The Northern European Enclosure Dam (NEED) is a proposed solution to the problem of rising ocean levels in Northern Europe. It would be a megaproject, involving the construction of two massive dams in the English Channel and the North Sea; the former between France and England, and the latter between Scotland and Norway. [1] The concept was conceived by the oceanographers Sjoerd Groeskamp and Joakim Kjellsson. [2] [3]
As of 2020 [update] , the scheme remains a thought experiment intended to portray engineered solutions to the effects of climate change as too "extreme" to be pursued. [4] The scheme's authors describe it as "more of a warning than a solution". [2]
Groeskamp estimates that the NEED will cost 250 to 500 billion euros and will take 50 to 100 years to complete. [5] Groeskamp, an oceanographer, has not revealed how he determined the cost projection or construction timetable.
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The southern enclosure (NEED South) would be a single dam across the Channel between The Lizard, Cornwall, England in the north and Plouescat, Ploudalmézeau, Brittany, France in the south. The stipulated length is 161 kilometres (100 mi), with an average depth of about 85 metres (279 ft) and a maximum depth of 102 metres (335 ft).
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The northern enclosure (NEED North) would be a multiple section dam at the perimeter of the northern rim of the North Sea. The detailed engineering is not stated, although some form of continuous structure could provide for overland infrastructure— road and/or railway between Great Britain and Norway.
The western section of the North Sea Dam would be an island jumping, from mainland Scotland in the southwest, through the Orkney Island to Shetland in the northeast, with a total length stipulated to 145 km.
The first stretch origin at Duncansby Head, Caithness, mainland Scotland and crossing Pentland Firth to Brough Ness, the southern tip of South Ronaldsay in the Orkney Islands. Although being a narrow strait of 10 km, the sea floor is down to 100 m depth.
The stretch through southern Orkney continues to Burray, over the narrow Skerry Sound to Mainland and passing the 4 km wide and 30 m deep Shapinsay Sound to Shapinsay. From its northern tip Ness of Ork, the 6 km wide and 110 m deep Stronsay Firth is crossed to War Ness, the southern tip of Eday. The stretch through northern Orkney continues eastward over the 2 km wide and 22 m deep Eday Sound to Sanday. From its northern tip Tofts Ness, the 4 km wide and 20 m deep North Ronaldsay Firth is crossed to Strom Ness on North Ronaldsay, the northernmost of the Orkney Islands.
The crossing of the Fair Isle Channel, between Dennis Head, North Ronaldsey and Scat Ness, the southern tip of Mainland, Shetland, would be the first open waters section of the North Sea Dam, with a distance of exactly 80 km and water depths down to 110 m. A dam across the shortest distance between the two archipelagos would leave Fair Isle placed within the enclosure.
The eastern section of the North Sea Dam would offer the greatest engineering challenge of the whole NEED project, stipulated to a length of 331 km through open water and with the sea floor depths exceeding 300 m in the Norwegian trench.
The dam would originate from the eastern shores of Mainland, Shetland, just north of Lerwick, heading east to Bressay and Isle of Noss to allow for the shortest ocean crossing towards Sotra island in Hordaland on the western coast of Norway.
The ocean floor east of Shetland dives down to depths below 100 m just 1 km off shore, and then continues fairly flat through Bressay Ground and Viking bank for some 210 km, until the deep decline of the Norwegian trench. Here, being the latter part of the sea crossing, the sea floor reaches some 321 m depth within 5 km from the western Norwegian coast where there is a steep incline.
For the NEED to work, Norwegian internal waters have to be enclosed as well, as the Sotra terminus of the North Sea Dam is an island. With the shortest distance for the crossing from Shetland, the dam will reach the western shore of Sotra, just off Telavåg. The final part of the enclosure would therefore have to be the crossing of the narrow, but deep sound separating Sotra from mainland Norway close to Bergen.
Several alternatives are viable, one being the route crossing the 1 km wide and some 140 m deep Lerøyosen sound from southern Sotra, the islands of Lerøyna, Bjelkarøyna and Storakinna to the seemingly mainland south of Hjellestad, a total distance of 5 km. As the latter lies on an island, the very narrow Ådlandstraumen would have to be closed, in order to make a complete enclosure.
A more northerly route from Sotra would cross the 650 m wide and 90 m deep Kobbaleia sound, the islands of Tyssøyna and Alvøyna, and finally the 1 km wide and 100 m deep Raunefjorden sound to the mainland just off Flesland, Bergen International Airport.
There is also a possibility that Norway would include an enclosure of Bergen, which has faced many floods in recent years, [6] and in that case the first part of the enclosure dam would be between Sotra and Askøy, and the second between Askøy and mainland Norway, crossing Byfjorden north of the city center of Bergen.
Orkney, also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north of the coast of Caithness and has about 70 islands, of which 20 are inhabited. The largest island, the Mainland, has an area of 523 square kilometres (202 sq mi), making it the sixth-largest Scottish island and the tenth-largest island in the British Isles. Orkney's largest settlement, and also its administrative centre, is Kirkwall.
Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands, and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom.
Firth is a word in the English and Scots languages used to denote various coastal waters in the United Kingdom, predominantly within Scotland. In the Northern Isles, it more often refers to a smaller inlet. It is linguistically cognate to fjord, which has a more constrained sense in English. Bodies of water named "firths" tend to be more common on the Scottish east coast, or in the southwest of the country, although the Firth of Clyde is an exception to this. The Highland coast contains numerous estuaries, straits, and inlets of a similar kind, but not called "firth" ; instead, these are often called sea lochs. Before about 1850, the spelling "Frith" was more common.
The Pentland Firth is a strait which separates the Orkney Islands from Caithness in the north of Scotland. Despite the name, it is not a firth.
Lerwick is the main town and port of the Shetland archipelago, Scotland. Shetland's only burgh, Lerwick had a population of about 7,000 residents in 2010.
The Mainland, also known as Hrossey and Pomona, is the main island of Orkney, Scotland. Both of Orkney's burghs, Kirkwall and Stromness, lie on the island, which is also the heart of Orkney's ferry and air connections.
Bressay is a populated island in the Shetland archipelago of Scotland.
Shapinsay is one of the Orkney Islands off the north coast of mainland Scotland. With an area of 29.5 square kilometres (11.4 sq mi), it is the eighth largest island in the Orkney archipelago. It is low-lying and, with a bedrock formed from Old Red Sandstone overlain by boulder clay, fertile. Consequently, most of the area is given over to farming. Shapinsay has two nature reserves and is notable for its bird life. Balfour Castle, built in the Scottish Baronial style, is one of the island's most prominent features, a reminder of the Balfour family's domination of Shapinsay during the 18th and 19th centuries; the Balfours transformed life on the island by introducing new agricultural techniques. Other landmarks include a standing stone, an Iron Age broch, a souterrain and a salt-water shower.
North Ronaldsay is the northernmost island in the Orkney archipelago of Scotland. With an area of 690 hectares (2.7 sq mi), it is the fourteenth-largest. It is mentioned in the Orkneyinga saga; in modern times it is known for its historic lighthouse, migratory bird life and unusual breed of sheep.
The North Ronaldsay or Orkney is a breed of sheep from North Ronaldsay, the northernmost island of Orkney, off the north coast of Scotland. It belongs to the Northern European short-tailed sheep group of breeds, and has evolved without much cross-breeding with modern breeds. It is a smaller sheep than most, with the rams (males) horned and ewes (females) mostly hornless. It was formerly kept primarily for wool, but now the two largest flocks are feral, one on North Ronaldsay and another on the Orkney island of Auskerry. The Rare Breeds Survival Trust lists the breed as a priority on its 2021–2022 watchlist, and they are in danger of extinction, with fewer than 600 registered breeding females in the United Kingdom.
The Bishop of Orkney was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Orkney, one of thirteen medieval bishoprics of Scotland. It included both Orkney and Shetland. It was based for almost all of its history at St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall.
Orkney Ferries is a Scottish company operating inter-island ferry services in the Orkney Islands. The company operates ferry services across 15 islands.
This is a list of places in Scotland called Papa or similar, which are so named after the Papar, monks from the Early Historic Period or from their connection to other, later priests.
Helliar Holm is an uninhabited island off the coast of Shapinsay in the Orkney Islands, Scotland. It is home to a 42-foot-tall (13 m) lighthouse, which was built in 1893 and automated in 1967. It is a tidal island that used to be connected to Shapinsay. It is still possible to walk across from the mainland during very low tides.
There are numerous islands containing the word holm, mainly in northern Europe. In many cases the name is derived from the Old Norse holmr, meaning "a small and rounded islet". These include: