Contributions are invited on innovative observational, theoretical and modelling studies concerning physical processes in coastal and shelf seas. Processes can include hydrodynamics (e.g., waves, tides, currents and Stokes drift, upwelling, eddies, density structures), transport of material (e.g., sediments, contaminants, litter, nutrients), and morphodynamics and sea-bed structure (e.g., evolution of bed forms, banks, Holocene-Antropogene strata or basin shape). Study areas are envisaged between the base of the shelf break and the seaward limit of the surf zone, including tidal basins. However, contributions on processes outside these geographical limits will be considered where they significantly influence processes within these limits. Equally, contributions on climate dynamics, biogeochemistry, and man-made structures will be considered where they significantly influence, or are significantly influenced by, the processes aimed at in this session. Special attention will be given to interactions between physics, biology and biogeochemistry and to global to local scaling of processes, their relative importance, and the representation of these transitions in models. A sub-session is envisaged on the Baltic Sea, with emphasis on the Baltic Earth programme, focusing on sea-level variability, salinity dynamics and water budget, biogeochemical feedbacks, extreme events and anthropogenic induced changes. Another sub-session focuses on the interaction between freshwater continental discharge and adjacent coastal seas, from their initial mixing and transformation in estuaries to the formation of buoyant river plumes and their spreading in coastal and shelf areas. The dynamics and variability of river plumes are key factors for understanding mechanisms of spreading, transformation, and redistribution of continental discharge and river-borne constituents (nutrients, terrigenous sediments, anthropogenic pollutants, litter) in coastal seas and their influence on the adjacent continental shelf.