Lector Wietse van de Lageweg from the Building with Nature research group was one of the participants in the international Building Coastal Resilience conference. The conference aims to promote knowledge exchange on resilient coastal systems, such as beaches, dunes, mudflats, and salt marshes.
This topic is highly relevant for Zeeland, where climate change increasingly pressures the functioning of this intensively used coastal system.
Wietse presented the graduation research of Civil Engineering student Sarlote Balode on dynamic dune management at the Kop van Schouwen. In collaboration with the Province of Zeeland, Staatsbosbeheer, and researcher-teachers from the research group, Sarlote investigated the transport of sand particles in this dune area.
Dynamics and Resilience
To enhance the dynamics and resilience of the dunes, several cuts have recently been made in the first row of dunes. Sarlote examined how far the sand blows into the dunes and what the grain size of the sediment is—important information for better understanding the effectiveness of such nature restoration measures.
The conference concluded with a visit to the wave tank facilities at the University of Porto. These facilities allow natural coastlines to be simulated on a small scale under controlled conditions, enabling the study of effects, for example, of changing environmental conditions.
More information on the presented work can be found here. Additional information about the conference is available here.