AX-COAST: Cross-shore features and internationalization of the COAST tool
PROJECT
Cost-benefit assessments to attest the execution of coastal interventions are increasingly common at both national level – with the Portuguese Environmental Agency demanding this component in the public procurement – and at international level. The AX-COAST is a project that aims to contribute for the improvement of an innovative tool in the field of cost-benefit assessments of coastal interventions.
The COAST is an integrated tool for this kind of assessment, combining 3 modules: shoreline evolution module; coastal defence structures pre-design module; cost-benefit module. The proposal is to add the cross-shore processes into the shoreline evolution module, opening the possibility to effectively apply the COAST to a wider selection of coastal areas and to do deeper analysis to artificial nourishments, by assessing the benefits of where to deposit the sediments on the beach.
CASE STUDY
The location chosen is the coastal area around Ijmuiden, in the Netherlands.
Ijmuiden has been highly researched with relation to coastal engineering and sediment transport, resulting in extensive databases of high quality measured and modelled data available for the area.
The datasets include extensive bathymetric surveys, wave data, sediment composition data and measured shoreline data covering over 150 years. Additionally, documentations are available of mitigation measures, including sediment nourishments, that have been implemented in the area.
The high-quality data available at the site combined with available low- and high-quality global datasets in the region makes the coastal region around Ijmuiden a good case study location for development and implementation of the new COAST features proposed in the AX-COAST project.
Click here to view an “Interactive Map showing the current housing prices (June, 2023) in Ijmuiden Netherlands with the distance to the coastline.”
COAST TOOL
The lack of sequential and integrated approaches to perform an adequate management and planning of the coastal zones was a fact. So, the COAST tool emerged, to fill this gap and to mitigate coastal erosion problems and climate change effects. COAST (Coastal Optimization Assessment Tool) is an integrated tool which combine 3 different modules: shoreline evolution module; coastal structures pre-design module; cost-benefit module; which can be applied in standalone mode, or in a sequential order.
The physical performance of mitigation and adaptation measures to coastal erosion and climate change is evaluated through the evolution of the shoreline position over time, allowing the estimation of the value of the benefits (territory areas).
The quantification of material and respective costs of implementation, maintenance and operation over the time horizon are evaluated and result in project costs.
The economic viability of the interventions is evaluated by calculating two parameters: the net present value (NPV) and the benefit-cost ratio (BCR), which must be greater than 1, so that the solution can be considered profitable from the economic point of view. All costs and benefits are updated over the project’s time horizon, using the discount rate.
ABOUT US
The AX-COAST is a project promoted by a professional team made up of engineers, scientists and professors from the maritime-coastal field. For more information visit “TEAM“.
It also has the support of the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA). The project is funded by EEA Grants, under the Blue Growth Program, managed by the Directorate-General for Sea Policy. Our team is made up of specialists in the field of coastal zones from the three partners involved.
The EEA Grants are a Financial Mechanism through which Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway financially support the Member States of the European Union with the greatest deviations from the European average of GDP per capita. EEA Grants seek to reduce economic and social disparities within the European Economic Area and strengthen bilateral relations between beneficiary countries and donor countries.
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