In order to maintain the stability of area beaches, the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), under the supervision of the California Coastal Commission, will occasionally embark on “beach fill” projects, in which sand is dredged from areas offshore and added to beaches facing long-term erosion, due to the cutoff of much of San Diego’s natural sand sources by development. The next planned beach fill project, called the Regional Beach Sand Project II (RBSP II), will be getting underway in April.

To ensure the surfing qualities near sand “receiver” sites are maintained, and to provide an assessment of the response of surf spots to the influx of new sand from RBSP II, Surfrider San Diego is inaugurating a new, video-based Surf Monitoring Program.

Utilizing technology provided by CoastalCOMS, a company which specializes in video-based coastal monitoring, this new Surfrider program will establish a baseline for surf quality at six San Diego County beaches where RBSP II beach fills are to occur, and will include daily observations of surf quality with the help of a newly-installed video monitoring system.

Cameras monitoring the RBSP II project will create a long-term video archive, assess changes in beach width and shoreline position, and track potential changes in surf quality and “surfability.” The beaches to be monitored, from south to north, are:

• Imperial Beach near the pier
• Fletcher Cove in Solana Beach
• Seaside Reef at the boundary of Solana Beach and Encinitas
• Cardiff Reef in Encinitas
• Moonlight Beach / D St. in Encinitas
• Tamarack in South Carlsbad

Surf quality parameters will be measured from live video monitoring using analytics designed to detect breaking wave face heights, break zone activity level, and wave locations. Trained volunteers will also utilize CoastalCOMS software to review video archives for an assessment of conditions at each surf spot.

“With this program, Surfrider hopes to replace the current anecdotal evidence regarding impacts to surfing resources with observations from a consistent framework of surf spot monitoring. While RBSP II was the initial motivation for this monitoring program, these cameras can be used to establish crucial information about our coast as it pertains to a number of projects as well as changes due to climate change,” said Julia Chunn-Heer, Campaign Coordinator for the San Diego County chapter of the Surfrider Foundation.

“When society armors the bluffs, dams the rivers and creeks, and constructs large harbors which disrupt the natural sand supply, there are only a few options for keeping sand on the beach: stop the armoring and allow natural bluff retreat, or these expensive beach nourishment projects. Our chapter strongly advocates for managed retreat, but we realize these beach nourishment projects will be part of our future for now, so we are working with SANDAG to help ensure surfing resources are not negatively affected by the large influx of sand.”

For more on the San Diego County chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, including Surfrider’s Beach Preservation campaign, go to http://surfridersd.org/.

Once downloaded to your phone or tablet, you may use your existing CoastalCOMS login information to access your cameras. Should you require assistance, please contact your representative or CoastalCOMS support.

Want to know more about accessing your cameras over mobile?

CoastalCOMS offers turn key solutions for managers and operators looking to add video to existing sensor networks or monitoring sites. Our software can “see” and act on changing environmental factors, and is tuned to watch and act on changing wave and water lines states.

With the addition of mobile access, CoastalCOMS can extend your reach and multiply your existing staff’s ability to service large areas with limited resources. Drop us a line, and you’ll be surprised how quickly we can have you up and running with a trial so you can test this out for yourself.

As per the article below we are excited to work with the ARGUS scientific community moving forward to add ARGUS processing technologies to the CoastalCOMS platform. Our goal is provide the fastest, easiest way to obtain ARGUS outputs from any IP camera station.

Stay tuned for more information as we continue to build out our video processing platform in support of applied science for coastal zones world wide.

Excerpt from the R&D Magazine Article dated July 22, 2011:

“Holman is coprincipal investigator on a five-year, $7.5 million grant from the Office of Naval Research that is designed to explore how to meld data from radar, optics, and infrared observations to make such a model a reality. OSU’s College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences is partnering with the University of Washington and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on the project.

“We know enough about the fluid dynamics of the near-shore to make a model that we think can work,” Holman says. “What is lacking, though, is the input data—especially the bathymetry. The surf zone changes every day and bathymetry is critical for making successful predictions. The lack of such data has always stopped us dead. If we solve that, we should be able to create a model.”

That’s where the beach cameras come in. Holman and his colleagues are working with an Australian company called Coastalwatch that has hundreds of such cameras around the world. Getting those cameras to collect measurable data at timely intervals would be invaluable, he says.”

[READ THE FULL ARTICLE]

[Detailed information on ARGUS video processing: CoastalWiki

“Collaroy-Narrabeen Beach has a long history of adverse impacts from coastal erosion and in an era of changing climate all coastal councils urgently require enhanced knowledge of the future threat of coastal erosion,” said Warringah Mayor Michael Regan.

The research team, headed up by Associate Professor Ian Turner from the UNSW (Water Research Laboratory) will be conducting coastal monitoring for evidence based coastal-change forecasting around Australia.

Over the next three years a variety of monitoring equipment including cameras, all terrain vehicles, jet skis, boats and buoys will all be used to measure the height, power and impact of waves along Collaroy-Narrabeen beach.

“We have a key role in the present and future management of this stretch of coastline. This research will provide forecasting tools that can be used to measure the impacts of rising sea-levels and changing wave climate here and at other Australian beaches,” he said.

Warringah Council has prepared the initial stages of a Coastal Zone Management Plan for Collaroy-Narrabeen Beach and findings from this research will help decide what actions are included in the Plan and how Council manages the beach in the future.

“By working together with universities, government agencies and private industry such as CoastalCOMS we will be able to develop a clearer understanding of how our beaches may change and plan a better future for the Warringah area,” said Mayor Regan.

The ‘Australian Coastal Observation Network – monitoring and forecasting coastal erosion in a changing climate’ project team consists of University of New South Wales (Water Research Laboratory), Macquarie University, University of Plymouth (UK), NSW Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water (DECCW), Warringah Council, Gosford Council and CoastalCOMS (Coastalwatch).

See Also:
Coverage in the Manly Daily News: Research Team Watching Our Shifting Sands
Smart Warringah Blog: Study to Forecast the Sands of Time

Kristen D. Splinter, Darrell R. Strauss, and Rodger B. Tomlinson, July 2010

Ever-expanding networks of surf cameras offer a unique opportunity to monitor the coastline over large expanses at very little cost compared to traditional in situ survey methods. Here we describe and test a new coastal monitoring system maintained by CoastalCOMS Pty Ltd at their test site at Gold Coast, Australia. The 2-camera system monitors two highly sensitive 4-km stretches of sandy coastline adjacent to high value assets. The traditional static multi-camera set-up has been replaced by a single rotational camera. A 14-month data set, encompassing one major storm, a recovery period, and a seasonal cycle was analysed.

(From the Conclusions)

Coastal monitoring through the use of video camera technology provides a low-cost, nearly continuous data set to which coastal managers can make important decisions about beach vulnerability and nourishment activities over large areas of coastline without the need for ongoing costly surveys. [...] The CoastalCOMS system used here demonstrates the applicability of single high resolution camera installations to provide shoreline estimates within a reasonable level of accuracy for coastal management needs.

Cloud-based hosted solution integrates XProtect® VMS with CoastalCOMS analytics

COPENHAGEN – March 24th, 2011. Milestone Systems’ world-leading open platform IP video management software is being used by Coastalwatch, an innovative analytics and media content company that services international surf life saving and coastal management needs by delivering live and recorded video and information on beaches and coastlines around the globe via its CoastalCOMS division.

As a main component of the CoastalCOMS monitoring platform, the Queensland, Australia-based company is using Milestone XProtect software to provide live video surveillance and analytics solutions to marine safety and coastal management officials in several cities in Australia and the United States. CoastalCOMS’ analytics software and multi-national network of hosted coastal cameras are also used for the collection of real-time data, such as wave height and wave period analysis, vessel monitoring and counting, people counting on beaches, as well as tracking changes in the shoreline and general beach state.

Read the full press release at www.milestonesys.com

Lars Thinggaard, President and CEO of Milestone Systems, presented the first keynote speech covering the company’s historical progress, current status and future prospects for growing business through open platform integrations. He illustrated such interoperability by showing a video of how XProtect VMS is being used by Milestone Solutions Partner CoastalCOMS to assist surf life saving associations and coastal management needs with their international cloud-based hosted solution to deliver live and recorded video with innovative analytics, measuring wave height, people counting on beaches, and changes in shorelines.

Read the article on Source Security.com
Press Release: Milestone Partner Event Builds Performance

The annual award is given to a person, group, or organization that through the application of an idea and/or commitment to a project have broken new ground while contributing to the enhancement and innovation of the sport of surfing in the prior year.

As Coastalwatch’s founder and current Research and Development Manager at CoastalCOMS, Chris Lane, was on hand to receive the award on behalf of both companies. Chris gave a short acceptance speech during which he thanked University partners at Griffith University, Life Saving agencies throughout Australia, and government agencies such as the State of Queensland for their support of CoastalCOMS efforts.

For more information:

Release: Australian Surfing Hall of Fame honors brightest:
http://www.globalsurfnews.com/news.asp?Id_news=50522

Surfing Australia Incorporating the Surfing Hall of Fame:
http://www.surfingaustralia.com

As part of the project CoastalCOMS will extend it’s current Australian shoreline monitoring system to 10 new locations on the New South Wales coastline, between Shoalhaven and Kingscliffe. The locations will be on some of the most populous stretches of coastline in New South Wales and will serve as a test bed and template for the roll out of coastal monitoring and change forecasting around Australia. Each site will be monitored continuously for 3 years beginning in January 2011, with CoastalCOMS contributing camera vision, IP camera control systems, video processing systems, and it’s own shoreline data analytics to collect an accurate record of coastal change along the Australian coast.

Utilizing multi-use, multi-agency camera systems, this collaborative project will develop solutions to address the specific and interrelated goals of multiple agencies. Knowledge acquired during the study will build the capacity for a diverse group of coastal managers in Australia to confront the challenges of managing the coastal zones.

As widely reported, early Monday April 2nd a tsunami warning was issued in Australia by the Bureau of Meteorology. An earthquake had occurred just off the coast of the Solomon Islands at 20.55 on April 1st … and this was definitely no joke.

Link: Surfer’s Path Article: Australia Tsunami Scare