Blog Wk 13

-

Coastal Erosion in Belgium:

Belgium is a small country with a normally slightly small coastline. Belgium faces lots of environmental challenges like coastal erosion. This event is natural and has been accelerated by human activity and climate change which poses a growing threat to coastal lands and infrastructure around the world.

What is Coastal Erosion:

Coastal erosion is when the land along the coast is damaged or removed due to waves or currents. These natural processes are being accelerated by climate change which furthers the erosion of coasts. The Belgium coast line is about 65 kilometers long form the French border to the Dutch border. This area is popular for tourism but its also a natural coast which is being damaged by coastal erosion.



Reasons for Coastal Erosion in Belgium:

  1. Sea-Level Rise: Climate change is causing global sea levels to rise which is increasing the amount of coastal erosion around the globe. For Belgium, the North Sea has been rising approximately 1-2 mm per year over the past century which is expected to increase as the years go on.

  2. North Sea storms: Belgium is adjacent to the North Sea which experiences storms which than therefore lead to sudden and severe erosion of the coast of Belgium. During winter the amount of storms in the North Sea is at a peak causing the most erosion at that time of year.

  3. Human Activities: Coastal development which includes the construction of buildings, ports, and other infrastructure, often damages the natural processes of the coast. The removal of sand for the development of infrastructure on the coast damages the coast because the sand is a natural protective barrier against waves and natural forces.






https://www.climatechangepost.com/belgium/coastal-erosion/
https://imcore.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/belgian_coast_case_study1.pdf

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 8: Mass Wasting Hazards

-
Image
This week I am going to dive into he topic of mass wasting events like landslides, mudslides, rockslides, and there relationship between flooding and rain. In Belgium it is not discussed as frequently as other regions despite this mass wasting events still pose a big risk. While the country does not experience high rates of seismic activity heavy rainfall and periods of drought can trigger landslides and mudslides. Using Belgium's topography its varied terrain with hilly regions and valleys make certain areas more likely to experience these hazards especially those close to slopes or mountain ranges.  Belgium has experienced small scale landslides in the past specifically in areas with mountain ranges or mining and construction sites that reshape the environment. These landslides cause local damage but typically do not reach the magnitudes that are seen in countries with more geological features. To further protect themselves from hazards Belgium should focus on increasing awarenes...
Read more

Wk10: Extreme weather

-
Image
Wk10: Extreme weather                This week I will be discussing extreme weather cases of flooding in the country of Belgium. Flooding has escalated in Belgium because of the average temperature rise since 1830-1010 of 2°C. As early as it is in 2024 Belgium is already facing serious flooding issues. Referring to the charts below provided by iea.org we can see the gray bars being the world averages and the left bars being Belgium's levels of extremes weather cases. This country's vulnerability to flooding is increased by the amount of densely populated regions with lots of urbanization. Without the right procedures set in place for a flood urbanization can lead to more devastating effects. The second bar chart is used to show the rate at which Belgium is warming compared to the rest of the world. This is relevant to the chart above because when the average temperature increases Floods, Droughts, and Cyclones increase as well. The need to ad...
Read more