River basin sediment dynamics and interactions within the UK Land-Ocean Interaction Study: the context

A major Land-Ocean Interaction Study (LOIS) was launched by the UK Natural Environmental Research Council in 1992 as a Community Research Programme. T he six-year programme, which was completed in 1998, aimed to estimate conte mporary fluxes into and out of the coastal zone, to characterize the key ph ysical and biogeochemical processes involved, to describe the longer term e volution of coastal systems and to develop coupled land-ocean models. The r ivers component of the LOIS study focused on the Yorkshire Ouse and the oth er principal rivers draining to the Humber Estuary, and on the River Tweed. Most effort was directed to the Yorkshire Ouse. The river research program me emphasized sediment, water quality and biological investigations. In vie w of the general lack of information on suspended sediment transport by Bri tish rivers, particular attention was placed on investigating the suspended sediment dynamics of the study rivers and their tidal reaches and interact ions between fine sediment and nutrients and contaminants. The 14 papers co ntained in this special issue report various aspects of these sediment stud ies, including several linked to the longer term behaviour of the river sys tems involved. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.