This module considers how coastal zones behave and evolve in response to external processes, including marine, terrestrial, meteorological and riverine processes. Attention is given to physical processes and inter-relationships acting along coastlines and coastal changes in response to sea level rise, variations in storms activity, wave climate and sediment supply. Consideration is given how long-term monitoring data can be applied to characterise coastal zones, and applied to inform coastal management and climate change adaptation and mitigation measures. Topics will be investigated through a combination of lectures, field trips and development of a project aimed at identifying optimum coastal protection schemes for real case studies based on regional monitoring data.