The temporal clustering of storm surge, wave height and high sea level exceedances around the UK coastline

We’re supporting research at the University of Southampton by PhD student Luke Jenkins who has published a paper about his research in the journal Natural Hazards

Luke’s project aims to improve our understanding of the the impact that sequences of storm events have on the dynamic response of hard and soft coasts and the subsequent impact on communities living in the coastal zone.

The coastal zone is widely recognised as important at national, European and global levels, but is facing increasing pressures from climate change.  Many risk assessments consider the impact of individual storms, but the risk from sequences of storm events, which may occur over different time-scales, are harder to assess.

Luke’s journal paper provides evidence for how often consecutive storms, big waves or high tide events occur over a short period of time (known as clustering) around the UK.  For example, for storm surges and still sea levels, the North Sea has the lowest proportion of clustering, whereas the North Atlantic and Bristol Channel have the highest.

This will help coastal stakeholders evaluate the threat of surges, waves, and sea levels clustering over short periods.

The journal paper is open access, so anyone can read it for free. 

Citations

Jenkins, L.J., Haigh, I.D., Camus, P. et al. The temporal clustering of storm surge, wave height, and high sea level exceedances around the UK coastline. Nat Hazards 115, 1761–1797 (2023). 

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-022-05617-z

Funding and support

Luke’s advisory team is Prof Ivan Haigh at the University of Southampton, Dr Doug Pender of JBA Consulting and Jenny Sansom of the Environment Agency. 

The research project is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) through the INSPIRE doctoral training programme with support from JBA Trust.

 

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