The purpose of this session is to cover a wide range of atmospheric and oceanographic phenomena occurring in coastal areas, from synoptic scale and mesoscale features down to local processes, thus including land-sea breeze, orographically induced flows, coastal cloud systems and fronts, convergence features, boundary layer phenomena, clouds and rain bands.

A specific attention will be given also to:
- the estimation of fluxes over sea and coastal land areas as well as the adjustment of vertical profiles in advective conditions in order to characterize local versus large-scale processes;
- the effect of sea surface fluxes on the genesis and maintenance of cyclones, and in particular on the intensification of hurricanes, tropical cyclones, polar lows, Medicanes;
- the effects of the coupled atmosphere-ocean-wave interaction on cyclone development;
- the potential role of feedbacks between air-sea fluxes and the atmospheric and oceanic circulation.

High-impact weather events affecting coastal areas, such as intense cyclones, severe wind storms and storm surges, heavy rain events and flash floods, will be treated, and they will be analyzed both from a meteorological and climatological perspective, including regional patterns of climate change. These are paramount issues for optimizing coastal areas management strategies.

The session topics will be covered with both modelling and/or observation studies, including in-situ measurements, ground-based and space-borne remote sensing techniques (scatterometers, synthetic aperture radar, ...). Results emerging from operational campaigns (e.g., HyMeX, MOON, ...) are very welcome. Studies on model validation and on the effect of parameterization schemes on atmospheric dynamics and oceanic circulation will be also considered, as well as on model uncertainties at different scales.

Finally, we also welcome contributions from operational centers, especially related to operational oceanography for coastal management issues with regards to predicting and monitoring the seas for the sake of maritime safety, marine environmental protection and the sustainable use of resources.