The Department of Planning and Environment (DPE) is calling on beachgoers all over NSW to photograph national park beaches to form data records for science.
Senior Scientist at DPE, Michael Kinsela said snapping a NSW beach and sharing the image via the CoastSnap app or on social media would be a great help for coastal researchers to track beach responses to changing ocean conditions.
“Beach enthusiasts have submitted over 7,000 photos at NSW sites and 10,000 photos to the app since the program first began at Manly Beach in 2017,” Dr Kinsela said.
“The success of that first station has seen CoastSnap explode into a global project, with now more than 180 CoastSnap stations in 20 countries, including France, Colombia and The Netherlands,” he said.
“New CoastSnap stations are currently being installed in much-loved coastal national parks to add to the popular beach monitoring program.”
Dr Kinsela said each CoastSnap station featured a special smart phone cradle that beach visitors could rest their phone on to make sure all pictures were captured from the same location and angle.
He said each image was then converted into precision beach mapping to track the changing shoreline.
“National parks surround nearly half of the NSW coastline so these photos can give important insights into beach erosion that can impact habitats for shorebirds and sea turtles, and important coastal vegetation communities,” he said.
“Our Department scientists can’t be everywhere at once, so the CoastSnap data helps us understand how each beach responds to changing ocean conditions and storms, giving us insight into how beach erosion and recovery cycles vary along the coast.”
Dr Kinsela said that over time the database of images helped scientists measure the changing beach width, shape and movement of the shoreline.
Further information on the CoastSnap app can be accessed at this PS News link.
