Delta-ENIGMA
Observation and experimentation equipment to improve predictions of biogeomorphology in deltas
Deltas and coastal plains are attractive places to live: fertile, flat, open to the sea. These lowlands are, however, also vulnerable to climate-change and sea-level rise. To better predict how deltas develop in the future we need a thorough understanding of how organisms, currents, waves, water and sand discharge shape the delta-landscape. This so-called biogeomorphology lies at the heart of Delta-ENIGMA, which provides infrastructure for intensive observational and experimental research of the Dutch Delta. This will improve our ability to predict future development, and help us live on happily in a changing Delta.
Infrastructure and User Services
Delta-ENIGMA is a coherent program of:
- A backbone observation network consisting of state-of-the art equipment in a long-term (10-year) deployment at key locations across rivers, estuaries and beach-dune systems. The instruments will measure the slow but cumulative processes during normal conditions, as well as the peaks, reversals and additional processes during extreme events.
- A rapidly deployable set of specialized instruments, to cover floods, droughts and storms.
- Essential laboratory facilities for experimental biogeomorphological process studies that will be renewed, extended and integrated, to study events and conditions that are presently unobservable in the field.
- A coherent open database of the measurement results will be accumulating over the 10-year period, to be used as the foundation for modelling studies and for experimental approaches.
- A Productive Knowledge Interaction Facility to boost interactions between biogeomorphology experts, policymakers and delta managers, to quickly bring our new insights to the world.
The infrastructure will support the interdisciplinary character of the research field at the interface of geomorphology, hydraulics, ecology and engineering. It will sustain and strengthen the prominent Dutch modelling tradition, by providing ‘big data’ to improve existing model approaches, but also push the current physics-based deterministic modelling to a new generation of data-driven approaches.
Examples/description of the type of research
Landscape development in deltas is the result of a complex interaction of geological, physical, ecological and human processes. The concept of biogeomorphology acknowledges these different processes and integrates them in an enriched system view. Dutch research has a strong tradition in geomorphology of deltas, linking ecological processes to geomorphology and hydraulics, and understanding and modelling of the underlying hydraulic and biogeomorphodynamic processes. Delta-ENIGMA provides unique infrastructure to understand how organisms, currents, waves, wind and sediment load together shape the delta landscape, including during extreme events. The infrastructure will boost the fields of geological, geomorphological, physical, hydraulic, ecological and social sciences, with focus on deltas, and supports integration of these fields. Furthermore, providing large sets of data will significantly promote and innovate the application of data science to scientific problems of delta development.
How to access the infrastructure
Data services: access to data and meta-data provided by Delta-ENIGMA is as open as possible, for internal and external users following FAIR principles. For raw data collected by the infrastructure, a moratorium for publication will apply. Data will receive a unique identifier (Doi), ensuring proper scientific acknowledgment for the authors.
Use of field equipment has strict priority for the core observational program of Delta-ENIGMA. Access to these services will be regulated through DANUBIUS-ERIC for both internal and external demands.
Access to laboratory equipment for consortium members is regulated through the Consortium Agreement. Access for external parties will be regulated through DANUBIUS-ERIC and laid down in a Service Level Agreement.