A review of assessment methods for coastal hydro-environmental processes: research trends and challenges

Lee, Q. X., Teo, F. Y., Selvarajoo, A., Lim, S. P., Goh, H. B. and Falconer, R. A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5960-2864 2025. A review of assessment methods for coastal hydro-environmental processes: research trends and challenges. Water 17 (22) , 3278. 10.3390/w17223278

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Abstract

Coastal regions face escalating challenges, including climate change, rapid urbanisation, ocean pollution, habitat degradation, and nutrient enrichment, which threaten coastal ecosystem health, biodiversity, and human livelihoods. A comprehensive understanding of coastal hydro-environmental processes, encompassing hydrodynamics, sediment transport driven by waves and currents, and biogeochemical dynamics influencing water quality, is essential for sustainable coastal management. This study presents a global systematic review of assessment methods for these processes, focusing on field data collection, laboratory experiments, numerical modelling, and artificial intelligence techniques. A bibliometric analysis was conducted on 165 peer-reviewed articles from Scopus and Web of Science, adhering to PRISMA 2020 guidelines. The findings reveal a significant shift from conventional standalone methods to integrated approaches, with 31.5% of studies combining field data with numerical models and 20% incorporating AI with field data, emphasising the need for real-time data integration and interdisciplinary strategies to enhance model reliability. This study also introduces a novel process–method–time classification framework that functionally aligns various assessment methods with specific coastal processes. However, challenges such as limited long-term datasets, high computational costs, and data resolution constraints persist. By synthesising global research trends and methodological advancements, this study offers critical insights to support more resilient, adaptive, and data-driven coastal management strategies.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Engineering
Publisher:	MDPI
ISSN:	2073-4441
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	18 November 2025
Date of Acceptance:	12 November 2025
Last Modified:	18 Nov 2025 11:45
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/182440

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