Topic 4a - Resilience and Adaptation: Monitoring Coastal Zones
Welcome to Week 4. This week will look at Earth observation in action and how EO data are used in policy and decision-making.
Coastal zones are highly vulnerable to impacts from climate change. Rising sea levels, alterations in the frequency of storm surges, and changes in precipitation, ocean temperatures and ocean acidification can all serve to affect coastal activities in a variety of ways. Reliable and timely information to support effective decision making and policy planning is vital to ensure our coastal regions are appropriately managed and protected. However in many regions, a lack of sufficient ground infrastructure can limit our understanding of how coastal areas are being exposed to climate-related changes, and how these changes are impacting them over time.
Earth observation is very important to effective coastal zone management. EO satellites deliver, at a global scale, a variety of highly relevant oceanographic data products, such as ocean surface wind speeds, sea level heights and ocean colour. This data can also be useful at the more regional and local scale of the coastal zone.
In this video, Dr Simon Boxall introduces the importance of Earth observation to coastal zone policy and planning, while Dr Helen Snaith explores how ESA’s eSurge programme is providing essential satellite data used to improve the modelling and forecasting ability of storm surge events.
Featured Experts:
- Dr Simon Boxall
- Dr Helen Snaith
View featured satellites on the satellite tracking app
Don’t forget you can download the video, transcript and take any quizzes available with the links on the right.
