Erica Pellón, researcher at IHCantabria, receives the 2nd Modesto Vigueras 2024 Award from the Technical Association of Ports and Coasts

The Technical Association of Ports and Coasts (ATPYC) awards today the “Second Modesto Vigueras 2024 Award” to Erica Pellón de Pablo, researcher of the Coastal Engineering and Management Group of the Environmental Hydraulics Institute of the University of Cantabria (IHCantabria).

Erica Pellón receives this award for the research that supported the development of her doctoral thesis and the content of several scientific articles published during the last two years in indexed journals. Her research provides relevant findings on the use of nature-assisted reclamation techniques to enhance beach accretion through field campaigns and laboratory experiments on beach plowing and re-profiling techniques.

Some of the most relevant results of this research were recently published in the journal Coastal Engineering, in an article entitled: “Onshore sediment transport enhancement and evolution of bedforms: Laboratory experiments of beach ploughing”. This paper was written by IHCantabria researchers, including Erica Pellón, as first author. Co-authors are: Omar Quetzalcóatl, Íñigo Aniel-Quiroga, Mauricio González, Raúl Medina and César Vidal.

Erica Pellón’s research uncovers the advantages of using “beach plowing,” an environmentally friendly method of mechanically plowing the intertidal zone to enhance natural sediment accretion. Full-scale laboratory experiments allowed sediment transport to be measured, demonstrating that beach plowing increases seafloor roughness and produces more wave energy dissipation, which facilitates beach reclamation through increased suspended transport. In addition, the plow forms move towards the coast, also increasing bottom transport.

Progressive coastal retreat, exacerbated by climate change, results in significant beach erosion during the winter, with only partial natural recovery in the summer. Pellón’s study explores the effectiveness of the innovative technique of beach plowing as a method to accelerate natural accretion processes and mitigate the impacts of coastal erosion. The experiments simulated beach plowing with a tractor in the intertidal zone, creating bedforms with specific dimensions.

The research concluded that the plowed bedforms produced three beneficial effects: (1) they increased shoreward transport of suspended sediment by up to 40%, (2) they migrated shoreward at a rate of 0.2 m/h, moving up to 61 kg of sediment per meter per hour, and (3) the movement of sand by machinery also aided recovery. Therefore, it is recommended that plowing be performed at each low tide to maximize the cumulative effect on beach reclamation.

The findings underscore the potential of plowing as a sustainable and effective strategy for improving beach resilience against climate change-induced erosion. This nature-assisted technique offers a novel and promising solution for coastal managers seeking to maintain beach width, improve dune health and support tourism by ensuring wider beaches during the summer season.

Modesto Vigueras Award

The Modesto Vigueras Award, organized annually by the ATPYC, is aimed at professionals under 40 years of age in the port and coastal sectors working in Spain. Its aim is to encourage the interest and specialization of new generations, promote the development of new ideas in these fields and encourage the participation of young people in the association’s national and international activities. In the last 12 years, IHCantabria researchers have obtained a total of 11 Modesto Vigueras awards.

The content of the scientific article recently published in the journal Coastal Engineering can be accessed through this link.