Top image credit: Meghan Alexander and Jordi Pages Fauria
Save our seaside town!
Together with our sister project RESILCOAST, we have toured the UK with our novel and interactive outreach activity which aims to that demonstrate the value of working with nature to protect against coastal erosion and flooding
The main activity consists of two wave tanks with raised platforms to emulate the coast and we encourage the public to become ‘wave makers’ and recreate storm conditions using a plunger.
One tank has a village made of Lego on its platform and visitors are encouraged to protect the town from the waves using a hard defence (a lego sea wall) or saltmarsh (a piece of artificial grass). The activity demonstrates the effectiveness of grasses like those found on saltmarshes, to attenuate wave energy, thus protecting the shore.
The second tank explores saltmarsh sediment type and visitors are asked to build castles out of sand and clay. The castles are placed on the platform and subjected to the waves to demonstrate that because clay particles are smaller, they have tighter bonds that keep the sediment together more strongly than sand. This means that when saltmarshes are established on clay, they are more stable and better able to protect the coastline.
The tanks have proven popular with children and adults alike.
Previous CoastWEB outreach events
Pint of Science – Blanes, Catalonia, Spain, 21st May 2019
Einstein’s Garden science stall, Green Man Festival, Brecon Beacons, Wales, 15-19th August 2018.
The Wash Wild Seas Week, Norfolk Wildlife Trust Visitor Centre, Norfolk, England, 10th August 2018.
National Eisteddfod of Wales, Cardiff, 4-7th August 2018.
Language Feast, Science adventure, Bangor, Wales, 27th June 2018.
Institute for Civil Engineering (ICE), Wales, 19-21st June 2018
One tank has a village made of Lego on its platform and visitors are encouraged to protect the town from the waves using a hard defence (a lego sea wall) or saltmarsh (a piece of artificial grass). The activity demonstrates the effectiveness of grasses like those found on saltmarshes, to attenuate wave energy, thus protecting the shore.
The second tank explores saltmarsh sediment type and visitors are asked to build castles out of sand and clay. The castles are placed on the platform and subjected to the waves to demonstrate that because clay particles are smaller, they have tighter bonds that keep the sediment together more strongly than sand. This means that when saltmarshes are established on clay, they are more stable and better able to protect the coastline.
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