EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON WAVE OVERTOPPING ON BREAKWATERS CO-LOCATED WITH SEAWEED AQUACULTURE SYSTEMS

Coastal areas are expected to be subject to continuous and increasing pressure, both from world population growth and climate change. By nature, coastal areas are highly desirable and currently most densely populated and fastest growing urban areas are located near the coastline (McMichael et al., 2020). Furthermore, coastal communities and ecosystems are increasingly vulnerable to coastal hazards due to the sea-level-rise (Oppenheimer et al., 2019). Hard protection measures such as breakwaters, seawalls, and dikes, are widespread. However, soft protection measures have shown to offer a plethora of advantages, such as their flexibility and adaptability to varying maritime conditions.