Author(s): Pieter Rauwoens; Jennifer Derijckere; Jadon Beerlandt; Jianghua Guo; Glenn Strypsteen; Zeger Sierens; Dries Bonte; Sam Provoost; Toon Verwaest; Steven Muylaert; Peter Van Besien
Linked Author(s): Toon Verwaest, Jadon Beerlandt
Keywords: Nature-Based Solutions Coastal Morphodynamics Erosion Aeolian Sand Transport
Abstract: In 2021, several pilot sites were installed at the Belgian Coast featuring a dune-in-front-of-a-dyke solution. Vegetation (Marram grass) was planted on the upper beach, in front of an existing sea wall. The installation served the purpose of mitigating nuisance by wind-blown sand, but also offers valuable insights in dune development as a possible sustainable coastal defense alternative to cope with sea level rise. Two pilot sites in Ostend (BE) were intensively monitored and several research projects hooked onto the field experiment, with a focus on Aeolian sand transport, dune accretion, vegetation development, dune erosion, groundwater dynamics and ecosystem services. The ensemble of remote sensing data and field surveys results in a rich data set, which is now used as validation data for predictive numerical modelling efforts at different levels of complexity, which are exemplified in this paper.
Year: 2025