Permafrost coastlines represent a large portion of the world’s coastal area and these areas have become increasingly vulnerable in the face of climate change. The predominant mechanism of coastal erosion in these areas has been identified through several observational studies as thermomechanical erosion—a joint removal of sediment through the melting of interstitial ice (thermal energy) and abrasion from incoming waves (mechanical energy). However, further developments are needed looking how common design parameters in coastal engineering (such as wave height, period, sediment size, etc.) contribute to the process. This paper presents the current state of the art with the objective of establishing the necessary research background to develop a process-based approach to predicting permafrost erosion. To that end, an overarching framework is presented that includes all major, erosion-relevant processes, while delineating means to accomplish permafrost modelling in experimental studies. Preliminary modelling of generations zero and one models, within this novel framework, was also performed to allow for early conclusions as to how well permafrost erosion can currently be modelled without more sophisticated setups.

The rapid growth of marine aquaculture around the world accentuates issues of sustainability and environmental impacts of large-scale farming systems. One potential mitigation strategy is to relocate to more energetic offshore locations. However, research regarding the forces which waves and currents impose on aquaculture structures in such conditions is still scarce. The present study aimed at extending the knowledge related to live blue mussels (Mytilus edulis), cultivated on dropper lines, by unique, large-scale laboratory experiments in the Large Wave Flume of the Coastal Research Center in Hannover, Germany. Nine-months-old live dropper lines and a surrogate of 2.0 m length each are exposed to regular waves with wave heights between 0.2 and 1.0 m and periods between 1.5 and 8.0 s. Force time histories are recorded to investigate the inertia and drag characteristics of live mussel and surrogate dropper lines. The surrogate dropper line was developed from 3D scans of blue mussel dropper lines, using the surface descriptor Abbott–Firestone Curve as quality parameter. Pull-off tests of individual mussels are conducted that reveal maximum attachment strength ranges of 0.48 to 10.55 N for mussels that had medium 3.04 cm length, 1.60 cm height and 1.25 cm width. Mean drag coefficients of C_D = 3.9 were found for live blue mussel lines and C_D = 3.4 for the surrogate model, for conditions of Keulegan–Carpenter number (KC) 10 to 380, using regular wave tests.