Protecting the Coast and Heritage of Keta Using Integrated Geophysical Methods.
Abstract
Ghanas coastal region has some low-lying areas that are prone to flooding. This area is home to 25% of the population. In addition, 70% of the country s industries and businesses are located here. The town of Keta in Ghana has a long history of severe issues with coastline retreat, coastal erosion, and floods. It is one of the worst affected communities when it comes to coastline erosion. Consequently, the impact has been dire with and coastal flooding and storm damage worsening. The coastal ecosystem, biodiversity, and socioeconomic activity in Keta has been adversely affected. By some estimates, over 35% of coastal land in in Ghana has been lost tocoastal erosion and flooding. These issues have resulted in the loss of human lives, possessions, and coastal developments, including Fort Prinzenstein a designated UNESCO heritage site. The project intends to tackle the coastal management and protection efforts using a multidisciplinary approach. Specifically, when the project is funded, it will involve a thorough review of historical records of coastal erosion, processing and interpretation of satellite images for coastal erosion hazard ranking, geophysical surveys and deploying early warning systems for coastal erosion risk assessment in the Keta area. Activities will involve literature review, field data acquisition, processing and data interpretation, machine learning modeling, designing and building instrumentation for determining sea water levels. The main aim of the project is to design a multidisciplinary workflow to manage coastal erosion in the Ketaarea of Ghana. The specific objectives of the project are: assess the coastal erosion hazard using remote sensing and GIS; identifythe indicators of coastal erosional processes along subsurface of the Keta coast; design and build low-cost system to predict tidesand sea levels; and design an operational tidal wave early warning system. The project is divided into four parts to achieve its goals of protecting and managing the coastal area of Keta in Ghana. The first part involves studying the coast using satellite images and field observations to identify areas that are prone to erosion. This information will be used to create a map of how safe or dangerous different parts of the coast are. The second part involves using special tools to study what is happening underground and whythe coast is eroding. This will help understand what is causing the erosion and how it affects the area. The results from both parts will be used to update the map and better understand the coast. In the third part, the project will involve building a low-cost system to measure tidal levels. Finally, the fourth part will involve designing a system that will use information from the areas at risk of erosion, water levels, the ocean, and weather to predict tidal waves and send out warning signals to people living in the Keta area through their mobile phones. Anticipated outcomes of the research include machine learning algorithms for the prediction of coastal erosion risk; low-cost instrumentation to record tidal levels, an operational mobile based tidal wave early warning system; scientific journal articles, policy briefs and trained graduate students. Research into how coastal features and shorelines evolve over time is of naval and scientific significance. Results from such studies may be used to recognize possible dangers to naval vessels and to create plans for preventing erosion s harmful impacts on coasts and marine infrastructure. Additionally, research on coastal erosion can assist navies in deciding where to build naval bases and other coastal infrastructure so that they are situated in places that are less susceptible to erosion.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Sep 11, 2023
- Source ID
- N629092312082
Entities
People
- Cyril Boateng
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy