from CoastSat New Zealand
(Photo/Supplied)
An online
tool developed by scientists at Waipapa Taumata Rau,
University of Auckland allows for detailed monitoring of the
nation’s coastal erosion from satellite
imagery.
Around a map of New Zealand, dark
red lines show the beaches eroding the most and clicking
into any individual line gives detailed information going
back to 1999. The data is updated once a
month.
“This tool
is a game-changer for anyone involved in coastal science or
management,” says Professor Giovanni Coco, of the School
of Environment. “Online beach monitoring for the whole of
New Zealand is now a reality.”
The tool,
called CoastSat New Zealand, can be used to monitor
shoreline changes, assess coastal erosion, and support
conservation efforts. For now, the tool is for specialists
since more investment and tweaking would be needed for a
version for the public.
Software engineer
Nick Young of the University’s Center for eResearch and
Coco built on the work of scientists at the University of
New South Wales, who created an open-source software toolkit
that pulls beach position data from publicly available
satellite imagery.
Erosion hot spots exist in places
such as Port Waikato while other places are accreting, such
as Whatipu.
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“As coastal areas face increasing
pressures from climate change and human activity, tools like
CoastSat New Zealand are essential for informed
decision-making,” says Coco.
Google Earth Engine
gives access to a growing archive of publicly available
satellite imagery, providing the opportunity for
global-scale analyses stretching back decades, Australian
scientists led by Dr Kilian Vos said in a paper explaining
their work.
“This project was made significantly
easier by Kilian Vos providing the data and code freely
online,” says
Young.
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