Applications of remote sensing video systems for coastal erosion monitoring: the experience during OpTIMAL Project

Monitoring of nearshore systems for both coastal zone anagement and scientifi c purposes has traditionally relied on in situ measuraments of waves, currents, sediment transport and morphological changes. These traditional technologies provide data of high quality, but have limited resolution in time and space, and can be restricted due to the high costs involved. Remote sensing from satellite and aircraft has improved the spatial coverage of measurements, but can also be extremely expensive. Remote sensing systems based on the use of video cameras off er on the other hand a good opportunity to monitor the coastal environment at relatively low costs. The use of video for coastal monitoring has been introduced by the Coastal imaging Lab from the Oregon University at the beginning of the 90s. They have developed a complete system, with hardware and a sophisticated software well known as Argus, which now compose a widely used technology all over the world for research and management of the coastal zone. With the increasing off er of video cameras and video technologies several systems have been developed in the past years for coastal monitoring purposes. Sophisticated, operational methods of video analysis now enable the quantifi cation of: - Shoreline evolution and beach width, to evaluate the potential for recreation or to assess the morphological impact of a storm event. - Erosional and accretional sediment volumes at the intertidal beach, to evaluate the morphological impact of coastal structures, and investigate seasonal fl uctuations in beach dynamics and beach nourishments, for instance. - Wave run-up, to evaluate the stability of coastal structures such as seawalls, harbour moles and revetments. OpTIMAL activities are inserted in this context, with the work of four partners who develop and test techniques for setting up video systems and for processing video images for the purpose of monitoring coastal erosion. Results obtained by the Universities of Bologna (Emilia Romagna) and Genova (Liguria) are presented in this book.