An Important Message Concerning Tidal Lagoon Power in Swansea Bay, Wales

https://www.facebook.com/TidalLagoonSwanseaBay/videos/1982526951791809/ 

Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon will be the world's first tidal lagoon power plant. A tidal lagoon is a 'U' shaped breakwater, built out from the coast which has a bank of hydro turbines in it. Water fills up and empties the man-made lagoon as the tides rise and fall. Electricity is generated on both the incoming and outgoing tides, four times a day, every day.

Due to the incredible tides on the West Coast of Britain, by keeping the turbine gates shut for just three hours, there is already a 4 m height difference in water between the inside and the outside of the lagoon. Power is then generated as the water rushes through 60 m long draft tubes, rotating the 7.2 m diameter hydro turbines.

The project was awarded a Development Consent Order in 2015 and is primed for construction. It will comprise 16 hydro turbines, a 9.5km breakwater wall, generating electricity for 155,000 homes for the next 120 years. Its major delivery partners include Atkins, General Electric, Andritz Hydro, Laing O'Rourke and Alun Griffiths Ltd.

For more information, please visit:

http://www.tidallagoonpower.com/projects/swansea-bay/

Congratulations to Prof. Dr. Anja Scheffers, CERF-JCR Regional Vice President and JCR Editorial Board Member,  who has been selected to be part of the new Future Earth Coast International Secretariat

Future Earth Coasts is the new name for the longstanding Land Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone (LOICZ) project.

The goal of LOICZ was "to provide the knowledge, understanding and prediction needed to allow coastal communities to assess, anticipate and respond to the interaction of global change and local pressures which determine coastal change."

First started in 1993, LOICZ has involved scientists from across the globe investigating changes in the biology, chemistry and physics of the coastal zone. Since 2003 LOICZ expanded its areas of research to include social, political and economic sciences to better address the human dimensions of the coastal zone. Results have been published in peer-reviewed journals, books and a Report and Studies Series. From 2015, LOICZ has become a core project of the new Future Earth initiative under the new name of Future Earth Coasts.

We have 'signposted' our goals and expectations for Future Earth Coasts in a document to stimulate an open and wide ranging consultative and engagement process to develop a new ten year plan for Future Earth Coasts to generate the knowledge needed to advance sustainability of coastal socio-ecological and geographic systems.

Future Earth has been established by The Science and Technology Alliance for Global Sustainability, a partnership for global sustainability including researchers, funders and users of knowledge. It has a 10 year mandate to develop knowledge for responding effectively to the risks and opportunities of global environmental change and for supporting transformation towards global sustainability.

International Project Office in Transition

The International Project Office (IPO) serves as the secretariat for Future Earth Coasts (FEC) and administers the project on a day-to-day basis. The IPO is responsible for assisting the Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) in all aspects of its work and liaising with key stakeholders at regional, national and local levels. The office collates and communicates information related to national and international FEC research, as well as serving as a channel of communication on coastal aspects of global environmental change.

Following 4 successful years hosted by the MaREI Centre for Marine and Renewable Energy, Environmental Research Institute, University College Cork from 1 January, 2019 the IPO will be moving to a new host and new structure for the IPO. The new arrangement will ensure that Future Earth Coasts truly represents a global community of interest for evolving sustainable pathways for coastal zones, and we are exploring options for the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) to form the IPO as a coordinating lead hub with other organisations constituting Regional Project Offices of a distributed IPO arrangement.

For more information, please visit: https://www.futureearthcoasts.org/ 

Professors Allan Williams and Nelson Rangel-Buitrago Acknowledged by the Universidad del Atlántico

There were several activities carried out in the Caribbean region by Research Professor Allan Thomas Williams, who in addition to giving a talk to a group of students and visiting the well-known beaches of Magdalena, Bolívar, and Atlántico, met with the Rector Rafael Castillo Pacheco in order to to deepen the approaches of the institution with the University of Wales: Trinity Saint David (United Kingdom).

During his visit to the facilities at the Universidad del Atlántico, the renowned researcher and Professor Emeritus expressed interest in creating research agreements between the University of Wales: Trinity Saint David and the Universidad del Atlántico. Professor Williams, along with the Vice-Rector for Research, Iván León Luna, and Full Professor Nelson Guillermo Rangel-Buitrago (Universidad del Atlántico) developed a field trip along the Colombian Caribbean coastline. This work allowed information to be compiled on two critical issues that affect the Colombian Caribbean coast: Coastal Erosion and Beach Pollution. With the results derived from these observations and the evaluation of a coastline under crisis, a series of scientific articles and papers will be prepared in international coastal congresses.

Upon arriving at the university campus, Williams was surprised by the majestic sports facilities, especially the swimming pool, noting that in the United Kingdom only two university institutions have a swimming pool for dives of Olympic dimensions, like those at the Universidad del Atlántico. Williams said, "I am a man of water and it is very impressive that you give such importance to this type of facilities, I liked that a lot. I am delighted and very interested in returning very soon."

Professor Allan Thomas Williams BSc, Ph.D, Dip Ed, C. Eng, C. Sci, MIMMM, is a world expert in issues related to the dynamics of coastal systems and has over 250 works published in high impact journals such as Shoreline Management, Marine Pollution, Tourist Management, Journal of Coastal Research (JCR), among others. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Coastal Education and Research Foundation (CERF) and is one the JCR Editorial Board.

Nelson Rangel-Buitrago (Bsc, Msc, PhD) is a Full Professor of Geology at the University of Atlantico, Barranquilla, Colombia. He has been teaching at the university level since 2003. In addition to his teaching experience, Prof. Rangel-Buitrago has conducted many research projects on geology, geomorphology, and coastal management and has served as an expert consultant for national and international organizations, mostly in Spain, Brazil, Chile, and Colombia. He is also part of the CERF-JCR research society by serving as a Lifetime Member.