Researchers from Geoscience Australia (GA) have developed an online tool kit to help coastal managers better understand how beaches are impacted by storm events.
Launching the toolkit, GA said the Australian coast was dynamic, with an ever-changing shoreline shaped by the normal action of tides, waves and storms.
“However, some storms cause significant erosion, causing an ongoing problem for some populated areas of the Australian coast,” the Agency said.
“Without adequate baseline knowledge of the coastal environment, we cannot predict the likely response of shorelines to future storms.”
It said the tool kit, Resilience to Clustered Disaster Events at the Coast: Storm Surge, was supported by the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre (CRC).
“The CRC has developed a comprehensive method for understanding the impact of storm events on the beach environment,” GA said.
“The project studied two Australian locations where coastal erosion is an ongoing management issue.”
It said the first case study looked at Old Bar on the central-north coast of NSW (pictured), where erosion was continuing and had led to property loss.
It said the second case study, at Adelaide’s metropolitan beaches, showed erosion had been actively managed since the 1970s and was continuing through Adelaide’s Living Beaches Strategy.
Team Leader, Coastal Programs at the SA Department for Environment and Water, James Guy said the project played an important role in building the body of knowledge around shoreline response to clustered storms.
“The new data, modelling tools and summary information for case study sites are essential reference materials for coastal managers,” Mr Guy said.
