1587 / 2024-10-09 16:14:28

Fugro’s Digital Coastal Zone Management Tool–SmartCoast–applied to the monitoring of climate change in the Torres Straits with applications to mangrove evaluation and monitoring

digital twins of the ocean (DTO),ecosystem resilience,coastal management

Digital twins of the ocean are beginning to play a cornerstone role of the Ocean Decade initiative. By integrating and making sense of a huge range of ocean science data (historical and real-time), they are enhancing the world’s understanding of the ocean, the risks that lie ahead and how to mitigate them.  This begins with the collection of geo-data on the coastal and marine environments and the application of digital twin technology to improve our understanding of the environment and promoting sustainable management practices and collaboration amongst stakeholders.

This is demonstrated in the SmartCoast project to build a Digital Twin in the Torres Strait, an area that is located between mainland Australia and Papua New Guinea and is subject to some of the most aggressive sea level rise recorded to date. SmartCoast is a collaborative research initiative Led by Fugro in collaboration with th key partnerships from James Cook University (JCU) and EOMAP with support from Queensland (QLD) node of the Earth Observation Hub (EOHUB) based in Queensland, Australia.

The project aims to use a co-design process with input from the local community and other stakeholders to develop a digital coastal zone management tool for Horn and Thursday Islands in the Torres Strait. This region faces increasing challenges from climate change, including more frequent extreme weather events and the highest rate of sea-level rise in QLD. Mangroves, which naturally line the shorelines of these islands, offer a crucial nature-based solution to mitigate coastal erosion. However, baseline data on the extent and health of these mangroves is lacking, and there is currently no ongoing monitoring to assess whether intervention and rehabilitation are needed to ensure their effectiveness.

To address this, the project employs a fusion of Earth Observation, LiDAR, and high-resolution imagery to provide an uninterrupted, high-resolution, sea-to-land survey path with a specific focus on mangrove vegetation. This data is essential for developing the robust SmartCoast application that will be foundational for ecosystem and mangrove management.

SmartCoast is a tailored platform designed to deliver precise and actionable geo-data insights for coastal management. By creating a virtual representation of the islands, the platform will help users make informed decisions by simplifying and visualising complex natural processes. It will feature environmental hindcasting and forecasting for various climate scenarios and storm events. The digital twin will undergo iterative prototyping with various UI/UX designs to ensure user-friendliness and adherence to FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Replicable) data principles.

The verification of mangrove ecosystem data is conducted in collaboration with local island habitat  rangers. This information will support the development of advanced capabilities including inventory classification (e.g., healthy, threatened, transition zones, catchment areas) to enhance mangrove management and asset exposure risk to coastal inundation.