Articles about 'Coastal defence'

With a changing climate and rising sea levels putting cities at risk of flooding, it’s crucial for planners to increase their cities’ resilience. A new tool has been developed to help them – and it started with the throwing of a thousand virtual hexagons over Hull.

The coast is an intrinsic part of British identity – and perhaps nowhere is it more at risk than in the East of England. Cambridge researchers are working with communities and organisations across the region to manage the coast for the future, by working with nature rather than against it.

Professor Tom Spencer from Cambridge’s Department of Geography and Professor Gerd Masselink from the University of Plymouth say evidence suggests there should be far stricter controls on coastal developments.

Researchers have modelled how wetlands might respond to rising sea levels, and found that as much as four-fifths of wetlands worldwide could be lost by the end of the century if sea levels continue to rise. 

Study finds that natural flood defences such as salt marshes can reduce the height of damaging waves in storm surge conditions by close to 20%.

For researchers at the University at Cambridge, recent storm damage is providing vital data that could help improve future flood warnings and emergency planning

The sea sustains life but also threatens it. An innovative design concept by Ed Barsley aims to contend with rising seawater by welcoming it into our coastal settlements.

Human activity is currently a bigger threat to mangroves, and the natural defences they provide against storm surges and other coastal disasters, than rising sea levels, according to a new study.

Hard-engineered sea walls have a limited life span. Could saltmarshes and mangroves offer a different approach to buffering against storm surges and coastal erosion?

On the 60th Anniversary of the ‘big flood’ that devastated the coastline of eastern England, new research shows that integrating ‘natural’ sea defences such as salt marshes with sea walls is a more sustainable and effective method of flood prevention.