Modelling the effect of twin storms on dune erosion: Applying XBeach to model the dune erosion for single and twin storms constructed using simulated weather data
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| Author keywords | dune erosion; twin storms; storm groups; ECMWF; XBeach |
| Abstract | In February 2022, storms Dudley, Eunice and Franklin passed the Netherlands in a time period of five days. When two storms quickly succeed one another, it can be called a twin storm. Storm conditions at sea lead to increased water levels and larger waves. When these waves approach the shore, they can attack the dunes and lead to dune erosion. Therefore, after a storm the dunes are smaller than before the storm. Dune accretion is a much slower process than dune erosion; it can take weeks to months of time for a dune to grow the volume of sand it lost during a storm. If the interval time between two storms is smaller than the time it takes for a dune to gain the same volume of sand it loses during the storm, the second storm can lead to additional impact. So when storms quickly succeed one another, like the storms in February 2022, there is not enough time for the dune to significantly grow in between the storms. Due to additive impact, a twin storm might lead to more damage than a single storm with the same return period. The question raised in this research is: How does the amount of dune erosion caused by a twin storm compare to the amount of dune erosion due to a single storm that has the same probability of occurrence for storms along the Dutch coast? |
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