The erosion of coastal cliffs is inevitable. The cliff collapses are a
hazard, a problem for coastal land use planners and limit the use of the
coastline as an amenity. PROTECT will research techniques that will
identify cliffs that are approaching a state of imminent collapse and
allow accurate predictions to be made of the timing of the collapse. One
technique will attempt to remotely measure changes in tension within the
fracture network near a cliff face, whilst others will monitor acoustic
crack emissions generated during fracturing. If successful, the results
will provide both long term and short term alerts of cliff instability.
The techniques will be developed at cliff research sites where control
data on the physical properties of the cliffs are available. Outputs will
be the monitoring techniques, recommendations for their implementation by
coastal managers and increased understanding of cliff collapse parameters.
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