Impact of sequence of extreme storms during 2013/14 winter on southwest coast of England

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During the 2013/2014 winter, the southwest coast of England experienced an unprecedented sequence of very energetic wave conditions, including 4 extremely energetic and named storms. According to the Met Office, the storm Hercules on 6 January 2014 was a 1:5 to 1:10 year wave event alone, whereas the storm Petra on 5 February 2014 was probably the most damaging storm in terms of coastal impact on the south coast of Devon and Cornwall for the last 50 years. Furthermore, analysis of modelled and measured wave data shows that the 8-week sequence of storms from mid-December 2013 to 10 February 2014 represents the most energetic period of waves to have hit the southwest coast of England since 1950, and thus represents at least a 1:60 year event. The collective impact of these Atlantic storms on the southwest coast of England has been enormous and this has been made obvious by the extensive media coverage of these events. Many changes to the coastal landscape are likely to be permanent and damage to coastal infrastructure will take months and tens of millions of £'s to repair.This Urgency Proposal aims to assess the impacts of this sequence of extreme storms on both the physical and human coastal environment in the southwest of England, and evaluate the vulnerability of this region to such extreme Atlantic storms. The topic is timely and relevant, because the Met Office predicts that such energetic wave conditions will become more frequent in the future due to climate change. The urgency part of the proposed research will be the recording of direct storm impacts and the collection of a baseline data set for post-storm recovery; the follow-up aspects of the grant include the analysis of the field data, numerical modelling of the wave conditions, and assessment of the vulnerability and resilience of the coastal environment to such extreme wave events.The study area includes the coastlines of the Duchy of Cornwall and the Counties of Somerset, Devon and Dorset, and extends from Weston-super-Mare in the north to Bournemouth in the southeast, but the emphasis of the study will be on the coastline of Devon and Cornwall. The research project consists of five work packages: (1) coastal monitoring, involving the measurement of the physical changes caused by the extreme storms on a large number of sites (> 25) in the southwest of England; (2) bathymetric surveys at two selected sites on the north and south Cornish coast to determine storm impacts in the subtidal zone and the fate of the eroded beach sediments; (3) capturing the immediate experiences of local communities and responsible agencies using a combination of interviews, media analysis and social network analysis at c. 10 sites in the southwest of England; (4) wave analysis and modelling to investigate the spatial variability in the storm wave field and compare the 2013/2014 winter period with previous years; and (5) constructing a Atlantic Storm Coastal Impact Map for the southwest coast of England, using GoogleEarth as the platform, that represents an extensive catalogue of the coastal impacts (physical and human) related to the 2013/14 winter storm period, as well as a comprehensive overview of the forcing wave conditions.This 12-month project will be carried out by researchers of the Coastal Processes Research Group and the Marine and Coastal Policy Research Centre at Plymouth University, with the Southwest Regional Coastal Monitoring Programme and the Met Office as project partners.The six key outputs of the project are: (1) project website and facebook page to engage with the public; (2) article for Geography Journal to disseminate the research finding to A-level students; (3) at least one international conference presentation; (4) at least one scientific journal paper; (5) Atlantic Storm Coastal Impact Map; and (6) a one-day Stakeholder Workshop to bring together the various coastal stakeholders in an interactive forum.