Coastal zones are largely vulnerable to the dynamics of natural and human-induced changes. Accurate large-scale measurements of key parameters, such as bathymetry, are needed to understand and predict coastal changes. This lack of information is due to the high costs in time, money and safety involved in collecting these data using conventional echo sounder on ships or LiDAR on aircrafts.
Europe is no exception, as European seas are not adequately surveyed according to the International Hydrographic Organisation. Bathymetry influences ocean waves and currents, thereby shaping sediment transport which may alter coastal morphology over time.
This paper discusses state-of-the-art coastal bathymetry retrieval methods and data, user requirements and key drivers for many maritime sectors in Europe, including advances in Satellite-Derived Bathymetry SDB. By leveraging satellite constellations, cloud services and by combining complementary methods, SDB appears as an effective emerging tool with the best compromise in time, coverage and investment to map coastal bathymetry and its temporal evolution.
Coastal zones are at the interface between land and ocean and represent a tremendous social, economic and biological value. An area with the same population exposed to the same hazard is more at risk of suffering in developing regions, where the population has a poorer health system, or where the housing is more fragile. One of the key parameter to study coastal environments is bathymetry, i.
Yet, global coastal bathymetry remains mostly unknown. Current measurement methods based on in-situ surveys via echo sounder on ships and LIDAR on airplanes do not provide a wide enough coverage. In a large number of coastal areas of interest including Europe, bathymetric information is unavailable or is often decades old IHO C, , therefore not taking into account changes in coastal morphology due to storms, multi-timescale variability, or longer-term adaptation to changing environmental conditions Karunarathna et al.
