flooding and flood risk

New study paves the way for improved nature-based coastal defences

Satellite image of the Pearl River Delta.
  • A study in the Pearl River Delta in China could greatly assist in providing much needed flood defences for major cities such as Guangzhou
  • Mangrove trees allow excellent protection, but scientists are now able to predict best location for them to provide maximum protection

New digital project to tackle flood hazard

WireWall equipment being tested as waves over top the sea wall

The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) has today awarded the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) one of seven individual grants that will use cutting-edge digital technology to advance environmental outcomes.

WireWall at Flood Expo 2019

The National Oceanography Centre (NOC) will be represented at the Flood Expo 2019 at the NEC in Birmingham (11–12 September 2019).

Find us on STAND D13.

Could wetlands protect the world’s most vulnerable city from coastal flooding?

A new, international, collaborative project will investigate the potential of wetlands as a natural defence against rising sea-levels. The project will specifically look at the potential of this technique in the Chinese cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen in the Pearl River Delta, which are ranked as first and ninth cities in the world in terms of annual losses due to flooding.

Most UK coastal flooding caused by moderate, not extreme storms

Scientists at the NOC and the University of Southampton have found that the majority of instances of coastal flooding around the United Kingdom in the last 100 years have been due to moderate storm events combined with high spring tides, rather than extreme storms.

Estimating the cost of flooding for communities around estuaries

Flood levels

The National Oceanography Centre (NOC) and the University of Liverpool have developed a new visualisation tool to predict the maximum cost of coastal flooding to communities around estuaries.

Mega-Tsunami – a threat to the UK?

Aerial view of La Palma

Anyone who watched the recent documentary ‘Could we survive a Mega-Tsunami?’ can be forgiven for looking for property on higher ground, as it made for pretty terrifying viewing! Giant computer-generated waves aside, just what is the risk to the UK from landslides on the flanks of volcanoes in the Canary Islands?

Storm surge hits UK Coastline

A storm surge on 3 Jan 2014 in the Irish Sea (similar to the recent one on 5 December 2013) raised the sea surface above the astronomical tide level by 0.75 metres to 1 metre over a large area.

Sea level lower heading north

GOCE in orbit (image: © ESA / AOES Medialab)

For decades, scientists have disagreed about whether the sea is higher or lower heading north along the east coast of North America.

Southampton meeting shapes tsunami exercise

Mediterranean Sea (image: Wikimedia Commons)

An exercise taking place this week, that simulates a tsunami striking the north-eastern Atlantic, the Mediterranean and connected seas, will involve 19 states stretching from Cape Verde to Lebanon and from Spain to Finland.