TABLE OF CONTENTS The nearshore coastal region is the region between the shoreline and a fictive offshore limit which usually is defined as the limit where the depth becomes so large that it no longer influences the waves. This depth depends on the wave motion itself and in simple terms it can be identified as a depth of approximately half the wave length. Thus in storms with larger and longer waves the offshore limit moves further out to sea. This definition is practical because the influence of the bottom on the waves is one of the most important mechanisms in nearshore hydrodynamics.
Nearshore hydrodynamics could probably be said to have been founded by G. G. Stokes, who in 1847 developed the first linear and nonlinear wave theory. Today this theory is often referred to as Stokes waves (see also Stokes, 1880). Over the following century various wave phenomena were analysed and a great number of results, remarkable from a mathematical point of view, were obtained. Of particular importance from todays perspective was the development by Boussinesq (1872) of the consistent approximation for nonlinear waves in shallow water, a situation for which Stokes himself recognized that his theory was failing. Korteweg and DeVries (1895) added to this result by finding analytical solutions to the Boussinesq equations. These solutions are known as cnoidal and solitary waves. Interestingly the infinitely long solitary waves had already been observed in real channels by Russell (1844). Finally even this ultra brief...
