Interpreting monitoring data for shoreline and geohazard mapping

Abstract

The demand for marine-related spatial information has become increasingly apparent in recent years at a European and national scale, due to the increased pressures on the sea-floor environments and marine resources of UK territorial waters. The advent of economically viable swath bathymetry data acquisition in the coastal zone and effective collaborative partnerships between the Channel Coastal Observatory, Maritime and Coastguard Agency, UK Hydrographic Office, British Geological Survey and academic institutions, have opened up new opportunities to produce a robust scientific evidence base to inform integrated coastal zone management objectives and contribute to wider scientific initiatives. Interpretation of high-quality bathymetric data, acoustic backscatter and ground-truthing data allows zones of exposed bedrock, rock outcrops and pinnacles to be identified, along with areas of mobility or stability of surficial sediments. Temporal and spatial analyses of coastal and marine monitoring datasets also contribute to improved understanding of interactions between natural coastal process and coastal-defence and beach-management operations. Furthermore, developments in three-dimensional mapping techniques and visualisation technologies have enabled seamless high-resolution coastal geology maps to be re-interpreted and extended offshore, providing a more complete picture of the baseline geology, physical properties, structure and geohazards in the coastal and nearshore zone. The full paper details the methodology developed to produce a range of indicative marine mapping layers, and presents examples from eastern and southern England where marine-related spatial data has contributed to the multi-disciplinary scientific evidence base to inform development of UK marine policy and planning, coastal management and coastal zone geological mapping.