Benacre Broad is an isolated coastal

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...

on 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 ...

coast of the

English county The counties of England are a type of subdivision of England. Counties have been used as administrative areas in England since Anglo-Saxon times. There are three definitions of county in England: the 48 ceremonial counties used for the purpo ...

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

. It is located in the parish of Benacre around north of the village of

Covehithe Covehithe is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk (district), East Suffolk district of the English county of Suffolk. It lies on the North Sea coast around north of Southwold and south of Lowestoft. Neighbouring settlements include B ...

. It is about east of Wrentham, north of

Southwold Southwold is a seaside town and civil parish on the North Sea, in the East Suffolk District, East Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England. It lies at the mouth of the River Blyth, Suffolk, River Blyth in the Suffolk Coast and Heaths ...

and south of

Lowestoft Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk (district), East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the List of extreme points of the United Kingdom, most easterly UK se ...

. The broad is part of Benacre National Nature Reserve, a reserve managed by

Natural England Natural England is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, ...

.Benacre NNR
''Natural England''. Retrieved 2012-11-01. It forms part of the area of the Pakefield to Easton Bavents

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

and the Benacre and Easton Barents Lagoons

Special Area of Conservation A special area of conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and ap ...

.Benacre to Easton Bavents Lagoons
Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Retrieved 2016-08-28. The main broad area has traditionally been made up of a number of smaller bodies of water and in 1996 a number of small pools were created to combat the impact 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 ...

and increasing

water salinity Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensionless and equal to ...

on habitats.''Ecological Surveys of Saline Lagoons on the Benacre NNR and Suffolk Coast NNR February 2012'', Abrehart ecology, February 2012.
Available online
Retrieved 2016-08-28). At a 1997 survey, had an area of .
UK Marine SACs project. Retrieved 2016-08-28. At the end of November 2011 a high tidal surge broke through the narrow beach separating the Broad from the sea, inundating the area and increasing the salinity markedly. A survey in February 2012 found that the area of the broad had increased to and that the salinity of the water had increased to 22

parts per thousand In science and engineering, the parts-per notation is a set of pseudo-units to describe the small values of miscellaneous dimensionless quantities, e.g. mole fraction or mass fraction. Since these fractions are quantity-per-quantity measures ...

. The water depth had also increased, although some separate pools within the lagoon area had remained as fresh water. In 2020, the beach was again breached and currently (December 2020) a channel allows salt water to enter the broad at high tide, and the dresh water to drain from the broad as the tide drops.

References

Landforms of Suffolk Bodies of water of England {{Suffolk-geo-stub