Galway researchers preparing for nature’s assault on coastline

Galway’s identity is historically and contemporarily intertwined with the coast, according to NUI Galway researchers Dr Eugene Farrell and Dr Kevin Lynch, and it is incumbent upon the University to provide tools and forums that facilitate increased awareness and appreciation of this natural resource.

Since the winter storms of 2013/14, which caused millions of euros worth of damage to the country’s coastline, the power of the sea and the destruction it can cause has not been far from the minds of Galway citizens, or the people of Ireland in general.

“The monetary impact was obviously huge. To a large extent this was due to flooding and damage to infrastructure like promenades, carparks, roads, seawalls,” said Dr Lynch.

“One of the reasons for this is what we call ‘coastal squeeze’, which means we have developed too close to the shoreline and do not allow enough room for natural processes to operate. Erosion is a natural process that only becomes a problem when we develop in areas that are soft coastline, which are naturally mobile (they erode and build depending on conditions).”

But, according to Dr Farrell and his colleague Dr Lynch who are both researchers in the subject, the winter storms in question were not the first of their kind, nor will they be the last if trends continue.

“Winter 2013/14 was unprecedented in terms of very severe weather. However, there is a caveat in that recent decades have also experienced winters with a very high frequency of storms: 2008, 2004, 1989, 1983, 1974,” said Dr Farrell.

“If these trends continue – as we expect if climate projections are true (sea level rise and increased frequency and intensity of Atlantic storms) – then there is a real threat that our country will not be able to pay to rebuild the coastal infrastructure or protect the coastal communities and industries.”

Dr Farrell spent 14 years in the United States, where he was part of very large coastal projects that were well-funded, well-managed and were incorporated into City and County Development plans. Most of the coastal states in the US have long-term monitoring programmes that map the rates of change of their coastline.

“After the winter storms of 2013/14 in Ireland, I quickly realised there was little or no equivalent monitoring data being collected for our coastal sedimentary environments. Without this data, it is very difficult to quantify the change or predict what future trends may occur,” Dr Farrell explained.

But Dr Farrell and Dr Lynch are aiming to change this with their research and wrote a proposal to establish a comprehensive monitoring programme in West Kerry. The Office of Public Works (OPW) were interested in the project and decided to support the work and the researchers are currently carrying out intense GPS surveying to gather data.

The project aims to provide a unique and invaluable benchmark to inform coastal management strategies on coping with the increased storminess predicted by future scenarios described in many climate models.

In their proposal, Dr Farrell and Dr Lynch wrote: “We need to be able to identify the system thresholds that will trigger the breakdown of our coastal system equilibria – especially as these large storm events are expected to occur more frequently as future climate change models predict, ultimately leading to increased coastal erosion and flooding risks.”

Public awareness is another important issue for Dr Farrell and Dr Lynch. One of their goals is to educate the public on the value of our coastline and they are doing this through their I Like Beaches project, which is a student-led project funded by EXPLORE, and in partnership with Galway City Council.

“The primary aim of the I Like Beaches project is to add value and awareness of the coastal and marine environment by designing and installing a series of environmental and scientific education boards,” said Dr Farrell.

The project developed new working partnerships between the university, the community and the local government and established the willingness of the public to learn about and participate in protecting Galway’s coastal resources. They are currently at the final stage of designing a series of signs that will be installed along Galway City Beaches, with the firm support of the City Council.

“It’s important that we are aware of how our beaches and coastal dunes work. What causes them to erode? How do they rebuild themselves? What happens when we intervene to try and fix things? I think the general public are very receptive to looking at beaches and dunes in a new way when they have all the relevant information before them,” said Dr Lynch.

Lots of conversations are discussing how the urban and coastal centres of Cork, Dublin, Limerick and Galway will be protected, but little has been spoken of how the urgent needs of rural communities who are facing elimination in some areas if the storms re-occur will be addressed, according to Dr Farrell.

“Part of our remit is to give these communities a voice and to give their managers the tools to manage their coastal resources efficiently,” he said.

Earlier this year, NUI Galway launched a new taught Masters programme called Coastal Marine Environments: Physical Processes, Policy and Practice, with the aim of training the next generation of scientists on how to understand our coasts to build.

“It seeks to challenge and facilitate students to engage with, but go beyond established scientific conceptual and theoretical perspectives, engage new ways of understanding the complexities of our evolving physical coastal and marine environments, and develop critical insights that can support policy and practice in sustaining these increasingly vulnerable environments.”

For more information on Dr Farrell and Dr Lynch’s work can be found HERE