Coastal Protection on the West Coast of Jutland

North sea waves and currents, causing coastal erosion, constantly affect the West Coast of Jutland. Without coastal protection, the erosion would mean a coastline recession of up to 8 m a year in some places.

Coastline recession constitutes a great threat to properties and infrastructure near the coast and to the narrow sand dunes that protect the coastal lowlands against flooding. Consequently, the Danish government has taken part in implementing coastal protection on the West Coast since 1874.

Since 1983, the coastal protection of the 110 km stretch from Lodbjerg to Nymindegab has been carried out in cooperation between the State and the local municipalities. During this time, 28 km of slope protection has been carried out, 145 breakwaters have been built, and the coast has been nourished with some 65 million m³ of sand.

^{Photo: Hunderup Luftfoto}

Since the 1990s, the coastal protection of the west coast of Jutland has primarily consisted of nourishment and slope protection in front of sand dunes and sand dikes. However today, the work almost only consists of nourishment. Nourishment means that the coast is nourished with sand from the North Sea, which is either dumped on the sandbar or placed directly on the beach.

Whereas past coastal protection efforts, solely including solid constructions, have been able to reduce coastline recession, nourishment has meant that the recession has been brought to a halt. The annual coastal protection scheme of the West Coast is planned on the basis of survey, measurements and analysis of coastal developments during the preceding years, and the Danish Coastal Authority is continuously optimizing the coastal protection effort on the west coast.

Since 1982, the Danish government has also participated in coastal protection at Lønstrup and Skagen in Northern Jutland.