ministerie van verkeer en waterstaat rijkswaterstaat dienst weg- en waterbouwkunde afdeling advisering waterbouw coastal measurements in the Netherlands Jarkus Introduction Because a sandy coast is a very dynamic coastline, and because stability of the coastline is vital for the safety of the Netherlands against inundation by storm surges (dunes protect the polder-area, which is situated below sea le­ vel), already in former centuries it was necessary to get some knowledge about the movements of the coastline. In the middle of the 19th century systematic coastal measurements started. On fixed intervals (approx. 250 m) the position of the dune-foot, the high water line and the low water line was measured every year. In order to have a fixed reference, monuments were placed on the beach. Around 1960 it became clear that more detailed information was necessary. Therefore the system of monuments and base lines was somewhat updated, and a detailed program for coastal measurements was set up. Along the whole North Sea coastline from Cadzand in the south to Rottumeroog a fixed set of measuring lines was defined (see fig. 1). In total approx. 3000 lines are defined this way. The lines have a intermediate distance of 200 m and are perpendicular to the base line. The base line is parallel to the coast­ line, and is positioned approx. near the high water line. On coastal sections with groins, the measuring lines are placed in the middle between the groins. Profiles are measured every year from 200 m landward of the base line to 800 m seaward of the base line (that means to an average depth of 8 m below mean sea level). Every five years every kilometer a line is measured until 2500 m from the base line. All measurements are made in the period between april and september. , The measurements are performed in two parts (see fig. 2): * leveling above the low wat.er line * sounding below approx. mean sea level line leveling The levelings are done by the survey department of Rijkswaterstaat, using aerial photography (see fig. 3). In the field only some calibration points are measured using conventional equipment. In flight direction 60 % overlap is used in order to get a good stereoscopic effect. In more than one strip is required, an overlap of 20 - 30 % between the strips is used. With the use of an analytic plotter the height is measured in the measuring lines. In this plotter the overlapping photographs are presented a a three dimensional image. The position of the bends in the profile are read as digital values. The program interpo­ lated the data, and every 5 m .a height-point of the profile is stored in memory. soundings The soundings are done by survey vessels of various Rijkswaterstaat departments and by survey vessels of the waterboards. Profile data are automatically stored on board as x-y-z- values. Postprocessing equipment calculates the depths in the profile with intermediate distances of 10 m. 1 storage Leveling data and sounding data are coupled and stored on a mainframe computer of Rijkswaterstaat. The data are available to coastal managers, researchers and everyone else who is interested. All data are on-line available since 1963. This data-base is called Jarkus (abbreviation from JAaRlijkse KUStmetingen, yearly coastal measurements). Post processing software is available to read the data, and to perform additi­ onal computations. Standard Postprocessing is plotting profiles (fig. 4) and making three dimensional plots (fig.5). Also volumetric calculations can be made. This can be done in horizontal and in vertical slices (fig. 6). The vertical sections are used for gentle coastlines, while the horizontal sections are used for coastlines facing relatively steep tidal channels. Records of the Jarkus-database have a fixed format (fig. 7). This format has become the standard of all coastal information systems and coastal computer models in the Netherlands. One measurement consists of a header and depth data. The header format is 716 and contains the following information: 1. Coastal section 1. Rottum 9. Delfland 2. Schiermonnikoog 10. Maasvlakte 3. Ameland 11. Voorne 4. Terschelling 12. Goeree 5. Vlieland 13. Schouwen 6. Texel 14. Noord Beveland 7. Noord Holland 15. Walcheren 8. Rijnland 16. Zeeuwsch-Vlaanderen 2. year, in 4 digit (1982) 3. profile number (which is in fact a distance from a zero-point along the coast). The profile number is given in 10 m (thus: profile 07 - 234 is 2.34 km south of Den-Helder along the coast of Noord Holland). 4. Profile type 0 - normal (official) profile 1 - additional profile in the axis of a groin 2 - additional profile parallel to a groin 5. date of measurement (leveling) ddmm 6. date of sounding ddmm 7. number of points The depth lines contain the following information 5(2X6,11,3X) 8. horizontal distance in meters from base line (seaward is positive) 9. vertical distance in centimeters relative to National Datum (NAP), which is approx. at Mean Sea Level (depth are negative, heights are positive). 10. control code (from the code it can be seen if data are leveling or soun­ ding data). Dune erosion The Jarkus database is at this moment in use for routine checks of the safety of our dune coast. Every year all profiles have to be judged if the provide enough safety. The technique to do this is described in the "guide to the assessment of the safety of dunes as a sea defense" [english edition, CUR, 1989]. In fact an storm induced erosion analysis has to be made for a series of pro- 2 Location (10^ tPy period 1 toaland 2,2 1980 2 Amelarri 0,31 1979 3 Texel, Eierlarei 3,05 1979 4 Texel, Eierland ' 2,85 1985 5 Texel, da Koog 3,02 1984 6 Callantsoog 0,35 1976-1977 7 Callantsocg 0,47 1979-1980 8 Scheveningen 0,045 1969 9 Scheveningen 0,7 1975 10 Scheveningen 0,33 1985 11a Heek V. Holland 18,94 1971-1972 11b Hoek V. Holland 1,50 1976-1977 12 Hoek V. Holland Htwil van Ho&aR3 0,87 1977-1978 13 Brielsa Gat Ceua 0,15 1979-1980 14 Voorra 0,11 1974 15 Voorna 0,15 1974 16 Voorna 1,10 1977 ©©©©©(5> 17 Voorna 0,44 1983 18 Voorna 3,40 1984-1985 19 Goeroa 0,40 1969-1970 20 Goeree 0,61 1971 21 Goeree 3,64 1973-1974 22 Goeree 1,27 1977 © 23 Goeree 0,33 1984 24 Goeree 0,53 1985 25 Schouwen 0,112 1975 26 Noord Beveland 0,21 1973 27 VÈuLcheren 0,10 1984 28 Vfalcheren 0,775 1952-1959 (i])®(ü) 29 vlissingen 0,05 1952 30 Vlissingen 0,032 1966 31 Vlissingen 0,045 ,1975 32 Breskens 0,206 1971 33 Callantsoog O GanI 1,3 1986 34 Texheijde 3,0 1986 35 Voome 1,0 1986 36 Conburg 0,23 1986 37 Kop V. Schouwen 1,83 1987 38 Westkapelle 0,025 1988 39 Westkapelle 0,41 1988 40 Zoutelande 0,15 1988 41 Cadzand 0,85 1988 42 Zwanenwater 1,85 1987 43 Hoek V. Hollard 0,2 1988 Totaal 59,14 file measurements (approx. 10 years). For each year the calculation resulted in a maximum erosion point during a design storm. Through the calculated erosion points (point P), a regression line has to be drawn (fig. 8). Extrapolation of this line until next year indicates if there is still sufficient safety availa­ ble. Computer programs on a PC are available to perform the computations, using the data from the Jarkus database. All coastal managers have to do these computa­ tions on a routine basis (fig. 9). Evaluation of beach nourishment projects In October 1987 a report has been prepared to evaluate beach nourishment pro­ jects in the Netherlands. For the preparation of the Coastal Memorandiim of 1989 a number of technical reports has been prepared. The technical report nr. 12 (beach and dune nourishment) is a follow up of the report to the parliament of October 1987. In this paper a summary of these reports is given, with some more detailed information on a few specific projects. Beach nourishments can be placed at several sites in the cross-sectional pro­ file, see figure 10. Sand is in the Netherlands almost always placed by hydrau­ lic equipment. Dry hauling is hardly used. Using hydraulic dredges a quantity of 200 000 - 500 000 m-^ per week is feasible. The coast of a nourishment work increase significantly if the sand has to be placed higher on the beach. In figure 11 is indicated the quantity of sand nourished on the Dutch coast in the former years. Table 1 gives an overview of the executed nourishment works. For the evaluation a selection was made from all the projects. The criteria for this selection were - the size of the nourishment, in relation to the natural process of erosion - the type of nourishment; dune improvements were not evaluated. The evaluation is done by using the data from the Jarkus - database. It is assumed that the boundary of the active zone lies within 800 m from the base lines and that consequently the whole active zone is covered by the Jarkus data. Because of tidal channels for the nourishments in Zeeland data are only used until the middle of the tidal channel. On the basis of the data in the Jarkus database the volume of the coastal section in front of the nourishment has been calculated. This has been done for a number of years, before and after the nourishment. In this way it is possible to determine how much sand is disappearing due to the natural erosion of the coast and of the effect of the nourishment.