Oceans and coastal zones
Coastal marine environments, being invaluable ecosystems and host to many species, are under increasing pressure caused by anthropogenic impacts such as, among others, growing economic use, coastline changes and recreational activities. A continuous monitoring of those environments is of key importance for the identification of natural and manmade hazards, for an understanding of oceanic and atmospheric coastal processes, and eventually for a sustainable use of those vulnerable areas. The proposed project, “Remote Sensing of Changing Coastal Marine Environments” (ReSCCoME), will address research and development activities that will focus on the way, in which the rapidly increasing amount of high-resolution EO data can be used for the surveillance of marine coastal environments, and how EO sensors can detect and quantify processes and phenomena that are crucial for the local fauna and flora, for coastal residents and local authorities. ReSSCoME will consist of five research packages (RP), each addressing a relevant aspect of changing coastal marine environments: the state of vulnerable coastal regions and their changes (addressed in the RP on intertidal regions and coastline changes), the impact of growing economic use on coastal environments (offshore wind farms and oil pollution), and the growing threat of plastic debris and green tides (coastal pollution). The project consortium is formed by internationally renowned experts in each of the research fields. In order to ensure a high degree of cross-fertilization and synergy effects among the partners, five cross-cutting themes have been identified, the synergism of EO data, handling and processing of Big Data, identification of coastal stress factors, support of Young Scientists, and dissemination and outreach. Responsibilities for each RP and cross-cutting theme are equally distributed among all partners. The partner affiliations are based on, or close to, five European (Norwegian, North, Baltic, Black, and Mediterranean Sea) and three Chinese marginal seas (Bohai, Yellow and South China Sea). These marginal seas host five areas of interest, of which large quantities of EO data will be analysed, and in which complementing in-situ campaigns will be run. In addition, the western Java Sea will serve as a test and validation area for newly developed algorithms. Intertidal regions are particularly sensitive to natural and anthropogenic hazards. RP ‘Intertidal regions’ will focus on an optimization of the monitoring of those regions by including multi-modal SAR data into existing monitoring schemes that are based on optical EO data and in-situ observations. China and Northern Europe are hot-spots for future developments of offshore wind energy. RP ‘Offshore wind farms’ will provide information on wind resources, wake effects and environmental impacts, which are needed by wind energy industries during the entire lifecycle of a wind farm. The detection and quantification of marine oil pollution and the identification of its sources are crucial for the pollution monitoring in coastal marine waters. RP ‘Offshore oil pollution’ will address these tasks through a synoptical use of EO data and the automated processing of large quantities of SAR data (Big Data). Floating marine litter is a global problem, with millions of plastic items ending up in the sea. In addition, harmful algal blooms such as green tides are posing a threat to coastal marine environments. RP ‘Coastal pollution’ will address both aspects and will help in both optimizing the detection and quantification of marine litter, and understanding the dynamics of green tides. Coastlines are changing rapidly worldwide as a result of both (quasi-) natural and anthropogenic pressures. RP ‘Coastline changes’ will demonstrate the use of EO data for an accurate long-term quantification of coastline changes, which is needed by coastal managers for a sustainable development of coastal environments.
