Emerald Siggery Coastal Process Scientist

South West Regional Coastal Monitoring Programme

To promote a standard, repeatable and cost effective method of monitoring the coastal environment in the

South West

Plymouth Coastal Observatory

Environment Agency

(SW Region)

SW Maritime Local Authorities

Plymouth University

Teignbridge District Council

1st Phase of Programme 2006-2011

2nd Phase of Programme 2011-2016

100% grant aid funded - £4.4 million over 5 years

Original Extent

Extension

Various coastal defence schemes underway in the South West

Flood Risk Management Schemes

Managed Realignment Projects

Beach Management Schemes

Shoreline Management Plans

Monitoring required for each scheme – data rarely archived

Tourism spending in South West is over £9,000m annually

Long term trends needed to monitor impacts of climate change

Topographic Surveys

Bathymetric Surveys

Hydrodynamic Data

LiDAR Surveys

Aerial Photography

Ecological Monitoring

Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) GPS / GNSS

MLWS as seaward limit

Baseline survey at start of phase to get full coverage of all beaches

Interim surveys stakeout points on cross-shore profile lines

Sand Bay, North Somerset

First Survey for SWRCMP in 2007

18 Surveys Completed to Date

2 Baseline Surveys – Full Coverage

13 Interim Surveys

3 Post-storm Surveys

Reasons for using LiDAR:

Cost effective technique for covering large areas

Covers areas where ground surveying is difficult or dangerous

Problems:

Needs a clear sky

Flown between September and May – minimise vegetation cover

Flown over MLWS for maximum coverage of the intertidal area

1m Resolution

Up to 6 flights in the Severn Estuary to date

Flown Between May and September

10cm resolution

Flown over MLWS for maximum coverage of the intertidal area

3 sets of photography to date

2007

2009

2013/2014

Standard Images

Used to visualise change

A Picture Speaks a Thousand Words…

False Colour Infra-Red Images

Used to map specific inter-tidal habitats such as saltmarsh

Aerial Photography Interpretation

1 complete survey to date Second survey scheduled for the current phase of the

Programme

Uses Integrated Habitat Classification System

Produced maps and GIS shapefiles

Entire coast surveyed in the first Phase of the Programme

1 single beam bathymetric survey – up to Severn Beach

Single-Beam Surveys

Multi-Beam Surveys

St. Mary’s Sound

Second Severn Crossing WaveRadar Rex

Installed June 2011

Location 51° 21.21749' N 003° 1.10066' W

Approximate Water Depth

~ 13m CD

Tidal Range Approx. Spring Tidal Range =

11.2m

Weston Bay Directional WaveRider Buoy

Deployed September 2009

Minehead Directional WaveRider Buoy

Deployed December 2006

Location 51°13.71588'N

003° 28.31677' W

Approximate Water Depth

~ 10m CD

Tidal Range Approx. Spring Tidal Range =

9.6m

Wave Height

Wave Period

Wave Direction

Sea Temperature

Wave Height

Wave Period

Photo: EMU Limited

Real-Time Data

Archived Data

Individual Wave and Tide Reports

All data freely available from our website

Used by local authority engineers, consultants etc…

Annual Reports produced by PCO User friendly at-a-glance view

of beach condition Baseline to Spring Survey

Spring to Spring Survey

Securing funding for Phase 3 of the Programme

Reviewing our data and exploring new technology

Continuing to build a long term dataset