Nature-based flood protection: using vegetated foreshores for reducing coastal risk

Vuik, V. et al. | E3S Web of Conferences 7 | 2016 | Peer Reviewed | Original research | https://www.e3s-conferences.org/articles/e3sconf/abs/2016/02/e3sconf_flood2016_13014/e3sconf_flood2016_13014.html

Abstract

Vegetated foreshores such as salt marshes, mangrove forests and reed fields can reduce wave loads on coastal dikes due to depth-induced wave breaking and wave attenuation by vegetation. Here we present field measurements of wave propagation over salt marshes during severe storm conditions, a modelling approach to describe the effect of vegetated foreshores on wave loads on the dike, and a probabilistic model to quantify the effect of vegetated foreshores on failure probabilities of the dike due to wave overtopping.