navleft About Coastal Systems navbreak General Coastal Expertise navbreak Services Apply To navbreak Services Include navbreak Who We Are navbreak ContactUs navright
 

Professor Andy Short - B.A.(Hons), M.A, Ph.d

Andrew (Andy) Short, an Associate of Coastal Systems Ltd, is an internationally recognized expert in the morphology, evolution and management of coastal beaches, inlets and dunes; nearshore-inner shelf processes and sedimentation; coastal stratigraphy (sediments, structures and sequences); coastal zone management, environment/climate change and coastal impacts, and beach safety & related litigation.

Professor Short has degrees from the University of Sydney, University of Hawaii and Louisiana State University. Until recent retirement, he was Director of the Coastal Studies Unit at the University of Sydney, a position held since 1991. He is presently Honorary Professor in the School of Geosciences at the University of Sydney and Adjunct Professor in the Griffith (University) Centre for Coastal Management. He also now runs his own consultancy (Coastal Studies Ltd), and serves on the NSW Coastal Expert Group and the Eurobodalla Coastal Management Advisory Committee.

Professor Short has been awarded both Commonwealth and Gellibrand Scholarships, a Queen's Fellowship in Marine Science and a Senior Fullbright Fellowship with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. He was the Belle van Zuylen Visiting Professor (invited), University of Utrecht in 1989, and received the Water Safety Research Award (NSW Dept. Sport and Recreation) in 1989/91. He was the Visiting Scientist (invited) Department of Geography, University of Auckland in 1992, and in 2003 was presented with the RJ Russell Award (Coast & Marine Specialty Group) by the American Association of Geographers. Most recently his extensive contribution to both coastal science and beach safety was recognised on Australia Day 2010 with an Order of Australia Medal.

Professor Short's field experience covers tropical, temperate and polar coastal environments, including Europe, North and South America , Hawaii , New Zealand and the entire Australian coastline. He has investigated all 10,685 mainland beaches (inc Tasmania) plus another 1500 on 30 major islands. This information is contained in a database and has been written up in eight books, one for each state and territory. Dr Short has also complete field work on New Zealand’s 11,000 kms of coast which will categorize the beaches based on wave, tide and sediment regimes. Other recent applied projects include: Cullendulla Creek-Geomorphology & Coastal Process study; NSW Department of Urban Affairs; Review of Adelaide Beaches, South Australian Department of Environment and Natural Resources; Dune stabilisation at Cronulla-Bate Bay, NSW Department Land and Water Conservation; Expert witness: beach accident litigation with, Malcom Johns & Co. and also with Quinlan Miller & Treston; Northern Territory beach surveys, Defence Corpotate Support, SA; Impact of Olympic Beach Volley Ball Stadium on Beach Usage and Safety, Waverly Council, NSW; Beach hazard survey Oahu & Maui, Hawaiian Lifeguard Association; Stockton sand dune extraction, environmental impact assessment, NSW

Professor Short has published over 160 articles including 9 books, 110 scientific papers, and 40 technical articles

Selected Recent Publications:

Books:

  Short, A D, (ed), 1999, Beach and Shoreface Morphodynamics. John Wiley and Sons, Chichester, 379 pp.
  Short, A D, 2000, Beaches of the Queensland Coast: Cooktown to Coolangatta. Australian Beach Safety and Management Project, Sydney, 360 pp.
  Short, A D, 2001, Beaches of the Southern Australian Coast and Kangaroo Island. Sydney University Press, Sydney, 346 pp.
  Short, A D, 2005, Beaches of the Western Australian Coast: Eucla to Roebuck Bay. Sydney University Press, Sydney, 433 pp.
  Short, A D, 2006a, Beaches of the Tasmanian Coast and Islands. Sydney University Press, Sydney, 353 pp.
  Short, A D, 2006b, Beaches of Northern Australia: The Kimberley, Northern Territory and Cape York. Sydney University Press, Sydney, 463 pp. Thom, B G and
  Short, A D, 2006, Australian Coastal Geomorphology 1984-2004. Journal of Coastal Research, 22, 1-245
  Short, A.D., 2007, Beaches Of The New South Wales Coast. 2nd edition, Sydney University Press, Sydney. 398 pp.
  Short, A D and Woodroffe, C D, 2009. The Coast of Australia. Cambridge University Press, Melbourne, 288 pp.

Articles:

  Short, A D, 2001, Coastal Regimes: Beaches, physical processes affecting. In: Steele, J H (ed), Encyclopedia of Ocean Sciences . Academic Press, London , 245-255.
  Short, A D, 2002, The distribution and impacts of carbonate sands on southern Australia beach-dune systems. In Magoon, O T, Robbins, L L and Ewing, L (eds), Carbonate Beaches 2000 , American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, 236-250.
  Hughes, C E, Short, A D, Coutts-Smith, A, Evans, P and Hanslow, D, 2002, The use of radiotracers to study offshore sand transport at McMasters Beach . South Pacific Environmental Radioactivity Association, ANSTO, Lucas Heights
  Short, A D, 2002, Large scale behaviour of topographically-bound beaches. International Conference Coastal Engineering , Cardiff , American Society Civil Engineers.
  Short, A D, 2003, Australia beach systems - the morphodynamics of wave through tide-dominated beach-dune systems. Journal of Coastal Research SI 35, 7-20.
  Short, A D and Trembanis, A, 2004, Decadal Scale Patterns In Beach Oscillation And Rotation Narrabeen Beach , Australia- Time Series, PCA And Wavelet Analysis. Journal of Coastal Research , 20, 523-532.
  Haijun, H J, Short, A D and Zeng, T, 2004, Impact of Brunswick River mouth training walls on adjacent beaches, Brunswick Heads, New South Wales , Australia . China Ocean Engineering , 18, 207-220.
  Short, A D, 2006, Australian beach systems- nature and distribution. Journal of Coastal Research, 22, 11-27.
  Thom, B G and Short, A D, 2006, Introduction: Australian Coastal Geomorphology 1984-2004. Journal of Coastal Research, 22, 1-10.
  Short, A D, 2006. Role of geological inheritance in Australia beach morphodynamics. Coastal Engineering.
  Farmer, B and Short, A D, 2007, Australian National Surfing Reserves – rationale and process for recognising iconic surfing locations. Journal of Coastal Research, SI 50, 99- 103, Gold Coast, Australia.
  Callaghan, D P, Ranasinghe, R and Short, A D, 2009, Quantifying the storm erosion hazard for coastal planning. Coastal Engineering, 56, 90-93. IN PRESS (will be available digitally when published)
  Short, A D, Sediment transport around Australia – sources, mechanisms, rates and barrier forms, Journal of Coastal Research.
  Harley, M D, Turner, I L, Short A D and Ranasinghe, R, in press, Evaluation of a multi-decadal beach survey program for assessing climate-coastal variability. Journal of Geophysical Research.
  Harley, M D, Turner, I L, Short, A D and Ranasinghe, R, in press, Inter-annual variability and controls of the Sydney wave climate. International Journal of Climatology.

Principal: