“How is the delta landscape shaped?”  

Delta ENIGMA brings biogeomorphology research in the Netherlands to the next level by providing a unique research infrastructure. The project hopes to answer the question: How do organisms, currents, waves, wind and sediment load shape the delta landscape, even during extreme events? 

Delta ENIGMA is a Large Scientific Research Infrastructure that will be set up for the coming 10 years in the Dutch delta by the DANUBIUS-NL consortium. The infrastructure will support the interdisciplinary character of the research field at the interface of geomorphology, hydraulics, ecology and engineering.  

Delta ENIGMA will also sustain and strengthen the prominent Dutch modelling tradition, by providing ‘big data’ to improve existing model approaches, but also push the current physics-based deterministic modelling to a new generation of data-driven approaches. 

Delta ENIGMA is (partly) financed by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) from the ‘NWO-LSRI’ Roadmap grant scheme. To intensify international cooperation, Delta ENIGMA will be integrated into DANUBIUS-RI, the pan-European research infrastructure for advanced studies on river-sea systems.