My intention is to cover the material that would normally be relevant to an environment study but only in so far as this can be represented by comparatively simple models. It is not my intention to consider very specific models that describe particular systems in great detail. Indeed that would distract from the very purpose of the book which is to illustrate basic concepts in terms of simple models. Furthermore, modeling real coastal basins starts with the simple models described in this book. The models can then be extended in terms of detail and aggregated so that they become realistic simulations of actual coastal basins. In so doing, most of the fundamental processes represented by the models remain essentially unchanged. Simple models deal with individual processes and fortunately real systems can usually be simulated (to a first approximation) by the sum of these processes (although understanding of the interaction between these processes is often critical at a later stage). Modelers tend to assess the basic science of coastal basins by implementing such elementary models and their modus operandi, in the initial stages of investigating coastal basins, is to keep models fairly simple. Models are built slowly as more data become available, and the structure of the basic scientific ingredients changes very little as sophistication is added.

I have added a very extensive bibliography of books (as “Further reading”) at the end of each chapter.