Significant coastal erosion has been recorded at Reynisfjara, Iceland’s famous black-sand beach, after a large section of the slope beneath Reynisfjall collapsed, reaching as far as the warning signs near the shoreline, reports RÚV.
According to Sigurður Sigurðarson, a coastal engineer at the Icelandic Road and Coastal Administration, the erosion is the result of prolonged easterly winds throughout the winter, often accompanied by powerful waves.
“The explanation is that there have been persistent easterly winds throughout the winter, often accompanied by very high waves. These easterlies transport sand along the south coast towards the west,” says Sigurður.
“Normally the prevailing winds are south-westerlies, which carry the sand eastwards. But this winter the pattern has been different, with easterly winds dominating, which is unusual,” he adds.
Rising sea levels, he says, have nothing to do with this.
“I think that can be stated with certainty. In fact, the opposite is the case in many places along the south coast, because the land is rising as glaciers retreat. So in many areas there has effectively been a relative fall in sea level rather than a rise,” says Sigurður.
Magnitude unseen before
Sigurður has studied Iceland’s south coast for many years and says he has never before seen changes of this magnitude to the appearance of the shoreline in this area.
“The issue is that Reynisfjall juts far out into the sea, so when sand is transported westwards by south-easterly winds, it gets trapped at Reynisfjall. This means the beach at Reynisfjara does not receive sand from the east, which is why the changes are so pronounced in this area.”
Fifty years ago, the shoreline was about 500 metres further out, and at that time sand could easily pass westwards around Reynisfjall.
Sigurður says it is impossible to predict whether the appearance of the coastline will continue to change.
“It all depends on the direction of the waves generated by the wind. Over the past autumn and winter, low-pressure systems have tracked across the Atlantic well to the south of us. Recently there has been news of intense weather systems affecting both the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula. These are low-pressure tracks passing well south of Iceland, and they create these easterly winds here. There isn’t much of the winter left now, so we don’t know how this will develop.”
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