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Coastal Erosion

April 29, 2022

The UK has a history of struggles with coastal erosion, particularly along its southern and eastern shores. More and more settlements are placed along coastlines and this is especially worrisome because they risk losing their properties to unstable coastal cliffs. The UK does not have lengthy sandy beaches (arguably one of the best ways to combat coastal erosion) and instead loses a lot of their coast to the high and destructive ocean waves. With the rising of ocean levels due to climate change, we expect to see more trends like these to continue. Below is a map outlining some of the areas that are both vulnerable to coastal erosion and that could have potentially catastrophic economic downfalls. Some of the most vulnerable areas, such as Skegness and Great Yarmouth in England as well as Port Talbot and Aberystwyth in Wales, stand to lose an accumulation of 22 billion euros worth of properties, affecting an upwards of 100,000 people.

Extreme Weather in the UK

April 05, 2022

I suppose it must not be surprising to know that the United Kingdom has experienced the same rising in temperatures that everywhere else in the world has seen due to climate change. The United Kingdom, along with almost every other country in the world signed the Paris Agreement, which is part of a worldwide effort to combat climate change. The agreement states that everyone should collectively try to reduce carbon emissions that will hurt the ozone layer further and most importantly keep the Earth from going above 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperature averages.The image below states more about the increase in UK average temperatures as well as the increased “ frequency, duration, and intensity of these events ”. The UK has experienced the 10 hottest days in their recorded history all in the last 20 years. Keep in mind that the UK has been recording temperatures since 1884. Unfortunately, they have also had 2 huge heatwaves recently. The second biggest heat wave in 2003

Floods and Mass Wasting

March 17, 2022

Landslides in the UK On an island with a high population and large quantity of mountains, landslides are bound to cause destruction of property and loss of lives. The UK is no exception to that. In fact, 18,000 landslides have been documented since the 1970’s with over 100 lives taken from these natural disasters. Each dot on the map below is a documented landslide that is being updated with every new occurrence by the British Geological Survey National Landslide Database . Why do landslides occur? Landslides can occur with different materials, in different directions, at different speeds, and with varies degrees of destruction. The diagram below can help you differentiate between the different kinds of landslides present all over the world. In order to study the differences between all of these landslides, The BGS National Landslide Database records: age damage caused full bibliographic reference location movement date name size/dimensions trigger type Preventative measures It’s no

How do volcanoes affect the UK?

February 25, 2022

Good news, it’s is most likely that if you live in the United Kingdom that you’ll go your whole life not having to worry about volcanic activity on your island. Hooray! Now although no volcanic activity is currently a worry in the United Kingdom, that is not to say that they are completely safe from the destructive forces of nature. As a very powerful nation, they have responsibilities to their territories. One of them is tracking and prevention of volcanic activity. Of the UKOT (United Kingdom’s Overseas Territories), two are of major concern. First is volcanism on Ascension Island . Here, “volcanic activity has been dominated by lava flows produced from vents distributed all over the surface of the island, with less frequent explosive eruptions producing volcanic ash and pyroclastic flows originating from the central and eastern areas”. Second is volcanic activity on Tristan da Cunha , which like Ascension Island is part of the UKOT of Saint Helena. This area is active! The most r

Earthquakes? In the UK?

February 13, 2022

The UK does not experience high earthquake activity. They are at a safe distance from their nearest tectonic plate being the Eurasian plate and because of this they are in an area that has not had an earthquake that has resulted in destruction of property or fatalities in over a century. Below is a list of Significant British Earthquakes from the past few hundred years, as you can see most of those earthquakes are of a low magnitude and did not hit the UK directly but rather surrounding waters. In 2010, emergency responders in multiple locations throughout the UK has a simulation earthquake drill that would help prepare the fire and rescue team for the unlikely occasion that a destructive earthquake were to hit the island. This USAR (Urban Search And Rescue) Earthquake Drill is referred to as Exercise Orion 2010 . Pictures of what this “real life practice” looked like are posted below featuring one of the recently demolished locations used for this exercise. During Exercise Orion 2

Tectonic Plates in Relation to the UK

February 04, 2022

What are tectonic plates and why are they important? Tectonic plates are segments of the earth that are primarily continental and oceanic floor, and they move because they lie on top of softer and moving rock. Hot rock just below the surface rises and when it cools and gets heavy, it sinks again. Depending on the direction the plate is moving in, it can collide with other tectonic plates and create earthquakes, volcanoes, and new land (ex: mountains, islands, etc.) Although these naturally occurring disasters don’t please humans as it creates situations that might destroy their property or take lives, it is not something that we can control, but it is something we can predict. The boundaries that separate each tectonic plate give clues as to where it is most likely that these natural disasters will occur based on their placement and past volcanic/ earthquake activity. This can be seen most easily in the NOAA map below . Do tectonic plate boundaries affect the UK? The United Kingdo

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