The research of the MFS group focuses on a better understanding of the physical processes. This is required to improve the management of large-scale surface water systems such as rivers and shallow seas. The group aims to improve understanding of the physical processes and to model their behaviour appropriately, which means as simple as possible but accurate enough for the water management problems that are considered. Dealing with uncertainty plays an important role in appropriate modelling and thus in the research. The research can roughly be separated into two research lines: river systems and shallow seas.
Within the area of shallow seas the research of the MFS group focuses on the effects of human interventions on the natural system and the interaction between the natural system and the user-functions. Current research projects in this area are:
- Interaction of human interventions and seabed morphodynamics: offshore sand extraction in the North Sea
- HUman interaction with large scale MORphological evolution (HUMOR)
- Sand transport and morphology of offshore sand mining pits/areas (SANDPIT)
- EUropean MARine SAND and gravel resources: evaluation and environmental impact of extraction (EUMAR SAND)
- Modelling of spatial and temporal variations in offshore sandwaves: process-oriented vs stochastic approach
- Environmental parameters interacting with biota at the ebb tidal delta. Subproject within SEAWAD