Project description
Predicting coastal change and microplastic transport
Coastal erosion is a growing problem, with many beaches around the world already shrinking. Rising sea levels and more intense storms, especially in northern Europe, threaten to worsen this situation. Current models for predicting how sand and particles move are often inaccurate, particularly when it comes to understanding sediment transport towards and away from the shore. In this context, using a new experimental database and advanced numerical models, the ERC-funded SHORE project aims to create a model that accurately simulates the movement of sediments and microplastics without needing specific adjustments for different cases. SHORE will then utilise the model to provide critical insights into how climate change impacts coastlines and areas where microplastics accumulate.
Objective
Beaches are eroding at many locations around the world and, with the pending climate change (sea level rise and increased storminess in Northern Europe), coastal erosion is expected to potentially worsen.
State-of-the-art practical engineering models for predicting sand and particle transport struggle with the cross-shore processes (perpendicular to the beach), and they even have difficulties predicting the sign right (offshore transport vs. onshore transport), in an experimental setting where the boundary conditions are fully known. The shortage of state-of-the-art models also means that the spreading of microplastic particles, which are increasingly polluting the oceans cannot be predicted accurately. As a result, the future shape of the world’s coastal profiles and the fate of microplastic particles in the coastal region are largely unknown.
SHORE aims to bridge this knowledge and competence gap and develop the first model capable of accurately simulating both on and offshore transport of sediments and microplastic particles without case-specific calibration.
The new model will (1) break from central assumptions used in existing state-of-the-art models, (2) utilize integrated rather than local quantities and (3) include additional factors known to govern the physics in the complex region around the shoreline.
The development of the novel model will be made possible by gathering a novel experimental database containing measurements across a wide range of scenarios and utilizing more advanced numerical models. These advanced models are too computationally heavy to be used to study morphology, but due to recent breakthroughs by my colleagues and I they can be used to study the governing processes.
The model developed within SHORE will subsequently be used to answer questions of great interest to research and society, such as the effect of climate change on coastal profiles and microplastic hotspots.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2024-STG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
2800 Kongens Lyngby
Denmark
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