BEOSand

Coastal management along the German Baltic Sea faces significant challenges in the context of climate change. The storm surge of October 2023, considered the most severe event in 150 years and responsible for approximately €220 million in damages, highlights the current level of risk.

In recent years, growing interest in nature-based strategies for coastal adaptation has led to innovative approaches, such as the use of gravel structures on sandy as well as mixed sand-and-gravel beaches. Dynamic gravel structures, often referred to as dynamic revetments, are “soft” protection measures that mimic natural gravel beach processes. They have been shown to enhance coastal stabilization and protect the backshore by reducing wave run-up. However, the complex processes governing these structures make their design and modeling for practical application challenging. Effective implementation of management measures therefore requires detailed local knowledge of natural sediment transport processes along different coastal sections.

Against this background, the BEOSand project aims to analyze the past, present, and future morphological development of selected coastal stretches along the German Baltic Sea. Considering both natural dynamics and human interventions, the project will investigate specific coastal evolution scenarios and assess the applicability of dynamic gravel structures in selected pilot areas along the Baltic coast.

In close cooperation with coastal protection authorities, the project seeks to develop innovative, science-based solutions for coastal protection. These solutions will account for the sediment requirements necessary to ensure the long-term sustainability of nature-based coastal protection measures. To achieve this, the project combines field experiments, medium- and large-scale 2D laboratory experiments (including experiments in the GWK flume), and numerical modeling using Delft3D and Reef3D.