Carlene Campbell
University of Wales Trinity Saint David, UK
Title: Wireless Sensor Networks for Monitoring Coastal Erosion
Biography
Biography: Carlene Campbell
Abstract
Huge amounts of money are spent every year to protect beaches against destructive processes such as erosion, which is becoming an increasingly common and destructive process worldwide due to rising sea levels. As such a means to monitor and predict the effects of processes affecting the coastline has the potential to yield significant savings by making it possible to predict coastal processes ahead of time, thus allowing alleviative or preventative measures to be taken before it is too late. Current methods of monitoring coastal erosion are restricted to measurements of affected areas. Whilst this makes it possible to quantify the effects that erosion have on the coastline, it only provides a partial view of this phenomenon, due to the inability to measure what is occurring beneath the sea’s surface. Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are an enabling technology in this regard, providing a means to monitor locations that cannot easily be reached manually, automatically and over a long time-period. This presentation will provide an overview of the applications of WSNs in coastal monitoring, with a focus on an ongoing research project concerning the design of a novel floating WSN capable of measuring sediment movement beneath the sea’s surface using sound pulses. This system will have global application in gathering previously unavailable data on the effects of coastal erosion beneath the sea’s surface. By enabling the collection of this important data, this system will contribute significantly towards predicting the long-term evolution of the coastline worldwide.
