The future of coastal monitoring through satellite remote sensing

Abstract

Satellite remote sensing is transforming coastal science from a 'data-poor' field into a 'data-rich' field. Sandy beaches are dynamic landscapes that change in response to long-term pressures, short-term pulses, and anthropogenic interventions. Until recently, the rate and breadth of beach change has outpaced our ability to monitor those changes, due to the spatiotemporal limitations of our observational capacity. Over the past several decades, only a handful of beaches worldwide have been regularly monitored with accurate yet expensive in-situ surveys. The longterm coastal-change data of these few well-monitored beaches have led to in-depth understanding of many site-specific coastal processes. However, because the best-monitored beaches are not representative of all beaches, much remains unknown about the processes and fate of the other >99% of unmonitored beaches worldwide. The fleet of Earth-observing satellites has enabled multiscale monitoring of beaches, for the very first time, by providing imagery with global coverage and up to daily frequency. The long-standing and ever-expanding archive of satellite imagery will enable coastal scientists to investigate coastal change at sites vulnerable to future sea-level rise, i.e., (almost) everywhere. In the past decade, our capability to observe coastal change from space has grown substantially with computing and algorithmic power. Yet, further advances are needed in automating monitoring using machine learning, deep learning, and computer-vision to fully leverage this massive treasure-trove of data. Extensive

A Model Integrating Satellite‐Derived Shoreline Observations for Predicting Fine‐Scale Shoreline Response to Waves and Sea‐Level Rise Across Large Coastal Regions

“…The hybridization of models and observations for coastal‐change prediction is becoming increasingly viable because of earth‐observing satellites. For the first time, satellites can provide coastal data at the scales of models and models at the scales of data (Vitousek et al., 2023a). And eventually, with perhaps another decade of research and development, the field could develop coupled monitoring and modeling systems at national to global scales.…”

“…Further, satellite‐derived workflows are becoming increasingly automated, in contrast to workflows relying on GPS or Lidar data. Thus, satellite‐derived shoreline observations are becoming an increasingly attractive component of operational shoreline prediction systems (Vitousek et al., 2023a). The methods and models described herein might serve as an initial concept for components of a future, operational coastal‐change monitoring and prediction system.…”

“…The field of coastal morphodynamics has, until recently, been “data poor,” with long‐term monitoring data existing only at a limited number of sites (Vitousek et al., 2023a). However, reliable forecasts of coastal erosion on decadal to centennial timescales over large geographic regions (e.g., state and country scale) are increasingly sought, even in “data‐poor” environments.…”

“…Recent advances in satellite remote‐sensing analysis provide a window into the recent past and current state of the world's beaches (Luijendijk et al., 2018) and their large‐scale vulnerability to climatic forces like El Niño (Vos et al., 2023). By leveraging the large streams of data offered from satellites, reduced‐complexity coastal‐change models seem poised for success in a challenging field of study owing to the newly found “treasure trove” of data (Barnard & Vitousek, 2023; Hunt et al., 2023; Vitousek et al., 2023a).…”

Editorial on Remote Sensing Application in Coastal Geomorphology and Processes

“…Remote sensing technologies such as optical, radar, and LiDAR, offer unique advantages for studying sediment dynamic processes on deltas, beaches, dunes, and barrier islands; coastal processes in erosional landscapes, such as rocky cliffs, forcing mechanisms of coastal processes such as waves, tides, and currents; and coastal geomorphology and evolution. Additionally, close-range remote sensing applications, such as planes or UAVs, as well as onsite cameras or webcams, offer valuable data for studying the coastal environment at a high spatiotemporal resolution and accuracy [1][2][3][4][5].…”