Exploitable results MEDUSA technology for sediment mapping and monitoring dispersal of dumped materials All materials on this planet are slightly radioactive due to the presence of natural radionuclides. These radionuclides emit characteristic gamma radiation. The concentrations of these radionuclides in e.g. sediments depends on the origin of the material, its grain-size, and sometimes, its history. In general the main components of sediment can well be characterised by its radiometric fingerprint (i.e. a set of radionuclide concentrations). MEDUSA is a, patented system, containing a highly sensitive gamma-ray detector that allows a fast acquisition of gamma-ray spectra, which after analysis are converted to sediment composition. With a sensitivity improvement of a factor of 15 over its precursors it has opened a range of new applications. With an acquisition time of 1 to 10 seconds sufficient statistics is usually obtained in surveys. MEDUSA, including its electronics, weighs about 5 kg and can easily be mounted to be dragged by a ship, on a vehicle or on a (light-weight) aeroplane. The system is being regularly used to follow the dispersal of dumped dredge spoil at sea, mapping of pebble/sand/mud content in the bottom of rivers and estuaries and mapping of dumpsites of tailings on land. MEDUSA for the applications of sediment mapping is commercially available (www.medusa-online.com ). New applications are under development (http://ngd.kvi.nl ). Field and laboratory data Summary: Sediment transport processes in coastal waters as well as morphodynamic evolutions are not properly understood at the moment. Focussed laboratory experiments and field measurements are thus able to provide precious results for researchers involved in this field. In SAFE, we used most particularly two unique large-scale facilities enabling experiments at prototype scale, namely the Large Wave Flume in Hanover, Germany (LWF) operated by University of Braunschweig and the Large Oscillating Water Tunnel in de Voorst, The Netherlands (LOWT) operated by WL Delft Hydraulics. Improved methodology for the design of off shore nourishment schemes. Summary: The traditional engineering response to coastal erosion has been to mitigate and, where possible, prevent erosion by e.g. constructing seawalls, groins and breakwaters. This attitude of counteracting instead of working in concert with natural processes is now referred to as "hard engineering". As monitoring of coastal evolution around structures emerged and the causes behind erosion were begun to be understood, it became clear that adverse environmental effects are often generated in the vicinity as well as further away on adjacent shores. This has led to the present tendency of developing a "soft engineering" approach. This European collaborative project has focussed on contributing to the improvement and harmonization of present design practices of artificial nourishment schemes in Europe, considered today to be a central technique used in the soft engineering approach Searching for OpenAIRE data... There was an error trying to search data from OpenAIRE No results available
