Innovative Approach in the Stabilisation and Erosion Protection of Coastal Slopes in Scotland

The significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over long- and short-term manifesting as a climate change (IPCC, 2013) affects all structures especially the ones on the interface between air, soil, and water such as the coastal slopes (e.g. natural or engineered; Meyer et al 2010). The design and management of these structures is traditionally based on less likely, detrimental, assumed climate characteristics that, if they happen, will bring relatively insignificant change in terms of affecting the stability of the structure.

The stability of coastal slopes, in general, depends on the spatial and temporal distribution of the weather patterns, especially rainfall and wave action which are often triggering soil mass wasting in terms of erosion and landslips (The Scottish Executive, 2005; Minder et al 2009). order to minimise the risk to life and property on and near coastal slopes, the potential long and short term impacts of climate change should be taken into account when developing the design for stability and long-term management. Despite this, only a few theoretical frameworks have been reported in the literature (e.g. Iverson 2000; Wong et al 2004) account for erosion and landslides as the most frequent forms of mass wasting on slopes. These are based on the analysis of historic events and systematic data collection in order to predict future behaviours, but significantly lack focus on coastal slopes.