Abstract
The seafloor—or bathymetry—of the world’s coastal waters remains largely unknown despite its primary importance to human activities and ecosystems. Here we present S2Shores (Satellite to Shores), the first sub-kilometer global atlas of coastal bathymetry based on depth inversion from wave kinematics captured by the Sentinel-2 constellation. The methodology reveals coastal seafloors up to a hundred meters in depth which allows covering most continental shelves and represents 4.9 million km2 along the world coastline. Although the vertical accuracy (RMSE 6–9 m) is currently coarser than that of traditional surveying techniques, S2Shores is of particular interest to countries that do not have the means to carry out in situ surveys and to unexplored regions such as polar areas. S2Shores is a major step forward in mitigating the effects of global changes on coastal communities and ecosystems by providing scientists, engineers, and policy makers with new science-based decision tools.
Highlights
Published: 17 November 2021The submerged surface of the coastline represents the invisible but largest fraction of the coastal zone
We present S2Shores (Satellite to Shores), the first sub-kilometer global satellitederived coastal bathymetry based on wave kinematics from the optical Sentinel-2 mission
S2Shores performances are optimal at open coasts exposed to waves, and would fail in environments where LIDAR and color-based methods work well; namely in archipelagos, behind reef crests, in narrow bays, fjords, and other closed environments sheltered from waves
Summary
The submerged surface of the coastline represents the invisible but largest fraction of the coastal zone It is perhaps the most important part of the coastal system in terms of exposure of coastal populations and ecosystems to erosion and flooding [1], but despite its importance, coastal bathymetries and their influence are often overlooked. Coastal maps and surveys are often decades old, largely out of date, or nonexistent in large parts of the world. This is a problem for the 40% of the world’s coastal sandy regions [3] that are the most dynamic geological environments on Earth. The availability of fast, inexpensive, and efficient methods is needed for studies of bottom variability, such as sandy shoreface or underwater dune dynamics and some environmental applications such as benthic habitat mapping [7], seabed geomorphology [8], underwater archaeology [9], and exploration of unexploded
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