Karin Bryan is an internationally-recognised researcher of estuarine processes, coastal morphodynamics, and climate-driven variability in waves. Focusing on climatic drivers, and using a quantitative approach and numerical modelling, she is advancing fundamental understanding of wave-energy transformation and its impact on coastal development, erosion, flooding hazards, and sea-level rise. Her new theory, tested using New Zealand-based measurements, identifies how turbulence is distorted by shallow-water waves, and is widely applied in turbulence studies around the world. Her later work shows how energy is transferred between bar and shoreline on a beach, ultimately controlling their coupled behaviour. In the late 1990s, she discovered a new form of edge-wave on beaches and demonstrated its existence with field observations in North America, now confirmed globally by others.
