What are we actually studying??

Hi guys, Emily here! This is just a brief overview of what we're actually studying in the flume. 

As much as some people deny the science (*cough, cough*) of Climate Change, it's a real thing. And, it's happening fast. We've heard it all a thousand times- the ice caps are melting and poor polar bears are suffering. The temperature of the Earth is rising. Sea levels are rising faster than we can build defences. Blah blah blah... the world is doomed. But, what does this actually mean for us? 

Well my friends, this is where it gets interesting. The rising tide of sea level rise might seem like a far away problem for developing countries like Myanmar (Burma) and in Southeast Asia. But, the threat is very real much closer to home too, in places like The Netherlands and even for the UK too. But what can we do about it? With politicians debating whether there's actually a problem with Climate Change (rather than listening to the experts and scientists who dedicate their whole research careers into this topic...) instead of debating solutions to problems, the emphasis has shifted into protecting ourselves than stopping it in the first place. 

Anyone who did Geography at GCSE or A-Level, or regular visitors to the beach, knows that current sea defences fall under two categories: soft or hard engineering. 
'Soft' engineering refers to options that have minimal construction or visual impact on the coastal environment. This is usually either beach nourishment (the replacement of material onto a beach which had been lost via erosion or longshore transport) or managed retreat (particular areas of coastline are allowed to flood or erode as a sacrifice for other areas). 
'Hard' engineering on the other hand tends to have a large construction aspect e.g. sea walls., groynes and rip rap (large boulders placed at the foot of a cliff or beach to absorb wave energy). 
(Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/geography/coasts/coastal_management_rev2.shtml )

What we're trying to do is create a middle ground, some sort of  'medium' engineering that combines the best of both worlds. A rock revetment that's like a cross between a traditional groyne and rip rap that runs parallel to the shoreline, called a Dynamic Revetment. Okay... so what's this got to do with Climate Change? Well, these new types of coastal management techniques are what will protect us from the inevitable sea level rise in the near future. By developing these new methods, we can buy ourselves a little more time for people to stop burying their heads in the sand (quite literally!) and start to make real headway in slowing down the onset of Climate Change. 

So how do we get from a pile of sand in an empty flume, to creating the coastal defences of the future? 

We've spent the last week and a bit preparing the flume. The artificial slope was created and the rigs have been setup (with lots and lots of adjustments required!), and a cumulative 23 hours of waves have been simulated to transform the slope into a more natural profile with a migrating sandbar. The next stage is to raise the sea level in 0.1m increments under the same wave conditions, tracking the migratory path of the sandbar and the behaviour of the sediment transport and water velocities. After this, the beach will be reshaped and reset to a natural profile, and the dynamic revetment (hence the project name DynaRev!) installed with a continuing sea level rise to monitor and track the changes. The big reveal will come when the comparisons can be drawn between the normal beach and the revetment under the same conditions... and hopefully you'll all be as excited as we are to find out the result! 


So, that's the boring explanation of what we're actually doing out the way. Keep checking back for (shorter!) updates on our progress!