Africa Partnership Station: Coastal Processes Large-Scale Coastal Evolution.

摘要

The overreaching goal of this research is to assist with the development of research capabilities of Gulf of Guinea nations and to increase the ability of these nations to predict and mitigate coastal hazards. This is being accomplished through sponsoring and developing the coastal processes research capabilities of these nations and their university systems. This projects focuses on interactions with the research group within the Department of Oceanography and Fisheries of the University of Ghana (UG) in Accra, with a goal of not only increasing the capabilities of Ghana to monitor and manage their coast, but to develop UG as a center of research excellence for the Gulf of Guinea region. Development of this program is anticipated to aid long-term maritime governance capabilities and social stability within Ghana. Over the short term, this project provided technical assistance to researchers at UG to develop their capabilities to assess local coastal processes and hazards and to monitor coastal change. Development of technological capabilities (coastal processes expertise, terrestrial surveying, bathymetric surveying, wave computation, coastal change modeling, GIS skills) is intended to lead to a self- sustaining research group at the University of Ghana that can then independently pursue other research questions and seek other party funding, both locally and internationally. Technical assistance provided focused on coastal processes, with particular emphasis on shoreline change mapping, geomorphic characterization, field data collection, and development of large- scale numerical models of coastal evolution. An objective for future activities is the development of independently funded international-quality collaborative research between the PI and the coastal research team that has developed at UG.