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Examination of the recent past and future Response of coastal Dunes to Extreme storms and Sea level rise

Project description

Coastal dunes’ behaviour in extreme weather conditions

Climate change affects our planet in many ways. Extreme weather phenomena as well as the rise of sea level are among the most severe consequences. Coastal dunes along the European side of the Atlantic have emerged as the first natural line of protection against flooding and coastal erosion. To elaborate tools for effective short- and long-term coastal management, it is necessary to understand and predict coastal dunes’ behaviour in relation to extreme storms and sea level rise. The EU-funded ERoDES project will conduct field observations to predict coastal dune behaviour in extreme weather conditions and extreme sea level rise. These will be carried out along with use of a process-based and a reduced-complexity model and using datasets from different survey methods (Satellite remote sensing, airbone LiDAR, RTK-GPS, etc).

Objective

The ERoDES research project aims, for the first-time, to develop our ability to understand, anticipate, and make projections on how coastal dunes would respond to future extreme storms and sea level rise along the Atlantic coast of Europe. As climate change is expected to cause more intense extreme weather events and an increase in extreme sea levels along the coastline of Europe and other continents, it is crucial to understand coastal dunes behaviour, since they serve as the first line of protection against coastal erosion and flooding. Field observations, a process-based and a reduced-complexity model will be used to hindcast and forecast dune behaviour at highly diverse coastal environments under previous and future sea level rise and extreme storms scenarios. These results will provide useful information and tools for short-and long-term coastal management strategies along the Atlantic coast of Europe. The researcher has demonstrated over the last few years a strong knowledge and understanding of geomorphological and hydrodynamic processes along diverse coastal environments, and aims to develop his numerical modelling skills through this project, benefiting from the strong experience of the supervisor. Knowledge exchange between the researcher and the host will offer the opportunity to explore niche topic such as the use of Satellite data, and to analyse outstanding but yet unexploited LiDAR datasets. The various achievements of this multidisciplinary project will be disseminated to both academic and non-academic key actors of coastal science and coastal management, adding social and economic repercussions to the scientific impact of the ERoDES project. Communication activities such as a scientific field trip, a science festival, and the presentation of new technologies used in coastal science like drones, will also be organised with the wider public to illustrate how EU-funded research aims to contribute in reducing risk in coastal flooding and erosion.

Coordinator

UNIVERSITE DE BORDEAUX
Net EU contribution
€ 277 061,76
Address
PLACE PEY BERLAND 35
33000 Bordeaux
France

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Region
Nouvelle-Aquitaine Aquitaine Gironde
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost
€ 277 061,76