Aims and objectives 

The aims of CHAMFER are to advance understanding of how weather-related multi-hazards control coastal flooding and erosion; determine how these multi-hazards will respond to climate change and coastal management; and provide advice to stakeholders on coastal management and adaptation options. This will be achieved via the following science objectives and research questions: 

 

Objective 1: To determine how multiple terrestrial and marine hazard components control occurrence and intensity of extreme hydrodynamic conditions responsible for coastal flooding and erosion

  • How do regional relative sea level, storm surges, waves, tides, and rivers interact to result in flooding and coastal erosion both now and in the future? 
  • How is the probability of extreme hydrodynamic conditions affected by statistical dependence between the key terrestrial and marine hazard components? 
  • How will future changes in climate modify multi-hazard interactions, statistical dependence and the probability of flooding and erosion?  

Objective 2: To quantify the protective services and vulnerability of multiple coastal habitats to climate-driven multi-hazards

  • What is the efficacy of assemblages of coastal habitats in protecting natural and built assets from coastal flooding and erosion; and how is it controlled by habitat properties (e.g. co-location, habitat dimensions, density, age, composition, etc.)? 
  • What is the vulnerability of protective coastal habitats to both continuous and episodic climate change pressures?
  • What are the emergent protective services provided by coastal habitats around the UK under plausible climate scenarios? How might these services change under climate-driven habitat fragmentation (i.e. loss of connectivity and ecological coherence) and changes in habitat condition?

Objective 3: To quantify the protection offered by coastal management options that work with nature for generic coastal systems

  • Which forms of 'working with natural processes' schemes offer best compromise between (i) local efficacy in protecting natural and built assets and (ii) effects to surrounding coastlines?
  • How will future changes in climate modify optimal management options?

Objective 4: To provide the UK science community with a new integrated, cross-sectoral, system of analysis for coastal hazards and a series of numerical simulations under different futures

Objective 5: To engage with government departments, public sector organisations, and industry users to inform coastal adaptation and resilience building