Climate proof sandy coasts

In the face of climate change and sea level rise, a climate proof coast is an important asset. Natural sandy coasts like for instance in The Netherlands supply the area with a natural sediment resource and sustainable response to sea level rise.

“However, one must still learn to better understand the lower shoreface which forms the essential link between the offshore sea bed and the nearshore zone,” said Deltares.

That’s why Deltares is taking part in a new NWO funded project called MELODY which tackles this challenge by unraveling sand transport processes and tidal sand wave dynamics and its numerical modelling, thus contributing to future sustainable marine and coastal management.

According to Deltares, MELODY will improve understanding of the lower shoreface bed dynamics, by combining field data and different new numerical models. These models will help coastal management to deal with climate change effects (such as sea level rise), and to find suitable locations for offshore sand extraction and wind farms also.

The research project MELODY: Modeling Lower Shoreface Seabed Dynamics for a Climate-Proof Coast is funded by NWO-TTW.

The project was applied for by Jebbe van der Werf (Deltares & University of Twente), in close co-operation with Suzanne Hulscher, Pieter Roos and Johan Damveld (University of Twente) , Bart Grasmeijer and Rosh Ranasinghe (Deltares).

It involves researchers and users from the University of Twente, University of Copenhagen, Ghent University, University of Nottingham, Rijkswaterstaat, Arcadis, Van Oord, Primo Marine, Royal HaskoningDHV, Dienst der Hydrografie, Tennet, WaterProof and Witteveen+Bos.