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Ireland Hazard Final Assesment

  Ireland-Final Hazards Report Ireland is a country of outstanding landscapes and a temperate climate, but it is also susceptible to a number of natural hazards, the most important of which are flooding and coastal erosion. Flooding, with heavy rainfall coupled with higher sea levels, is one of the hazards that continue to threaten infrastructure, homes, and agricultural lands in Ireland. This hazard is due to the nature of the Irish geography, where rivers like the Shannon break their banks, while coasts are susceptible to storm surges. In addition, coastal erosion has the potential to flood communities along most of the Atlantic coastline due to strongly active waves that wear the land away. All these hazards are very crucial to be recognised, for each introduces economic losses, destruction of homes, or involves risk to life. Flooding is a common phenomenon because of the high rainfall that Ireland receives, which has recently been happening with increased intensities due to cha...
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Week 13 Coastal Hazards

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 Irelands Coastal Hazards       Ireland is a small island country facing challenges due to environmental changes and human influences. With a very long shoreline of more than 4,660 miles, Ireland  is seriously exposed to the consequences of climate change through erosion, sea level rise, and increased extremes in flooding in coastal areas. These changes threaten natural landscapes and affect local communities, ecosystems, and economic stability, especially when important sectors are concerned, such as tourism, fishing, and real estate. One of the most urgent concerns is shoreline erosion, which is already beginning to permanently affect parts of the Irish coastline. Atlantic storms, powered by rising sea levels, have been eroding cliffs, beaches, and dunes.       In places, like County Clare's coastline and North Bull Island in Dublin, it keeps getting worse. Shorelines are being set further and further back at increasing rates. As ...
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Week 10 Extreme Weather

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Ireland's Extreme Weather: Rain and Flooding  For Ireland, I will focus on the country's most common form of extreme weather: heavy rainfall and flooding.  Ireland's amazing, green landscapes come with a trade-off: heavy rain and frequent flooding. The North Atlantic Ocean influences Ireland's weather, providing frequent rain throughout the year, mostly on the west coast and in river valleys. With climate change increasing the intensity and frequency of storms and events of prolonged rain, flooding, like in the image below, won't be gone anytime soon . Large-scale flooding of major rivers, like the River Shannon, occurs regularly depending on heavy rainfall events. Cities like Dublin, Cork, and Limerick are frequently experiencing flooded areas in residential sections because of inadequate storm drainage systems. Flooding in coastal areas, notably along western and southern coasts, can occur when storm surges occur at high tide. The effects of this flooding are wide...
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Week 8 Mass Wasting

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Mass wasting, in the form of landslides, mudslides, and rockslides, is becoming an increasing problem in Ireland. Landslides occur because of gravity pulling earth and rock downhill, but often, Ireland's heavy rain increases these events. Mixing the wet climate with Ireland's hilly terrain creates a high risk for certain areas. A recent landslide is the peat landslide in County Donegal in 2020. Weeks of rain had soaked the soil, and with one swoop, a landslide hit hard at the local nature reserve. Further back, in 2003, another huge landslide took place due to the building of a wind farm, this time in Derrybrien, County Galway. The latter was the result of a combination of deforestation and heavy rainfall. It caused not only environmental destruction but also some legal repercussions for Ireland with regard to the way it was managed. Most of them feature the same cause, too much rainfall. That is when the earth's saturation causes its walls and floors to begin losing stabil...
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Week 5 Volcanic Hazards

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Week 5 -Volcanic Hazards for Ireland         Ireland is more known for its vast green landscapes and strong cultural traditions, rather than erupting volcanoes. Ireland has no active volcanoes, and its geological history has rare significant volcanic events. The last volcanic activity on the island occurred around 60 million years ago and left behind only ancient remains of volcanic activity, such as the Giant's Causeway in the county of Antrim. Any form of volcanic eruption is not considered a threat in Ireland.      Ireland is by no means immune from volcanic hazards. Several notable volcanoes from Iceland are the nearest threats, which include the notorious Eyjafjallajökull from its 2010 eruption that disrupted air travel across Europe. Though the immediate effects of an Icelandic eruption would be minor, ash clouds can lead to air-quality problems temporarily, as it did in 2010.      A variety of mitigations to volcanic hazards ...
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Week 3 Earthquakes

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  Week 3 - Earthquakes in Ireland  When looking at Ireland in the context of earthquakes, Ireland has relatively low seismic activity. Ireland is located on the Eurasian plate and is about 1,000 miles away from the closest plate boundary. Because Ireland is so far away from a tectonic plate boundary you would assume that they wouldn't experience many earthquakes which is exactly the case. Ireland does however experience the rare earthquake which is usually low magnitude. Below is an image of the probability of an earthquake hazard occurring. The red arrow points to Ireland. The closest plate boundary to Ireland is the Mid-Atlantic Ridge which does not experience many intense tectonic forces to cause an earthquake in Ireland.       Although Ireland faces less of a seismic threat than other countries they have taken steps to ensure they are prepared for a massive earthquake. Firstly the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) operates seismic s...
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Week 2 Tectonic Plates and Boundaries

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  Nolan Wade     This week is about plate tectonics and how this has determined Ireland's unique geological landscape. Not located at any active plate boundary, unlike other nations around it, Ireland lies reasonably securely on the Eurasian Plate, very far away from seismic and volcanic activity associated with regions such as the Pacific Ring of Fire.      Despite this stability, there are some noteworthy events in Ireland's geological past, such as a mountain-building period around 400 million years ago known as the Caledonian Orogeny, which formed the ancient ranges we see today, and the evidence of ancient volcanic action, perhaps the most famous expression being the Giant's Causeway, which formed from volcanic eruptions approximately 60 million years ago.     Modern Ireland is subject to very few earthquakes and no active volcanism, yet the nature of plate tectonics has left its mark on the Irish landscape.  Understanding these und...
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