This more detailed and accurate model could help scientists better predict the motion of dunes or
manage coastal land threatened by erosion, says physicist Hans Jürgen Herrmann, also of ETH Zürich, who led the research team.
Likewise, Texas, Rhode Island, Maine, and South Carolina's
coastal zones all benefit from a degree of rolling setbacks, a policy akin to
managed retreat that allows private
coastal property owners to develop their
land, but prohibits the erection of seawalls and barriers once sea levels begin to threaten the structures.