Quantifying Coastal Evolution and Project Performance at Beaches by Using Satellite Imagery
Abstract
Accurately delineating the shoreline is crucial for tracking coastal evolution, community vulnerability, storm impacts, and for coastal management decision-making. However, existing shoreline measurement methods are often time-consuming and expensive and therefore, USACE Districts are often forced to narrow areas of interest or monitoring frequency, decreasing the likelihood of making data-driven management decisions, especially over regional scales. In the last decade, space-borne earth observations have captured images subweekly, and can potentially be used for shoreline monitoring. This work investigated the Python-based CoastSat toolkit and compared the shorelines derived from publicly available satellite imagery to ground truth surveys at 37 sites across the nation chosen in coordination with Districts. Mean horizontal errors ranged from 4.21 to 20.58 m with an overall mean of 11.32 m. Tidal corrections improved accuracies at 82 percent of sites. The CoastSat slope function was tested and there were negligible differences in shoreline accuracy when compared with user-defined slopes. Twenty-year satellite-derived trends generally align well with ground truth trends. The satellite approach identified quantifying storm impacts and recovery, beach nourishment equilibration, diffusion and decay, shoreline response to nearshore berm placements and decadal shoreline evolution at the evaluated district sites. Work is ongoing to transition to a user-friendly software tool.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 13, 2024
- Accession Number
- AD1230009
Entities
People
- Ian W. Conery
- Katherine Brodie
- Nicholas R. Olsen
- Shannon M. Brown
Organizations
- United States Army Corps of Engineers