impact of climate change in coastal environments with satellite data

Spot Image and its partners add value

to satellite imagery in Maritime

An applicative session on

Use of SPOTMaps and HRS elevation data to evaluate the potential impact of climate change in coastal environments

Use of SPOTMaps and HRS elevation data to evaluate

the potential impact of climate change in coastal

environments

Authors

Rob Lees – SPOT Imaging Services

Rob Coorey – Geospatial Intelligence

SPOT International Conference June 2009

Climate Change and Storm Surge

There is no doubt that the earth’s climate is changing due in part to the impact of human industrial activity over the last 100 years

Some of the direct effects of this change is a rise in global sea levels and an increase in the severity of storms resulting in a rise in Storm Surge damage along coastlines.

Storm Surge occurs when powerful storm winds push water up onto the shoreline. This is often associated with Hurricanes or Cyclones

The combination of the rising sea level and large amounts of rainfall causes severe destruction and erosion of coastal landscapes and $$ Billions in damages

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Global sea levels have risen 2m in the last 150 years

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Significantly, the rate of sea level rise is increasing over time

Storm Surge defined

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The real threat to coastlines comes from “STORM TIDES”

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Storm Surge + High Tide = 6 m STORM TIDE

Population at threat from Storm Surge

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10% of the world’s population live within 10m of sea level 85% of Australian’s live on the coast

SPOTMaps & SPOT HRS Elevation Data

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2.5m Natural Colour imagery

1 sec (25m) posting elevation data for 290 coastal geocells

Port Hedland – Largest Port in Australia (Iron Ore exports)

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Western Australia coastline is prone to cyclones in summer

Port Hedland at High Tide

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Port Hedland – Railroads (yellow) and Bridges (blue)


Port Hedland coast – 5m Storm Surge


Port Hedland - 5m Storm Surge in red


Brisbane Airport and Port facilities


Brisbane Airport and Port Facilities – 5m Storm Surge


Mandurah – Western Australia – 1m Storm Surge


Conclusions

SPOTMaps (2.5m) and HRS Elevation (25m postings) are valuable tools for performing “first pass” assessment of vulnerable coastal environments especially for a country like Australia with 60,000 km of coastline

From these studies areas can be identified which require more detailed datasets such as aerial photography (15cm) and LIDAR (1-2m Posting DEM).

SPOTMaps is particularly useful for mapping coastline environmental parameters such as vulnerable ecosystems (mangroves), highly erodable coasts (sand dunes) and proximity of environment to human habitation and industrial infrastructure


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impact of climate change in coastal environments with satellite data

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