Erosion Pressure on the Danish Coasts

Coastlines around the world are receding due to coastal erosion.With rising sea levels and a potential climatic deterioration due to climate change, erosion rates are likely to increase at many locations in the future.Together with the current preference of people to settle near or directly by the ocean, coastal erosion issues become increasingly more important to the human values at risk. Along many Danish coastlines, hard structures already act as coastal protection in the form of groins, breakwaters, revetments etc. These eroding coasts however still lack sand and where the public, in general, neglects the need for sand replenishment i.e. in the form of repeated sand nourishments.
Here we present a conceptual model and method for dividing coastal erosion into acute and chronic erosion pressure, respectively. We focus on the model use for management and climate change adaptation purposes and on how to make coastal processes and the impacts of climate change on the coasts more comprehendible to the public.