Gaps in the understanding of coastal managers on the behaviour of barrier beaches are set to be plugged.
The HR Wallingford study for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will try to pin down when and why barrier beaches – usually shingle dams in the UK – are breached and overtopped.
‘We want to see what the state-of-the-art is in terms of beach management,’ said Stuart Stripling, project manager at HR Wallingford.
There was no guidance on how high barriers needed to be, or on the effect of artificially raising them, or on the cost-effectiveness of interventions such as recharges.
The study – also being undertaken by the University of Southampton and the Channel Coastal Observatory – has started to map and review barrier beaches around England and Wales, including Chesil Beach in Dorset.