Protecting Europe’s underwater and coastal heritage from climate-related threats
Climate change and natural hazards are threatening Europe’s coastal and underwater heritage. Launched in 2023, the EU-funded THETIDA(opens in new window) project has been taking steps to protect it.
Saving seven
THETIDA is focusing on seven cultural heritage sites in the Mediterranean and northern Europe: a World War II aircraft wreck off the coast of Portugal, two shipwreck sites in Italy, Lake IJssel in the Netherlands, the castle of Mykonos in Greece, a shipwreck off the coast of Cyprus and a coal cableway station in Norway. Its goal is to prevent irreversible damage to these sites, and to ward off any additional threats using a combination of in situ sensing, satellite observations and advanced underwater monitoring technologies. The Equa, one of the Italian pilot sites, is a Word War II submarine chaser lying 40 metres beneath the sea off the coast of north-western Italy. The wreck now teems with rich marine fauna, attracting divers, fishers and – unfortunately – pollution. In 2023, researchers detected a 2 °C increase in seabed temperature and a strange ascending current that stirred sand and silt from the seabed. Such developments could accelerate the ship’s erosion. “These findings highlighted the need for further sampling and scientific analysis to confirm climate-driven impacts on wreck deterioration,” remarks Angelos Amditis, research and development director at THETIDA project coordinator Institute of Communication and Computer Systems, Greece, in a recent news item(opens in new window). THETIDA’s Dutch site is Lake Ijssel, the country’s largest freshwater reservoir since the construction of a dyke separating it from the sea in 1932. The focus has been on Gemaal de Poel, an old pumping station bordering the lake. “The authorities didn’t know what to do with the building and were talking about possibly demolishing it,” reports Deniz Ikiz, a researcher at project partner Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands. “But the citizens felt it was part of their heritage and still felt attached to it.” The project has conducted living labs to incorporate citizens’ views into its conservation strategies. “It’s important to understand the priorities of different communities via these Living Labs, identifying what they value and see as their heritage,” notes Ikiz. “This case study has set an example for how decisions can be made.”
Worth saving… or not
The Norwegian pilot site – the Hiorthhamn coal cableway station in Svalbard – has led researchers to ask whether some heritage sites should be preserved at all. The station no longer serves a practical purpose since the region’s last coal mine closed in 2025, and if no mitigation takes place, climatic conditions could cause the site to disappear within the next two decades. However, the rapid permafrost thaw and coastal erosion make conservation nearly impossible. Realistic decisions therefore need to be made about what to protect, based on the realities of climate change and the limitations it imposes. “What matters is not whether a community is still present,” observes Paloma Guzman, a researcher at THETIDA (Technologies and methods for improved resilience and sustainable preservation of underwater and coastal cultural heritage to cope with climate change, natural hazards and environmental pollution) project partner Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research. “It’s about re-evaluating what we consider meaningful heritage, so that conservation remains grounded in shared histories and values and not a blanket obligation rooted only in age.” For more information, please see: THETIDA project website(opens in new window)
