Coastal Erosion In Montrose, Scotland Averaging From 2.8 - 7.0 Meters/ Year; Golf Course Falling Into The Sea

A beach in north-east Scotland is eroding rapidly owing to climate change, leaving a town at risk of flooding and its centuries-old golf links crumbling into the sea. The Dynamic Coast report in 2021 studied the rate of erosion at Montrose and predicted that 120 metres would be lost over 40 years, an average of 3 metres a year.

People in Montrose are fearing the start of the storm season in autumn, as last year’s record-breaking storms caused the beach to erode 7 metres in the space of a year, more than 4 metres more than scientists predicted. A report on behalf of Montrose Golf Links by EnviroCentre in December revealed that historically observed average rates of retreat are between 2.8–7.0 metres a year and that “observed trends in coastal erosion can be expected to continue, or indeed accelerate in response to future climate change”.

Scotland faced unprecedented storms last season and in spring recorded the country’s wettest April since 1947. In November last year, Montrose’s beach promenade collapsed during high tide after Storm Babet, leaving a gaping hole on the walkway. During this storm alone the beach eroded 3 metres. A month later, in December, gales of 86mph were recorded at nearby Inverbervie climate station during Storm Gerrit.

David Wood, who leads Montrose community council’s sub-group on coastal erosion at the beach, said: “I’m born and bred in Montrose and I don’t think any of us can remember anything like the level of storms that we had [last season]. Were these once-in-100-year storms? Is it going to be another 100 years? Probably not. This is climate change.”

EDIT

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/aug/03/scottish-beach-eroding-by-7-metres-a-year-montrose-climate-change