Reinier Schrijvershof

Reinier Schrijvershof MSc

PhD candidate Environmental Fluid Mechanics

In my Ph.D. research I’m studying the role of intertidal areas in shaping our coastal environment. The intertidal floodplains (the lands inundating and drying during the tidal cycle) have a large control on tidal propagation dynamics and, as a result, the net transport of sediment in an estuary or tidal basin. Large-scale changes in the intertidal areas, for example due to land reclamation, are thus expected to profoundly influence the landscape evolution, for decades to centuries in to the future.

The aim of my research is to establish a profound conceptual understanding on how shallow flows over intertidal areas affect the deformation of the tidal wave, important to understand because of its relevance for sediment transport patterns and eventually the morphological development of estuaries. This conceptual understanding should allow us to better estimate how estuarine systems will respond to changes in intertidal areas as a results of, for example, (de)polderization.