Sudden cliff collapses are the most dramatic consequence of erosion on the Norfolk coastline.
Hundreds of tonnes of mud and soil can be sent tumbling onto the beach in a single incident, taking huge chunks out of the cliff line and putting homes and people in grave danger.
And it has been all but impossible to predict where the next collapse would happen - until now.
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The University of East Anglia has just launched a trailblazing project to lay state-of-the-art fibre optic ground sensing equipment along 10 miles (16kms) of cliffs between Sidestrand and Trimingham.
Called Distans (an acronym for distributed strain, temperature and acoustic sensing suite), the project aims to map areas of the cliff that are weaker and more likely to fail in the future, and collect data to better understand the process that leads to cliff collapses.
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Jessica Johnson, the UEA’s associate professor in solid Earth geophysics, said: “We are proud to be working with Trimingham Parish Council and North Norfolk District Council (NNDC), the people who are most affected by coastal erosion, on this pilot project.
“If successful, the project can easily be scaled up to monitor greater stretches of coastline continuously, which will aid decision-makers in planning and mitigating risk.”
The cable is just 6mm wide and will be buried at a depth of 10cm, as close as possible to the edge of the cliff.
A new technology called distributed sensing (DS) will be used to shoot light along the cable at high speeds. Changes to the travel of the pulses should provide clues about what is happening in the soil around it.
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One of the project’s goals is to find out if cliff collapses could one day be forecast.
PhD students Harry Whitelam and Dom Seager will work on the data analysis.
Mr Seager said: “This information can then inform the latter stages of the project, so we can hone in on the impactful causes and discover how they impact the scale and frequency of coastal activity.”
The university bought the cable using a £460,000 grant from the National Environment Research Council.
Cliff collapses in Norfolk in recent years have happened at Trimingham in January 2020, Mundesley in December 2021, and at Sidestrand and Hemsby in May this year.
Collapses tend to take place after heavy rain, which soaks into the soil and adds to its weight.
This, combined with existing weaknesses in the base of the cliffs caused by the crashing waves, can lead to some of the biggest falls.
Coastal erosion is widespread around the country, with around 28pc of the English and Welsh coastline experiencing erosion rates of at least 10cm/year.
It is widely understood that the north Norfolk coast is one of the hardest hit areas to experience the hazards associated with this process, which impacts people living, working, and visiting the area.
Councillor Harry Blathwayt, NNDC’s portfolio holder for coast, said the project could lead to exciting breakthroughs.
Mr Blathwayt said: “The impacts of coastal erosion are strongly felt here in north Norfolk as one of the hardest hit coastlines, and our communities are witness to the risks that rapid erosion poses.
"This is a really interesting area of research to understand if this type of technology could be used to help to predict cliff collapses and will complement [the NNDC campaign] Coastwise, which will be looking to work with communities to prepare for coastal erosion transition.”
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