Marissa YATES

Chercheur LHSV

Joined the laboratory in 2011

Education

HDR at Université Paris-Est, Margne-La-Vallée, France, 2020
PhD in Coastal Oceanography, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA, 2009
B.S. Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, 2003

Fields of interest

Coastal oceanography, nonlinear wave propagation, wave breaking, coastal morphodynamics, littoral evolution

Research projects

Modeling nonlinear and dispersive wave propagation, modeling wave breaking in fully nonlinear potential flow models
Experimental measurements of wave breaking statistics and wave loads on structures
Equilibrium modeling of shoreline evolution
Estimating the impacts of climate change on shoreline evolution

Teaching

Ecole des Ponts ParisTech (3rd year students):
- Coastal and Port Project
ENSTA ParisTech (3rd year students, class shared with the WAPE and STEEM IP-Paris Masters):
- Sea States, Wave Propagation, and Ocean Wave Energy
- Coastal Engineering, Anchors, and Cables

Students and postdocs

Sunil Mohanlal (thesis co-advisor), 2020-2023
Marc Igigabel (thesis co-advisor), 2022
Teddy Chataigner (thesis director, co-advised + post-doc co-advisor), 2018-2021, 2022
Cécile Raoult (thesis co-advisor), 2014-2017
Mathieu Gervais (post-doc co-advisor), 2015
Christos Papoutsellis (post-doc co-advisor), 2017
Bruno Simon (post-doc co-advisor, at the l'IRPHE/ECM), 2018-2019
Philip Balitsky (post-doc co-advisor Cerema/FEM Projet ANR-FEM DiMe), 2020-2021

Publications

Multidecadal Atoll Shoreline Change on Manihi and Manuae, French Polynesia
- Yates Marissa L.
- Le Cozannet Gonéri
- Garcin Manuel
- Salai Emilie
- Walker Patrice
Journal of Coastal Research, Coastal Education and Research Foundation , 2013, 29 (4), pp.870-882 . As interest in the impact of sea-level rise on atoll islands increases, this study contributes to the growing database of observations of shoreline changes on South Pacific Islands, where few observations are currently available. Historical aerial photographs and recent satellite images were used to evaluate multidecadal surface area and shoreline changes on two atolls in French Polynesia: Manihi and Manuae. During the 40- to 50-year study period, atoll island surface area primarily increased or remained stable on Manihi and decreased on Manuae. Distinct ocean and lagoon shoreline changes were observed in different geographical regions of each atoll. On Manihi, ocean shoreline accretion rates were larger on the NW rim than the SE rim. On Manuae, atoll islands on the NE rim were eroding on the lagoon side and accreting on the ocean side, whereas islands on the SE rim showed the opposite trend. Sea-level rise is often thought to cause atoll erosion, but in this study, lagoon and ocean shorelines both eroded and accreted over a period when sea-level rise rates were greater than the global mean. Surface area changes related directly to anthropogenic activities were identified on only two of the 47 atoll islands. After completing a classification of the incident wave field, it was hypothesized that waves have an important role in controlling the shoreline change variability. Additional field surveys and in situ observations are needed to validate this hypothesis and to understand better island response to changing forcing factors. (10.2112/JCOASTRES-D-12-00129.1)
DOI : 10.2112/JCOASTRES-D-12-00129.1
Sea level rise with respect to other causes of coastal erosion: examples in the Pacific
- Le Cozannet Gonéri
- Cazenave Anny
- Salas y Melia David
- Wöppelmann Guy
- Donato Vincent
- Walker Patrice
- Rogel Philippe
- Garcin Manuel
- Yates Marissa L.
, 2012 . Sea level changes show significant regional variability due to variations in ocean temperature. In some oceanic regions, sea level has risen quicker than the global average. However, we show from some examples in the Pacific Ocean that even in those case, shoreline changes are often still controlled by other factors such as waves, extreme events or direct and indirect anthropogenic actions. This statement favors adaptation strategies that focus initially on reducing vulnerability to current hazards such as temporary flooding. This study was carried out in the framework of the CECILE project, which is supported by the French Agency for Research (ANR).
Equilibrium shoreline response: Observations and modeling
- Yates Marissa L.
- Guza R. T
- O 'Reilly W C
Journal of Geophysical Research, American Geophysical Union , 2009, 114 (C9), pp.9014 - 9014 . [1] Shoreline location and incident wave energy, observed for almost 5 years at Torrey Pines beach, show seasonal fluctuations characteristic of southern California beaches. The shoreline location, defined as the cross-shore position of the mean sea level contour, retreats by almost 40 m in response to energetic winter waves and gradually recovers during low-energy summer waves. Hourly estimates of incident wave energy and weekly to monthly surveys of the shoreline location are used to develop and calibrate an equilibrium-type shoreline change model. By hypothesis, the shoreline change rate depends on both the wave energy and the wave energy disequilibrium with the shoreline location. Using calibrated values of four model free parameters, observed and modeled shoreline location are well correlated at Torrey Pines and two additional survey sites. Model free parameters can be estimated with as little as 2 years of monthly observations or with about 5 years of ideally timed, biannual observations. Wave energy time series used to calibrate and test the model must resolve individual storms, and model performance is substantially degraded by using weekly to monthly averaged wave energy. Variations of free parameter values between sites may be associated with variations in sand grain size, sediment availability, and other factors. The model successfully reproduces shoreline location for time periods not used in tuning and can be used to predict beach response to past or hypothetical future wave climates. However, the model will fail when neglected geologic factors are important (e.g., underlying bedrock limits erosion or sand availability limits accretion). (10.1029/2009JC005359)
DOI : 10.1029/2009JC005359