Frontiers in Marine Science最新文献

{"title":"Changing coral disease dynamics with the emergence of stony coral tissue loss disease on reefs at Carrie Bow Cay, Belize Barrier Reef","authors":"Greta Smith Aeby, Thierry Martin Work, Scott Jones, L. Jay Houk, Leah M. Harper, Noam T. Altman-Kurosaki, Kathryn Toth, Colleen Shortal, Valerie J. Paul","doi":"10.3389/fmars.2026.1948029","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2026.1948029","url":null,"abstract":"Coral reefs in the Caribbean Sea continue to experience unprecedented declines driven by the combined impacts of emerging infectious diseases and increasingly frequent marine heatwaves. This study assessed temporal changes in coral health, disease prevalence, and community composition at nine sites on the Belize Barrier Reef surveyed before and after the emergence of stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) and the 2023 Caribbean mass bleaching event. During our study period (2019-2024), disease became a major driver of mortality, albeit with an epidemiologic transition with shifts in the main diseases driving these patterns. Surveys in 2019 documented relatively healthy reefs with low disease prevalence (avg. 0.5%) characterized by numerous endemic coral diseases. Following the arrival of SCTLD, disease prevalence increased more than tenfold by 2022 (avg. 6.2%), with SCTLD affecting 12 coral species and a previously undescribed chronic tissue loss disease with bleached or purple discoloration (cTLD) emerging in <jats:italic>Siderastrea siderea</jats:italic> . By 2024, overall average disease prevalence was 4.2% but SCTLD prevalence had declined markedly while <jats:italic>S. siderea</jats:italic> cTLD became the dominant disease (90% of the diseased colonies), indicating a shift in disease patterns through time. Hard and soft coral cover declined, and sponge cover increased significantly from 1.3% in 2019 to 4.5% in 2024. Coral community structure changed substantially throughout the study, with reductions in colony densities (73.4% decline), and species richness (33% decline). The abundance of SCTLD-susceptible taxa declined following disease emergence, followed by additional losses of thermally sensitive corals after the 2023 bleaching event. Roving diver surveys documented SCTLD to be widespread along the Belize Barrier Reef. Histopathological analyses confirmed that Belizean SCTLD lesions resembled those previously described from the U.S. Virgin Islands and that bleached lesions on <jats:italic>Orbicella annularis</jats:italic> represented manifestations of SCTLD. Collectively, these findings show that coral disease outbreaks and bleaching events produce different patterns of coral mortality and community change, while their cumulative impacts are reshaping Caribbean coral assemblages. The emergence of cTLD in the increasingly dominant, stress-tolerant coral <jats:italic>S. siderea</jats:italic> highlights the need for continued disease surveillance, investigation of newly emerging coral diseases, and integrated monitoring programs that consider both disease and bleaching as interacting drivers of reef decline.","PeriodicalId":12479,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Marine Science","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149235760","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Joint optimization of inland waterway methanol bunkering station siting and vessel operations with cross-port bunkering","authors":"Xu Changyan, Haoran Wang, Rongbing Huang, Guangnian Xiao, Weizhi Xu, Haiqing Peng","doi":"10.3389/fmars.2026.1975930","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2026.1975930","url":null,"abstract":"The early-stage deployment of green methanol-powered inland vessels faces a fundamental infrastructure dilemma: limited vessel cruising range increases the need for en-route bunkering, whereas spatially dispersed demand makes dense construction of fixed bunkering stations economically burdensome. Existing inland bunkering-network studies largely associate fuel supply capability with fixed facility nodes, leaving the potential of mobile bunkering services to reshape infrastructure deployment insufficiently explored. To address this gap, this study develops an integrated infrastructure–operation optimization framework that extends the conventional fixed-node bunkering paradigm by allowing fixed methanol bunkering hubs to serve surrounding ports through cross-port ship-to-ship bunkering using mobile bunker barges. The model jointly optimizes fixed bunkering-station siting, vessel freight assignment and operating ranges, bunkering-port selection, and cross-port service allocation, while explicitly accounting for vessel fuel endurance, bunkering-barge service radius, and finite mobile service capacity. A hybrid Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search–Mixed Integer Programming (ALNS–MIP) algorithm is developed to solve the resulting problem. A case study based on a 15-port Yangtze River inland shipping network shows that the best-found cross-port bunkering solution reduces total system cost by approximately 37.7% relative to conventional alongside bunkering. Sensitivity analysis further shows that bunkering-barge service radius and vessel methanol tank capacity have the largest impacts on system cost, producing cost variations of approximately 37.9% and 32.8%, respectively. Higher fixed-station construction costs strengthen the relative cost advantage of cross-port bunkering, whereas rising bunker-barge sailing costs weaken but do not eliminate this advantage; methanol-price variations have only a limited effect on total system cost within the tested range. These results demonstrate that cross-port mobile bunkering can substitute for part of fixed infrastructure deployment by extending the service coverage of regional methanol hubs. The proposed framework therefore provides a network-level method for coordinating fixed infrastructure, mobile bunkering capacity, and vessel operations in the phased development of inland green-fuel bunkering systems.","PeriodicalId":12479,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Marine Science","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149236005","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Species composition and assemblages of ichthyoplankton during winter and summer around the Korean Peninsula","authors":"Hwan-Sung Ji, Jin-Koo Kim, Se Hun Myoung, Jung-Hwa Ryu","doi":"10.3389/fmars.2026.1990248","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2026.1990248","url":null,"abstract":"Background Understanding the spatial distribution of ichthyoplankton is fundamental for identifying spawning habitats, evaluating recruitment processes, and monitoring changes in marine fish populations. However, previous studies in Korean waters have largely focused on individual coastal regions, limiting nationwide comparisons of assemblage structure. Methods We conducted standardized surveys in February and July 2017 across the Yellow Sea, Korea Strait, East Sea, and Jeju waters. Ichthyoplankton was sampled at 133 stations, with valid samples from 130 stations in February and 133 in July. Species were identified morphologically, with DNA barcoding used for selected specimens requiring confirmation. Results We identified 30 egg taxa and 61 larval taxa in February, and 53 egg taxa and 154 larval taxa in July. Species richness increased markedly in July, and larval assemblages consistently contained more taxa than egg assemblages. <jats:italic>Ammodytes japonicus</jats:italic> dominated larval abundance in February, whereas <jats:italic>Engraulis japonicus</jats:italic> dominated both egg and larval abundance in July. Regional differentiation was more apparent in July. Surface temperature and salinity also differed among the four regions. Discussion Differences between February and July were consistent with species-specific spawning periods. Regional differentiation previously reported for fish assemblages in Korean waters was also evident in ichthyoplankton. Because the surveys covered only February and July of a single year, the results do not represent the full seasonal variability of ichthyoplankton assemblages.","PeriodicalId":12479,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Marine Science","volume":"2 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149235759","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Challenges posed by the digital twin of the ocean to the benefit-sharing mechanism for digital sequence information on marine genetic resources under the BBNJ Agreement and corresponding responses","authors":"Jun Zhang","doi":"10.3389/fmars.2026.1966759","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2026.1966759","url":null,"abstract":"A Digital Twin of the Ocean (DTO), as a cutting-edge product of the interdisciplinary integration of marine science and data science, is transforming the generation and use of digital sequence information on marine genetic resources (DSI on MGRs), thereby posing new challenges to the benefit-sharing mechanism established under the Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement). Drawing on doctrinal legal analysis, this article argues that although the BBNJ Agreement establishes a basic framework for benefit-sharing with respect to digital sequence information (DSI) on marine genetic resources (MGRs), it still contains deficiencies regarding the definition of DSI, the scope of application, and the notification mechanism. Characterized by data hybridity, multi-source integration, data fusion, real-time processing, and artificial intelligence (AI) driven data generation, DTOs further complicate benefit-sharing with respect to DSI under the BBNJ Agreement. Specifically, it is difficult to determine whether particular data or information generated within DTOs constitute DSI on MGRs under the BBNJ Agreement; the data-related rights and interests are increasingly complex; and both the design and implementation of the benefit-sharing mechanism face greater challenges. To address these issues, a progressive approach to defining DSI should be adopted, a hierarchical and classified data management mechanism should be further refined, a tiered periodic fee should be selected as the monetary benefit-sharing modality, and both the Clearing-House Mechanism and the traceability monitoring system should be strengthened, thereby promoting the objective of fair and equitable benefit-sharing under the BBNJ Agreement.","PeriodicalId":12479,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Marine Science","volume":"89 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149235758","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The governance of Antarctic krill: exploring the interaction between CCAMLR and the BBNJ Agreement","authors":"Amelia Westmoreland, Kristine Elfrida Dalaker, Thomas Vanagt","doi":"10.3389/fmars.2026.1973403","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2026.1973403","url":null,"abstract":"Antarctica is a crucial area for the conservation and sustainable management of polar living resources, including marine life. The Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) was agreed by parties to the Antarctic Treaty as a multilateral response to address potential threats to Antarctic marine ecosystems arising from increased commercial interest in Antarctic fisheries. CCAMLR entered into force on 7 April 1982 with the aim of regulating the economic activities related to Antarctic marine living resources, including those related to krill. &lt;jats:italic&gt;Euphausia superba&lt;/jats:italic&gt; , more commonly known as Antarctic krill, is a keystone species pivotal to the Antarctic ecosystem. Their vast biomass and ecological role as primary consumers within the food chain make them a resource of considerable value, generating commercial interest both as a harvested commodity and as a source of marine genetic resources. The Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement, which recently entered into force, aims to govern marine biodiversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction. Part II of the BBNJ Agreement regulates the conservation of, access to and benefit-sharing of marine genetic resources and the digital sequence information derived from such resources, including krill. For the purpose of this analysis, and in line with legal scholarship examining the relationship between the BBNJ Agreement and the Antarctic Treaty System, the marine areas surrounding Antarctica are treated as falling within the scope of areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ). As such, the CCAMLR Convention Area overlaps in large part with the geographic scope of application of the BBNJ Agreement. Given the overlap, this study aims to explore the interaction between these two regimes in the governance of Antarctic krill &lt;jats:italic&gt;(Euphausia superba)&lt;/jats:italic&gt; by examining the regulatory mechanisms employed by CCAMLR under the Antarctic Treaty System, the distinction between krill as a commodity and as a marine genetic resource under the BBNJ Agreement, and the challenges in regulating krill in overlapping areas of application between the two regimes. Using a combined methodological approach, including comparative legal analysis and scientific literature review, this study analyses the strengths and shortcomings of the frameworks that govern this key marine resource in Antarctica as commercial interest in krill-derived products continues to grow. It concludes that the classification of Antarctic krill under the BBNJ Agreement determines the benefit-sharing obligations that apply to its utilisation. The study further finds that the most practical near-term pathway to complementarity is a non-monetary benefit-sharing approach that recognises CCAMLR’s existing scientific observation and capacity-building mechanisms as contributing to BBNJ obligations, while incorporating the benefit-sharing elements absent from the CCAMLR framework.","PeriodicalId":12479,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Marine Science","volume":"22 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149235755","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Materials used for enriching radioactive cesium isotopes from seawater","authors":"Chen Ling, Siling Qian, Kaige Zhang, Shaohong Zhu, Yufei Gu, Zijun Ma, Yupeng Ren","doi":"10.3389/fmars.2026.1996662","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2026.1996662","url":null,"abstract":"Radiocesium, particularly <jats:sup>134</jats:sup> Cs and <jats:sup>137</jats:sup> Cs, is among the most extensively studied anthropogenic radionuclides in the marine environment. Their dispersal in seawater and entry into marine food webs make them relevant to marine radioecology and the tracing of nuclear releases. Cesium enrichment materials play a decisive role in both the measurement of radiocesium in seawater and the treatment of nuclear-polluted water; therefore, more efficient and convenient cesium enrichment materials are urgently needed. This review covers ammonium phosphomolybdate, ferrocyanides, zeolites, and other materials currently in mainstream use, as well as ammonium phosphomolybdate derivatives, ferrocyanide derivatives, zeolite derivatives, layered titanates, metal-organic frameworks, metal sulfides, and other materials with potential value for the two applications described above. The adsorption mechanisms of Cs <jats:sup>+</jats:sup> on different materials, the adsorption performance of representative materials prepared by different modification methods, and their applicable scenarios in seawater analysis and nuclear-polluted water treatment are systematically summarized, with the aim of providing a reference for the development of marine radiocesium enrichment materials that are more efficient, easier to operate, and applicable to a broader range of scenarios. AMP and ferrocyanide-based methods are established for radiocesium analysis in seawater, whereas zeolites and crystalline silicotitanates have been used to treat water contaminated by nuclear accidents. Layered titanates and metal sulfides are potential materials for Cs removal from more concentrated or complex wastewaters. Metal-organic frameworks and crown ether- or calixarene-based adsorbents are candidates for selective enrichment of small-volume samples or separation from specialized waste streams.","PeriodicalId":12479,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Marine Science","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149235756","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Photogrammetric analysis reveals distinct topographic signatures for stony corals","authors":"Christina M. Mallica, Vincent Lecours","doi":"10.3389/fmars.2026.1968325","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2026.1968325","url":null,"abstract":"Structural complexity is well understood to influence the biodiversity, productivity, and ecosystem functionality of coral reefs through niche diversification. Digital surface models (DSMs) created through photogrammetric techniques enable a more accurate reef characterization through DSM-derived metrics such as terrain variability, slope, and curvature. Massive reef-building corals are highly susceptible to stressors and are typically replaced by weedier corals post-disturbance that decelerate calcification rates and result in reef flattening. Therefore, generating topographic footprints of stony corals with these structural metrics is critical to advance our understanding of how disturbances might alter reef function. We utilized structure-from-motion photogrammetry to create orthomosaics and DSMs of five pinnacle reefs in the Dry Tortugas, collected as part of Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Coral Reef Evaluation and Monitoring Program (CREMP). These data products were employed to investigate fine-scale (1 cm) differences between the most abundant coral genera using six terrain metrics: topographic position index, surface area to planar area ratio, slope, profile curvature, maximum curvature, and minimum curvature. This study found that when divided into functional groups (i.e., massive reef-builders vs. weedy opportunistic species), stony corals were topographically distinct with varying levels of contribution to the reefs’ overall structural complexity. Massive corals such as <jats:italic>Orbicella</jats:italic> , <jats:italic>Colpophyllia</jats:italic> , and <jats:italic>Montastraea</jats:italic> had the highest relative abundance and also provided the highest structural complexity. Specifically, they had the highest topographic position index and slope values, and positive profile curvature, all of which together are indicative of rugose, steep, and convex forms. We also found that within the massive reef-builders, there was a topographic distinction between star corals ( <jats:italic>Orbicella</jats:italic> , <jats:italic>Montastraea</jats:italic> ) and brain corals ( <jats:italic>Colpophyllia</jats:italic> , <jats:italic>Pseudodiploria</jats:italic> ) based on their differing growth morphologies. Of the weedy corals, topography was much more variable, with <jats:italic>Porites</jats:italic> having topography similar to the massive species. Using this information, we can begin to create “topographic signatures” for corals, which could be utilized in large-scale mapping efforts to efficiently characterize benthic communities or serve as the foundation for machine-learning capabilities to automate species identification in DSMs and determine how a potential loss of reef-building corals will impact reef functionality and ecosystem services moving forward.","PeriodicalId":12479,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Marine Science","volume":"87 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149235757","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Physics-informed LSTMNet for short-term marine buoy trajectory prediction under dynamic ocean environmental conditions","authors":"Tianrui Zhou, Jinggai Wang, Hao Li","doi":"10.3389/fmars.2026.1953622","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2026.1953622","url":null,"abstract":"Introduction Marine buoys are essential aids to navigation, yet their positions can vary continuously under dynamic environmental forcing. It is therefore important for navigational safety, maintenance planning, and reducing search-and-recovery costs to achieve accurate short-term prediction of buoy displacement. Physics-based models often depend on accurately specified hydrodynamic and meteorological parameters, whereas many existing data-driven approaches employ shallow, unidirectional recurrent architectures that may not fully capture the temporal context embedded in historical observations. Methods To address these limitations, this study proposes LSTMNet, a two-layer bidirectional long short-term memory network for next-step buoy trajectory prediction. The model learns temporal dependencies from multivariate buoy observations and predicts future buoy positions under dynamic marine conditions. Results The model was evaluated using hourly observations collected from a marine buoy during May 2026. On the held-out test set, LSTMNet achieved a mean geodesic distance error of 18.297 m, representing a 9.747% reduction relative to a single-layer unidirectional LSTM baseline. These results indicate that combining stacked recurrent learning with bidirectional temporal encoding improves the extraction of contextual dependencies from recent observations and enhances short-term buoy trajectory prediction. Discussion The proposed framework provides a practical data-driven approach for forecasting buoy displacement and may support safer and more efficient management of marine navigation infrastructure.","PeriodicalId":12479,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Marine Science","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149236167","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A joint matching method for underwater target localization based on vertical interference structures at medium and very-low frequencies","authors":"Junwei Zeng, Yixin Yang, Huixin Shen, Mengling Yu, Shuhao Xu, Danqing Ma","doi":"10.3389/fmars.2026.1947106","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2026.1947106","url":null,"abstract":"To address the challenging problem of range and depth estimation in the deep-ocean direct arrival zone (DAZ), especially in the far field, this paper proposes a joint matching method based on vertical interference structures at medium (1~10 kHz) and very-low (10~100 Hz) frequencies for underwater target range and depth estimation. To mitigate the significant estimation errors of multipath arrival parameters obtained by the image source method (ISM) under far-field condition, we first utilize an image-ray-family scanning technique to rapidly estimate the multipath arrival parameters, enabling efficient acquisition of multipath arrival times and arc lengths over the entire DAZ, and thus allowing rapid generation of replica vertical interference structures at medium and very-low frequencies. Subsequently, since the very-low-frequency interference structure is sensitive to range but insensitive to depth, we achieve robust range estimation by matching the measured interference structure with replica interference structures. Finally, based on the estimated range, the source depth is estimated by matching the medium-frequency interference structure, which is sensitive to depth. Numerical simulation results show that, in the far field of the DAZ, compared with the ISM-based matching method, the range and depth estimation accuracy of the proposed method are improved by approximately 85% and 96%, respectively. Moreover, the method is insensitive to depth-prior deviation and variations in geoacoustic parameters, showing good engineering application potential under weak observation conditions near the deep-ocean bottom.","PeriodicalId":12479,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Marine Science","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149236160","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Parameter fitting for boulder transport with wave tank experiments","authors":"James G. Herterich, Sara Rafter, Rónadh Cox","doi":"10.3389/fmars.2026.1974801","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2026.1974801","url":null,"abstract":"Coastal boulder deposits provide key evidence for extreme wave activity on rocky shorelines, yet quantitative interpretation of these deposits remains limited by poorly constrained force-balance parameters. We perform parameter fitting for models of coastal boulder transport using data from wave tank experiments to assess how wave impact type and boulder geometry influence hydrodynamic and frictional coefficients. We fit two transport model formulations to displacement data from controlled wave-tank experiments, analysing five experiment groupings spanning all events, two distinct overtopping impact regimes (hammer-fist, dam-break), and two boulder shape classes (cubic, elongated/flat). Across most cases, drag and friction coefficients are consistent and fall within established ranges, indicating that these parameters are comparatively robust. In contrast, the inertia coefficient shows strong sensitivity to model structure: it cannot be resolved when experiment variability is fully embedded in the model, but converges when wave parameters are explicitly prescribed. Boulder shape exerts a clear and systematic control on hydrodynamic behaviour. Elongated boulders require substantially lower drag coefficients and higher lift coefficients –differences of order 50% relative to cubic clasts – while also exhibiting larger inferred inertia effects. For dam-break impacts, lift is consistently negligible. Sensitivity, and therefore uncertainty, is greatest for fitting the restorative force due to boulder size and frictional interaction. These results demonstrate that boulder geometry and wave impact regime exert first-order controls on wave-driven boulder transport. Accounting for shape-dependent hydrodynamic coefficients is therefore critical for reducing bias in model-based reconstructions of extreme wave conditions, assessing coastal hazard, and improving the transferability of coastal boulder transport models.","PeriodicalId":12479,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Marine Science","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149236163","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}