Nigehörn () is an uninhabited

artificial island An artificial island or man-made island is an island that has been Construction, constructed by humans rather than formed through natural processes. Other definitions may suggest that artificial islands are lands with the characteristics of hum ...

in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

belonging to the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

city of

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

Geography

Located by the mouth of the

Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...

, Nigehörn lies on the same sandbank as

Scharhörn Scharhörn is an uninhabited island in the North Sea belonging to the city of Hamburg, Germany. The once most important daymark on the North Sea coast, the Scharhörnbake, was maintained here by the City of Hamburg from 1440 to 1979. Geograph ...

, about northwest of

Neuwerk Neuwerk (; ; ''Archaic English'': New Werk or Newark) is a tidal island in the Wadden Sea ("Mudflat Sea") a marginal part of North Sea along the German coast. The population in 2023 was 21. Neuwerk is located northwest of Cuxhaven, between th ...

and northwest from

Cuxhaven Cuxhaven (; ) is a town and seat of the Cuxhaven district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town includes the northernmost point of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the shore of the North Sea at the mouth of the Elbe River. Cuxhaven has a footprint o ...

on the mainland. The island is a part of Zone 1 of the

Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park The Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park () is the smallest of the three German Wadden Sea National Parks which protect the single ecological entity of the Wadden Sea reaching from Den Helder to Esbjerg. It is an exclave of the city state of Hambur ...

. Rising about above sea level, it is not protected from

storm surge A storm surge, storm flood, tidal surge, or storm tide is a coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low-pressure weather systems, such as cyclones. It is measured as the rise in water level above the ...

s, and is at risk of

coastal erosion Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of Wind wave, waves, Ocean current, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts ...

, especially on the western side. The sandbank on which Scharhörn and Nigehörn lie is a European Union

Natura 2000 Natura 2000 is a network of nature protection areas in the territory of the European Union. It is made up of Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas designated under the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive, respectiv ...

-designated bird sanctuary, tended to by the environmental group ''

Verein Jordsand ''Verein'' is a German word, sometimes translated as ''union'', ''club'' or ''association'', and may refer to: * ''Eingetragener Verein'' (e. V.), a registered voluntary association under German law * Swiss Verein, a voluntary association under Sw ...

''. The area, known as ''Scharhörnplate'', is around long and wide with an area of approximately . Unlike Scharhörn, where visitors may obtain official permission to visit, public access to Nigehörn is strictly forbidden.

Construction and history

Nigehörn was constructed in 1989 as a

land fill Land reclamation, often known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new Terrestrial ecoregion, land from oceans, list of seas, seas, Stream bed, riverbeds or lake ...

to compensate for ongoing

land loss Land loss is the term typically used to refer to the conversion of coastal land to open water by natural processes and human activities. The term ''land loss'' includes coastal erosion. It is a much broader term than coastal erosion because land l ...

on nearby Scharhörn, which threatened to deprive shorebirds of important breeding grounds. Approximately of sand were deposited on the sandbank by hydraulic fill to create the core of the new island. Dune stabilization was achieved using barriers made from brushwood arranged in a double-circle around the core, with "rays" extending outward from the circles to catch and hold down flying sand. Three eastward-pointing double-bows of similar construction were built across the core to trap and retain sand in the heart of the island. Traces of these patterns can still be seen on aerial photographs of the island today, though they are by now weathered, sand-covered, and (in the western part of the island) eroded. The newly constructed island measured in total area. As pioneer flora began to colonise the island, helping the pre-existing structures to hold down sediments, Nigehörn began to grow naturally into the surrounding tidal

mudflat Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal ...

s. In this manner, the area of the island has increased over time to approximately .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nigehorn Artificial islands of Germany Frisian Islands Uninhabited islands of Germany Islands of Hamburg Nature reserves in Hamburg