Experiments to combat sea-level rise by redirecting natural sand movement

In the lower left corner of this photograph, researchers prepare a submersible device. “Together with our collaborators in the Maldives, we are designing, testing, building, and deploying submersible devices that, based simply on their geometry in relationship to the ocean waves and currents, promote sand accumulation in specific areas,” says associate professor Skylar Tibbits. Credit: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
May 15, 2020
sprep-pa

Many island nations, including the Maldives in the Indian Ocean, are facing an existential threat as a result of a rising sea level induced by global climate change. A group of MIT researchers led by Skylar Tibbits, an associate professor of design research in the Department of Architecture, is testing ways of harnessing nature's own forces to help maintain and rebuild threatened islands and coastlines. Some 40 percent of the world's population lives in coastal areas that are threatened by sea level rise over the coming decades,...

Original Article

coastal management
sea level rise
climate change
small islands
research