Sandy coastal systems, shaped by interactions between waves and ecological processes, are important for society. When large storms affect a coastal area, modification of the beach can be dramatic, leading to large erosion and inundation of landward, often populated, territories. To fully evaluate the impact of storms, different disciplines should come together to provide a comprehensive assessment of the consequences on the coast from energetic events. The persistent erosion of natural shores can have a dramatic impact on ecosystems; where human occupation is present, storms can affect the socio-economy of coastal communities, threaten human lives, damage or destroy human assets. To prevent, mitigate, prepare and recover from the impact of energetic events, several types of actions are required at different political and management levels. The increasing interest in ecosystem-based approaches, and expanding use of coastal systems, outlines the importance of examining the interaction between the ecological, physical and societal components.

This session explores the coastal areas affected by extreme events from a multidisciplinary point of view. Abstracts should present research activities that involve direct measurements of the behaviour of coastal systems (both the physical and the ecological components), over various temporal (e.g. the impact of a single event or the long term evolution) and space scales. We especially welcome contributions from scientists that present multidisciplinary works from ecology to biology, sedimentology, geomorphology and socio-economy.