Katerina Kombiadou

My main research interests lie in the fields of coastal circulation and sediment transport modelling and in coastal morphodynamics, evolution and resilience. I obtained my PhD in fine sediment transport modelling in the marine environment in 2009 (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece; AUTh) and, afterwards, received a scholarship (Greek State Scholarships Foundation; 2011-12) on coupled modelling of circulation and sediment transport in coastal waters. Between 2012 and 2013, I worked as a postdoctoral researcher in Ifremer (France) on integrated modelling of tidal, sediment and ecosystem (Zostera noltei meadows) dynamics in the basin of Arcachon. During the following 4 years (2013-16), I was a research associate of AUTh, working in different research projects on modelling storm surge variability under climate change (CCSEAWAVS), operational coastal circulation forecasting (WaveForUs) and beach morphodynamic modelling (ISLA). 
As of September 2016, I am a member of the Centre for Marine and Environmental Research (CIMA) of UAlg, working as a contracted researcher in projects EVREST (2016-18; PTDC/MAREST/1031/2014) and ENLACE (2019-22; PTDC/CTA-GFI/28949/2017) and on ‘Coastal Dynamics - Dune Evolution’ (2022-present; CEECINST/00146/2018/CP1493/CT0011). In the framework of EVREST I analysed the morphological changes of the Ria Formosa barriers and the morphological units of beach, dune and backbarrier marsh during the last century and co-formulated an innovative barrier island resilience assessment approach, based on the principles of ecological resilience theory. In the context of ENLACE, I worked on integrated beach-dune morphodynamic modelling over distinct temporal scales, by coupling marine (XBeach) and aeolian (Duna) process-based models. Recently, I coordinated project DEVISE (2022.06615.PTDC), an exploratory project that researched the prospect of using machine learning for dune plant species identification from high-resolution satellite imagery and was core member of C-Land (2023.10236.S4P23), a project that used machine learning algorithms to monitor blue carbon stocks in salt marsh systems and simplified modelling approaches to simulate anticipated changes under different climate and management scenarios. Currently, I am leading MOBILE (DOI: 10.54499/2023.16941.ICDT), a project aiming to formulate and test comprehensive reduced complexity models to reproduce barrier island geomorphic response to different forcing conditions and across timescales, and is one of the core members of CREST (2022.05392.PTDC), a project that aims to develop a remote sensing methodology for coastal resilience based on satellite imagery and machine learning.
 

Keywords: Geomorphology; Modelling; Morphodynamics; Coastal Resilience