Coastline Protection
  The protection of people, property and the natural environment against floods and destructive attacks of the sea is an important task of coastal protection. Continually exposed to the forces of nature of ocean waves, wind and rain, many coastal areas are subject to natural erosion. The various measures to reduce or prevent coastal erosion, beach erosion and land loss (e.g. construction of dams and dikes) safeguard areas of human subsistence and utilization such as infrastructure and agriculture.
Since coastal areas are ecologically sensitive and economically valuable areas and increasing attacks of the sea on coasts are expected, a high level of coastline protection measures is necessary.
 

Color-coded DSM Schelde estuary
© Aerodata International Surveys, Belgium

3D image of Mellum
© WSA Bremerhaven, Germany
  The laserscanner data of TopoSys GmbH provide an excellent basis for recording coastal areas and island whose existence is threatened by influences of the sea.
Areas of application of high-resolution elevation and image data for coastline protection include:
  • Inventory and monitoring
  • Monitoring dike heights
  • Planning and management of dike and coastline protection systems
  • Simulation of tide-dependent water levels
  • Recording of drainage channels
  • Determination of flood-endangered areas
  • Localization of cliff erosion and alluvial deposits
  • Calculation of volumes of erosion and accumulation
  • Determination of water-land border

Regular surveying of an area with the TopoSys laserscanner enables multi-temporal evaluations for monitoring and change detection. By superimposing the elevation data recorded at various points in time in a GIS, changes can be recorded and visualized and volumes of erosion and accumulation can be calculated.

 

Relief image of coastal section in the Netherlands, 2000 (left) and 2002 (right)
© Aerodata International Surveys, Belgium

Difference model of coastal section in the Netherlands, 2000 - 2002
  It is possible to determine the water-land border due to the different textures of water and ground surface. With the aid of laser data, rough water surfaces can be precisely separated from smooth sand surfaces.
 

Relief image of coastal section in the Netherlands
© Aerodata International Surveys, Belgium

Cross section on water-land transition
  For an overview of the subject, download the application flyer Monitoring and Protection of coastal zones.


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