earth-Surface Processes
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Life below water
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,750
OpenAlex ID: W4414169149