Remote Sensing for Coastal Management

A special issue of Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (ISSN 2077-1312). This special issue belongs to the section "Coastal Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 November 2023) | Viewed by 6291

Special Issue Editors

DICEAA, Department of Civil, Environmental Engineering and Architecture, Via Gronchi 18, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy
Interests: geomatic; GNSS; UAV photogrammetry
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Institute INSIT, School of Business and Engineering Vaud, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland, 1400 Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland
Interests: geographic information science; geospatial artificial intelligence; citizen science; open data; geospatial web; spatio-temporal modelling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
DICEAA, Department of Civil, Environmental Engineering and Architecture, Via Gronchi 18, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy
Interests: geomatics; remote sensing; SAR; UAV photogrammetry; GNSS

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Coastal environments are facing constant changes over time. It is a dynamic and vulnerable environment and its monitoring is crucial for the safeguarding of cultural heritage and the populations living there. Coastal erosion is one of the biggest problems, but the changes in the inner part of the area can also produce worrying effects on the environment, infrastructure and buildings. Knowledge of coastal dynamics helps to understand a wide range of phenomena, like erosion–accretion analysis, extraction of the boundary between private and state-owned areas, hazard mapping and so on. We believe that coastal studies can help to plan interventions and to better manage these fragile areas, where prevention assumes a central role. At present, remote sensing techniques are one of most efficient tools for surveying the Earth, thanks to the various data sources, like satellites, aerophotogrammetric/UAV surveys, SAR, video imaging and LIDAR. None of these is used individually, but in synergy, taking advantage of all the sensors’ features. This Special Issue, “Remote Sensing for Coastal Management”, calls for papers that advance our understanding of coastal zone monitoring, with specific interest in contributions that:

  • Develop novel methodologies or data workflows for coastal management using remote sensing.
  • Study coastal erosion and/or position changes, evolution of coastal vegetation, structures and infrastructures and how they can have an influence on the coastal dynamics, bathymetry changes and so on.
  • Study the short- (storms, floods, cyclones, etc.) and long-term effects (sea level rise, shoreline position, etc.).
  • Have an impact in a wide range of applications.

This Special Issue aims to provide methods for the processing, analysis and validation of multiscale and multitemporal remotely sensed data.

Prof. Dr. Donatella Dominici
Dr. Maria Alicandro
Dr. Sara Zollini
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • coastal areas
  • remote sensing
  • shoreline
  • SAR
  • satellite images
  • UAV survey
  • management
  • monitoring

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

37 pages, 7014 KiB  
Article
Coastal Environments: Mine Discharges and Infringements on Indigenous Peoples’ Rights
by W. Charles Kerfoot, Gary Swain, Luis M. Verissimo, Erin Johnston, Carol A. MacLennan, Daniel Schneider and Noel R. Urban
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023, 11(7), 1447; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11071447 - 19 Jul 2023
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Abstract
Over a century ago, copper mills on the Keweenaw Peninsula of Lake Superior sluiced 64 million metric tonnes (MMT) of tailings into coastal waters, creating a metal-rich “halo”. Here we show that relatively small discharges can spread widely in time and space. Mass [...] Read more.
Over a century ago, copper mills on the Keweenaw Peninsula of Lake Superior sluiced 64 million metric tonnes (MMT) of tailings into coastal waters, creating a metal-rich “halo”. Here we show that relatively small discharges can spread widely in time and space. Mass Mill (2.9 MMT) dumping into Lake Superior also illustrates the complexity of interactions with Indigenous Peoples. A combination of aerial photos, LiDAR, and a microscope technique for distinguishing end-member particles traces the migration of tailings. The clay fraction spread rapidly across Keweenaw Bay and curled into terminal L’Anse Bay, within tribal Reservation boundaries. The coarse stamp sand fraction moved more slowly southward as a beach sand deposit onto Sand Point, a sacred burial ground. Despite the partial recovery of northern beaches and southern sediments, concerns continue about chemical contamination. Mass Mill provides an excellent example of Indigenous Peoples’ territorial and resource issues with mining. A major difficulty with “legacy” discharges is that there are no longer any “responsible parties”. Initially, federal and state officials were fearful that treaty rights might warrant reparations. Recently, multiple agency/state funding programs supported international (IJC) award-winning restoration efforts by tribal members, illustrating how Indigenous Peoples and governments can work together to safeguard treaty rights. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing for Coastal Management)
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20 pages, 3488 KiB  
Article
Quantifying Transgressive Coastal Changes Using UAVs: Dune Migration, Overwash Recovery, and Barrier Flooding Assessment and Interferences with Human and Natural Assets
by Giulia Casagrande, Annelore Bezzi, Saverio Fracaros, Davide Martinucci, Simone Pillon, Paolo Salvador, Stefano Sponza and Giorgio Fontolan
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023, 11(5), 1044; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11051044 - 13 May 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1112
Abstract
The advantages derived from the use of Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are well-established: they are cost-effective and easy to use. There are numerous environmental applications, particularly when monitoring contexts characterized by rapid morphological changes and high rates of sediment transport, such as coastal [...] Read more.
The advantages derived from the use of Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are well-established: they are cost-effective and easy to use. There are numerous environmental applications, particularly when monitoring contexts characterized by rapid morphological changes and high rates of sediment transport, such as coastal areas. In this paper, three different case studies of survey and monitoring with high resolution and accuracy obtained through the use of UAVs are presented; these concern transgressive coastal sites. Results allow for the definition and quantification of coastal landforms and processes, including: (i) The anatomy of a parabolic dune and the rate of landward migration that could interfere with a tourist settlement; (ii) The mode and timing of morphological recovery and realignment of a barrier island overwashed by storm surge episodes; and (iii) The potential flood risk of a progradational spit that is a nesting site of a species of migratory breeding birds of conservation concern. The results demonstrate and confirm that, through a good coupling of drone-sensed quality data and accurate topographic control, quantitative estimates that are useful in assessing the impacts of natural processes involving both human and natural assets can be obtained. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing for Coastal Management)
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25 pages, 18299 KiB  
Article
New Methodology for Shoreline Extraction Using Optical and Radar (SAR) Satellite Imagery
by Sara Zollini, Donatella Dominici, Maria Alicandro, María Cuevas-González, Eduard Angelats, Francesca Ribas and Gonzalo Simarro
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023, 11(3), 627; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11030627 - 16 Mar 2023
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2641
Abstract
Coastal environments are dynamic ecosystems, constantly subject to erosion/accretion processes. Erosional trends have unfortunately been intensifying for decades due to anthropic factors and an accelerated sea level rise might exacerbate the problem. It is crucial to preserve these areas for safeguarding not only [...] Read more.
Coastal environments are dynamic ecosystems, constantly subject to erosion/accretion processes. Erosional trends have unfortunately been intensifying for decades due to anthropic factors and an accelerated sea level rise might exacerbate the problem. It is crucial to preserve these areas for safeguarding not only coastal ecosystems and cultural heritage, but also the population living there. In this context, monitoring coastal areas is essential and geomatics techniques, especially satellite remote sensing imagery, might prove very advantageous. In this paper, a semi-automatic methodology to extract shorelines from SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) Sentinel-1 and optical Sentinel-2 satellite images was developed. An experimental algorithm, called J-Net Dynamic, was tested in two pilot sites. The semi-automatic methodology was validated with GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) reference shorelines and demonstrated to be a powerful tool for a robust extraction of the shoreline both from optical and SAR images. The experimental algorithm was able to extract the shoreline closer to the reference with SAR images on the natural beach of Castelldefels and it was demonstrated to be less sensitive to speckle effects than the commonly used Canny Edge Detector. Using the SAR images of the urban beach of Somorrostro, the Canny detector was not able to extract the shoreline, while the new algorithm could do it but with low accuracy because of the noise induced by man-made structures. For further investigation, the Sentinel-2-extracted shorelines were also compared to the ones extracted by a state-of-the-art tool, CoastSat, in the two beaches using both automatic and manual thresholds. The mean errors obtained with J-Net Dynamic were generally higher than the ones from CoastSat using the manual threshold but lower if using the automatic one. The proposed methodology including the J-Net Dynamic algorithm proves to extract the shorelines closer to the reference in most of the cases and offers the great advantage of being able to work with both optical and SAR images. This feature could allow to reduce the time lag between satellite derived shorelines paving the way to an enhanced monitoring and management of coastal areas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing for Coastal Management)
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