The United Kingdom Coastal Erosion

"Coastal areas are dynamic environments that vary in their topography, climate, and organisms. In these areas, continental and oceanic processes converge to produce landscapes that are capable of rapid change." (Edward A., Keller, Duane E., DeVecchio, Natural Hazards, 366). According to a May 2012 note from the British Geological Survey, an estimated 113,000 residential properties, 9000 commercial properties and 5000 acres of agricultural land are within areas at risk of coastal erosion across England and Wales. A value of 7.7 billion euro of potential damage and loss. Specific examples are towns like Hallsands, Devon where 1600 tons of the sand and gravel that made up the beach was removed daily for the extension of the Royal Dockyard. After 7 years an estimated 97% of the former beach volume had been removed, 10 years later a large set of waves 12 meters high hit the shore that ended up destroying the near by town. The village of Happisburgh, Norfolk was once some distance away from the coastline, but because coastal erosion some 250 meters were lost over a 250 year period making it one of the highest coastal erosion rates in the U.K.. Holderness coast, East Riding of Yorkshire is eroding at a rate of 1 to 2 meters a year and ongoing monitoring by the British Geological Survey of the coastline and beaches are undertaken to better understand and aid the effects. "The BGS retains significant erosion datasets for location throughout the UK and possesses the capability to respond to coastal erosion events using a variety of techniques. These include dGPS survey terrestrial LiDAR scanning, in-field digital data capture and sediment analysis as well as desk based examination of historic coastal erosion rates from from resources such as arial photographs and historic maps and other published sources." (The British Geological Survey, UK Geohazard Note, 2012).

Resources

Keller, Edward A., Duane E. DeVecchio, and Robert H. Blodgett. Natural Hazards: Earth's Processes as Hazards, Disasters, and Catastrophes. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2016. Print.

The United Kingdom. British Geological Survey. Natural Environment Research Council. UK Geohazard Note. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2017.

Severe Weather in the United Kingdom

"Severe weather refers to events such as thunderstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards, ice storms, mountain windstorms, heat waves and dust storms." (Keller, Edward A., DeVecchio, Duane E., Natural Hazards, 300). The United Kingdom may be safe from volcanoes and earthquakes, but in the last 100 years the worst weather the country has faced are heat waves, thunderstorms, blizzards, tornadoes and hurricanes. Since the country is pretty much a huge island, the coast lines can produce treacherous hurricanes and flatter landscapes can build up large amounts of water throughout the country. During winter, thunderstorms and blizzards create millions of dollars annually in damage to both the cities and towns that fill up the United Kingdoms population. Heat waves cause the most damage in the countries history, in the past 40 years 3 specific heat waves caused an excess of around 5000 deaths. "Scientists at the University of Bern found that not only was last year an exceptionally hot summer, but that in the past 10 years Europe has experienced the hottest summers since 1500 AD." (Sample, Ian, 2003 heatwave a record waiting to be broken, 2004) In 2003, effects from the heatwave caused a drought that killed crops, excessive fires scorched the lands and water reserves were all but dried up. 2000 people died from the heat alone, where temperatures reached a high of 101 degrees and similar heatwaves occurred in 1974 and again in 2015. Throughout the colder months, water seems to pour from the sky nonstop. In the past ten years alone floods have devastated the United Kingdom from winter storms and blizzards. In December of 2006, a tornado touched down in London only killing one person, but causing 10 million in damages. In October 2013, Hurricane force winds caused the deaths of 17 people and 500 million in damages, the highest recorded windspeed was 120mph. As one can see, the United Kingdom battles the forces of nature in there own way and just as much as other nations around the world. Due to advances in technology and the history of the country, forecasting and predicting severe weather in the future is becoming better and better. The people of the U.K. are well aware of the conditions their country can present and mitigation prepares the country for future events.

       Sample, Ian. "2003 heatwave a record waiting to be broken." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 05 Mar. 2004. Web. 09 Apr. 2017.

       "List of natural disasters in Great Britain and Ireland." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Mar. 2017. Web. 09 Apr. 2017.

       Keller, Edward A., Duane E. DeVecchio, and Robert H. Blodgett. Natural hazards: earth's processes as hazards, disasters, and catastrophes. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2016. Print.