Winter, C.:

 

This introductory talk presents examples of recent model studies on estuarine and coastal ocean settings. With a regional focus on the German North Sea coast it is discussed which societal and scientific aims are followed, and which model assumptions are being applied in order to allow the application of models.  Examples for transport and morphodynamic modelling studies of different coastal elements introduce the effect of different hydrodynamic drivers and the role of different sediment fractions in nearshore transport patterns. The feasibility gap between highest spatiotemporal resolution on the one hand and the demand for large scale and long term predictions on the other hand is described.