Citizen science for monitoring seasonal-scale beach erosion and behaviour with aerial drones.

ABSTRACT: Sandy beaches are highly dynamic systems which provide natural protection from the impact of waves to coastal communities. With coastal erosion hazards predicted to increase globally, data to inform decision making on erosion mitigation and adaptation strategies is becoming critical. However, multi-temporal topographic data over wide geographical areas is expensive and time consuming and often requires highly trained professionals. In this study we demonstrate a novel approach combining citizen science with low-cost unmanned aerial vehicles that reliably produces survey-grade morphological data able to model sediment dynamics from event to annual scales. The high-energy wave-dominated coast of south-eastern Australia, in Victoria, is used as a field laboratory to test the reliability of ou

SUBMITTER: Pucino N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7887256 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature