Thaindian News

London, Oct 13 (IANS) Scientists have started counting sand grains on a beach in Britain to try and calculate the rate of coastal erosion, a media report said Thursday.

Plymouth University researchers say it will take about five years to carry out their study, monitoring data from instruments mounted on 40 metres of scaffolding at Perranporth, according to the Daily Mail.

Data will be collected using laptop computers housed in a mobile field laboratory installed at the top of the beach.

The University of Delaware will be recording the movement of the seabed as the wave passes over.

Jack Puleo, from Plymouth University, said: “Conditions on Perranporth beach are ideal for this research.”

“The large tidal range will allow the installation of the instruments with relative ease and the large waves will ensure significant sand movement at high tide when measurements will be made.”

The steel frame has been installed on Perranporth beach in Cornwall to help an international team of scientists understand how breaking waves move grains of sand.

Researchers from Plymouth University will be working with counterparts in America and Australia on the experiment to examine coastal erosion.

The team has deployed over 100 state-of-the-art instruments to record water levels, flow speeds, rates of sand movement and beach change.

Researcher Ian Turner said: “For every wave that runs up the beach, the instruments will give information on the transport of sand in the water column, the movement of the seabed itself and the net change in the beach shape.

“This is the first time that such comprehensive measurements will be recorded on a beach.

“Counting the grains of sand and watching them as they move will allow the scientists to model how the waves erode the beach, second by second.”