Lessons from Strategic Coastal Monitoring

The strategic management of flood and erosion risks at the coast typically relies on understanding of ongoing coastal processes including the use of records of past shoreline changes and previous extreme events to inform predictions of future coastal risks to assets.

Monitoring of shoreline change data using surveys of beach profiles, aerial photography, topographic and LiDAR surveys is now undertaken regularly as part of the national network of strategic regional coastal monitoring programmes covering the coast of England. Understanding of the drivers for shoreline change is facilitated by the collection of information on forcing conditions including waves and sea level and rainfall data collected both at national and regional scale.