Study suggests the construction of 2 vast dams in the North Sea to protect Europe from floods

According to scientists, as seawater level rises due to climate change, a plan to address flooding in northern Europe is to construct 2 vast dams in the North Sea.

A new study, which will be published soon in the American Journal of Meteorology, suggests the construction of the 2 facilities as "it might be impossible to truly fathom the magnitude of the threat that global-mean sea-level rise poses." 

Sjoerd Groeskamp, author of the paper and an oceanographer at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, suggests that a significant proportion of the city of London and 2/3 of the Netherlands could be underwater in the forthcoming decades. To prevent the disaster, the researchers recommend the establishment of:

• a 475-kilometer dam stretching between Scotland and west Norway 
• a 160-kilometer dam between France and UK's Cornwall

In the future, more than 25 million people would be affected and entire cities would be devastated. The study states that, based on the impact of the sea level rise, the construction of the facilities is practicable. 

According to the authors, the proposed locations for the 2 mega-dams are beneficial. The average depth in the area where plans for the larger dam have been made is 127 meters, reaching a maximum of 320 meters, near Norway. Equally, the depth of the sea between England and France is (almost everywhere across the proposed location) less than 100 meters.

Regarding the project's financial viability, the study suggests that, based on current estimates, the total cost of the endeavor would be $270-540 billion and could be accomplished in about 20 years. The construction can be handled by 15 countries. "When assuming a 20-year construction time over which to spread the costs, this gives an annual expense of 0.07-0.16% of the combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the 15 involved countries," the study states.

Scientists admit that the construction of the 2 dams will significantly impact the North Sea and will have severe ramifications. First of all, the North Sea will be transformed into a large lake and its current ecosystem will be completely affected. Industries such as fishing in the area will experience significant financial losses. Moreover, all water deriving from rivers in the mainland would still be delivered in the ocean, therefore, powerful pumps would have to be installed.

Experts across the world find this idea radical but viable. Hannah Cloke, a Professor of hydrology at the University of Reading, stated that it is beneficial to make similar plans and to think out of the box. “If you look back hundreds and hundreds of years, then we’ve made some significant adaptations to our landscape, and the Netherlands is an example of that…We can, as humans, do amazing things," Prof. Cloke, added.

Nevertheless, according to Prof. Cloke, there may be more efficient manners to address climate change. She suggested focusing on making infrastructure more "resilient" to flooding so it can survive in the long term.