Fine sediments accumulating in ports and navigational channels, is becoming an important issue with large ecological and economic impacts. The characteristics and behavior of the fine sediments are largely influenced by the local hydrodynamics and the related processes are still poorly understood. The study of fine sediments therefore requires a good description of specific processes related to cohesion properties, such as flocculation and consolidation, and, on the other hand, is simplified by the similitude between particle and fluid velocities, which allows the computation of fine sediment transport by solving an advection/diffusion equation.

These Sediment Transport Processes are the subject of the  INTERCOH conference series initiated by Dr. Reg Parker and Prof. Ashish Mehta. The conferences provide an international platform where scientists and engineers worldwide can meet and exchange experiences to develop a better understanding of the transport of fine-grained sediments. A conference is typically attended by over one hundred scientists and all sessions are plenary, permitting ample opportunities to discuss findings and exchange ideas.

The 11th International Conference on Cohesive Sediment Transport Processes (INTERCOH 2011) meeting (organized by SKLEC, China) was held in Shanghai, and its role has been expanded to emphasize the environment as a whole, over and beyond the nearshore and estuarine zones. The INTERCOH 2011 focuses on land-sea interaction studies, particularly on environmental issues and related effects of human interference activities. A special session was held on fine sediments issues in Yangtze River estuary.

About 100 participants from 18 countries attended the conference. The conference demonstrates a close relationship to the Theseus project. Innovative methods were presented as well as interdisciplinary knowledge about coastal conservation in the estuarine and coastal regions, where increasing threats due to climate change and human interruption become much more obvious.  SKLEC, shares with the Theseus project by diffusing relevant knowledge to all participants during the INTERCOH conference.

By Zhongyuan Chen