The Rhine-Meuse estuary has been severely dredged over the last couple of decades to enable access to ports. However the total sediment volumes going in and out of this estuary, by natural processes and dredging, have been unclear. We need to better understand the sediment budget and the differences between the past and the present state of the estuary. This will allow us to manage sediment and morphology in the future under fast rising sea level and changing freshwater discharge variability.
The numbers in this movie are preliminary and subject of ongoing research. This video is part of the collection of videos made for the Bruningslecture of Utrecht University (bruningslecture.nl/).