Title of the project
Nature-based flood protection by Living Dikes: modelling salt marsh dynamics and coastal safety
Type
PhD research
Duration
2022-2027
Persons involved
E.B. Sipma, MSc (PhD Candidate)
Dr. J.J. Warmink (Daily supervisor)
Dr. Ir. T.M. Duong (Co-supervisor)
Prof. Dr. Ir. S.J.M.H. Hulscher (Promotor)
Funding of the project
This research is a part of the LIVING DIKES – Realising Resilient and Climate-Proof Coastal Protection’ project of the NWA research program ’Research on Routes by Consortia (ORC)’, which is funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO)
Summary of the research
With increased effects of climate change, such as sea level rise and increased storminess, solutions are needed to provide safety from flooding. The most common solution to provide protection from flooding are “hard” engineering solutions such as dikes. These solutions, however, require continued heightening and maintenance with rising sea levels, which requires space and is costly. Alternatively, “soft” ecosystem-based solutions, and hybrid solutions that are a combination of “hard” and “soft” solutions, have the potential to adapt to rising sea levels, as well as reduce wave height of incoming waves. Thus, these “soft” and hybrid solutions could provide a more climate-adaptive solution for flood protection in addition to providing other ecosystem services. The type of ecosystem considered in the scope of coastal flood safety are coastal wetlands, such as salt marshes (middle to high latitudes) and mangroves (tropics and subtropics). One of the proposed hybrid solutions is the Living Dike, a grass-covered dike fronted by a salt marsh foreshore. Including a salt marsh as part of the flood protection measure does however pose challenges, as salt marshes are dynamic ecosystem that show natural variation in space and time. Thus, in order to realise safe, climate-proof and resilient Living Dikes, knowledge is needed on how to incorporate these natural variations in the flood safety assessment of a Living Dike.
This research project focusses on understanding spatial variations and temporal development of a salt marsh that result from natural dynamics and disturbances (e.g. storm/drought event, human-induced) and quantifying how these influence the flood safety of a Living Dike. For this, models and tools will be developed and improved. The first part of the project focusses on the influence of spatial variations and hydrodynamic conditions on the flood safety of a Living Dike. The second part of the project focusses on the long term (~100 yr) natural development of salt marsh and the influence of climate change and disturbances on this. By combining both parts of the project, this will give insight into the short and long term flood safety of a Living Dike.
Keywords
salt marsh, flood protection, nature-based solutions, wave modelling, biogeomorphological modelling, climate change, Living Dikes
More information
Elien Sipma
Room: Horst-Ring W203
Tel.: +31534893446
E-mail: e.b.sipma@utwente.nl