As efforts step up to protect coastal regions affected by erosion, scientists have found an unexpected way to protect communities—zapping the shoreline with electricity.
In a study published in the journal Communications Earth and the Environment, researchers from Northwestern University demonstrated the novel technique to strengthen marine sand, potentially offering a sustainable solution to combat erosion caused by climate change and rising sea levels.
“Over 40 percent of the world’s population lives in coastal areas,” Alessandro Rotta Loria, who led the study, said in a statement.
“Because of climate change and sea-level rise, erosion is an enormous threat to these communities. Through the disintegration of infrastructure and loss of land, erosion causes billions of dollars in damage per year worldwide,” he said.
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What would this do to the local ecology? Seems like turning the sand into a cement like substance would have massive effects on local wildlife.
This was my first thought.
Marine tardigrades are the weirder, cooler cousins of the freshwater moss-piglets we all love. They are just one of the species that live in intertidal sand.
I was reading through hoping they’d show they’d considered the impact on life, but nope. Two to three volts doesn’t sound a lot, but if you’re a small creature living half in brine it might be a big deal.
Plus the change in the sand that is the whole point, as you say.
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