A polder is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as dikes. Some need drainage by pumps to prevent the water table within it from rising too high. Some can be drained by opening sluices at low tide. The best-known examples are those polders that constitute areas of land reclaimed from a body of water, such as a lake or the sea, and are consequently below the surrounding water level.
Polders are most commonly found, though not exclusively so, in the Netherlands, the country they are frequently associated with. This also leads to the expression used to describe Dutch decision making - the Polder Model.
POLDER is also the acronym used for the name of an environmental satellite radiometer developed by the french spage agency CNES.
Examples of polders in Britain
See also
