An innovative soft engineering intervention, comprising an unprecedented 21.5 Mm³ sand nourishment known as the Sand Engine, has recently been implemented on the South Holland coast just north of Ter Heyde, the Netherlands. This intervention complies with earlier ideas as advocated by Per Bruun, our sadly missed coastal scientist in favor of nourishment as a reply to sea level rise. The 21.5 Mm³ Sand Engine nourishment is a pilot project to test the efficacy of local meganourishments as a counter measure for the anticipated enhanced coastal recession in the 21^st century. The proposed concept*, a single mega-nourishment, is expected to be more efficient, economical and environmentally friendly in the long term than traditional beach and shoreface nourishments presently being used to negate coastal recession. The above picture shows the Sand Engine at low water in March 2013; note the intriguing up drift morphological variability. (Photograph courtesy of Rijkswaterstaat/Joop van Houdt and caption by Marcel Stive).

* Stive, M.J.F.; de Schipper, M.; Luijendijk, A.; Ranasinghe, R.; Aarninkhof, S., and van Gelder-Maas, C., 2013. A new alternative to saving our beaches from sea level rise: The Sand Engine. Journal of Coastal Research, 29(5), 1001—1008.