Research from UofG, which highlights that nearly a fifth of Scotland’s coastline is at risk of erosion, won major news coverage recently.  

The potentially devastating effects of climate change and coastal erosion came to light after experts from UofG and the Scottish Government, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) studied coastlines dating back to the 1890s, to plan for the future of Scotland’s coastal landscape.

The team have launched the ‘Dynamic Coast: Scotland’s National Coastal Change Assessment’ (NCCA) tool  which uses more than 2,000 maps and one million data points to make its predictions. It identifies past erosion and growth rates, and projects the data forward to show the potential change to Scotland’s coastline.

The research featured across print, digital and broadcast media, including The Times, the Daily Mail, The Herald, The Scotsman, The National, BBC News, STV and more.

erosion research in the press

Professor Jim Hansom of the School of Geographical and Earth Sciences and Principal Researcher, said:  “Since the 1970s the extent of erosion is up 39%, the erosion rate has doubled and accretion extent (growth of sediment deposition) is down 22%. This is what we’d expect with climate change.  That means we are seeing a net loss of our coastline. The clock is ticking and we need to start adapting to avoid unnecessary costs.”

Watch Professor Hansom talk about the research on STV

STV

First published: 10 August 2017

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