Ore Estuary Research Articles

Retreating coastline, retreating government? Managing sea level rise in an age of austerity

Recent trends in governance in England, UK – exemplified by the notion of the ‘Big Society’ and the 2011 Localism Act – have seen local communities and individuals encouraged to take greater responsibility for public policy issues that were previously seen as largely or exclusively state-led. This paper examines a case study where this localism presumption has been applied to estuary flood defence and considers the appropriateness of local- or community-based initiatives in dealing with sea level rise. We examine the Alde and Ore Estuary, Suffolk, England, UK, where the state has retreated as the main decision-maker for climate change adaptation and consider the impacts of this change in governance approach. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with local actors focusing on: a) perceptions of the governance of flood defence plans, b) the legitimacy of decisions reached, and c) social equity linked with localism. We find that there is a limit to what can be devolved down to local communities in the absence of structure, guidelines, funding or supervision provided by state actors. It is unrealistic that responsibility for problems such as flood defence, involving complex trade-offs; issues of public safety and public expenditure; and protection of natural assets be devolved so comprehensively to local communities without substantial co-leadership. State actors still need to co-lead and provide a link between the local scale and the national and international policy scales and to facilitate a broader sense of vision for future landscapes. Without transparent co-led processes involving a broad range of actors in the local community and state bodies, decisions made regarding flood defence initiatives may be perceived by local people to lack legitimacy. Without an independent arbiter involved in project planning and decision-making, disagreements may dissolve into intractable disputes that damage project credibility and hamper or even paralyze practical progress. Without compensation schemes that acknowledge that any flood defence plan will mean some local people lose out, some are likely to vigorously resist change, hampering progress. It will also be necessary to ensure a focus on inter-generational equity so that current generations do not deflect costs onto later generations, for whom costs may be higher and decisions more difficult.

Delivering more inclusive public participation in coastal flood management: A case study in Suffolk, UK

Ongoing problems achieving local population acceptance of coastal flood strategies threaten their implementation. A lack of meaningful engagement by all elements of potentially affected populations is seen as instrumental in this problem. This research assumes that multiple discourses exist on involvement with flood management, but that most are not engaged in decision-making. The aim is therefore to identify, and develop an approach for engaging with, all discourses related to flood management decision-making. Q methodology and follow-up interviews were used to identify both discourses and issues with current engagement strategies related to involvement in flood management in a case study population, controlled to allow for potential bias subject to the validity of the information deficit model, based in the Alde and Ore Estuary, Suffolk, UK. The five discourses included people who are knowledgeable; politically aware; sceptical and pragmatic; sceptical and locally attuned; and engaged or disengaged; in their perspectives on flood management. A workshop was subsequently held to identify engagement strategies that could engage with all discourses. Involvement of participants representing the range of existing discourses is argued to be necessary to lead to effective recommendations for more inclusive engagement approaches.

Importance of Viral Lysis and Dissolved DNA for Bacterioplankton Activity in a P-Limited Estuary, Northern Baltic Sea

Through lysis of bacterioplankton cells, viruses mediate an important, but poorly understood, pathway of carbon and nutrients from the particulate to the dissolved form. Via this activity, nutrient-rich cell lysates may become available to noninfected cells and support significant growth. However, the nutritional value of lysates for noninfected bacteria presumably depends on the prevailing nutrient limitation. In the present study, we examined dynamics of dissolved DNA (D-DNA) and viruses along a transect in the phosphorus (P)-limited Ore Estuary, northern Baltic Sea. We found that viruses were an important mortality factor for bacterioplankton and that their activity mediated a significant recycling of carbon and especially of P. Uptake of dissolved DNA accounted for up to 70% of the bacterioplankton P demand, and about a quarter of the D-DNA pool was supplied through viral lysis of bacterial cells. Generally, the importance of viral lysates and uptake of D-DNA was highest at the estuarine and offshore stations and was positively correlated with P limitation measured as alkaline phosphatase activity. Our results highlight the importance of viral activity for the internal recycling of principal nutrients and pinpoints D-DNA as a particularly relevant compound in microbial P dynamics.

The fate of Chernobyl radiocesium in the River �re catchment, northern Sweden

A137Cs-balance for the catchment of the River Ore in central northern Sweden which received about 30 kBq m−2 of radiocesium from the Chernobyl accident was calculated for the period 1986–1991. Altogether, slightly less than 10% of the total deposition in the catchment was estimated to be exported from the terrestrial parts during this period of time. More than 90% of this loss is transported with the River Ore to the outer sea of the Gulf of Bothnia. The retention in Lake Ortrasket which is the only lake along the river course and the Ore Estuary outside the river mouth was thus slightly less than 10%. Nearly all of the radiocesium deposited in the lake is permanently retained in the sediments and successively covered with less radioactive sediment. A considerable export of radiocesium from the estuary to the outer sea takes place due to resuspension and subsequent transport by wind and wave generated currents.

Characterization of sediments by high-frequency echo-sounding

A high-frequency echo-sounder (200 kHz) was used to characterize the sediments of the shallow Ore Estuary in the Gulf of Bothnia, northern Sweden. The acoustic signal patterns of the echogram were used to differentiate between fine-grained and coarse-grained sediment bottoms according to four major criteria: roughness of the line surface, line thickness, and occurrence of white line and double echo. The echogram characteristics were calibrated against physical properties of the sediment determined in the laboratory. It can be concluded that high-frequency echo-sounding offers an easily applied and reliable method for determining the spatial extent of different bottom sediments (e.g., fine-grained) in shallow waters.