Measuring and modelling coastal dune development in the Netherlands

Abstract

In the past couple of years, new coastal-dune research has sprung up in the Netherlands. In this paper, we give an overview ofongoing projects at Wageningen UR, Deltares, TU Delft and UTwente: how these are connected and what type of questions areaddressed. There is an increasing demand for the understanding and prediction of coastal dune dynamics, both on the short (year) andlong (100 years) term. We approach this from a variety of angles: scientific and applied, short-term and long-term, data-driven andmodel-based, biotic and abiotic, process-based and rule-based, and focused on components and integrated. We give examples of resultsand end with a discussion of the benefits of this integrated approach