Armed with their cellphones, volunteers monitor the erosion of the Loire-Atlantique coastline

Posted

Article written by

They are the best placed to observe the evolution of the coastline. In Saint-Brévin-les-Pins, residents have volunteered to monitor erosion on the eight kilometers of beaches in the town. Data that will feed a scientific study but also allow to consider future actions to face this erosion. #IlsOntLaSolution

We install the phone in the small utensil, click, and the photo is taken“. Marc Geinoz is one of ten residents of Saint-Brévin-les-Pins who volunteered to become a” coastal lookout. “The little utensil, as he calls it, is a post of Observation Nine have been installed along the eight kilometers of the town’s coastline, making it possible to take the same photo in the same shooting axis every six months to observe the evolution of the coastline.

“We are in the water most of the year and we observe that the sandbanks are moving more and more, that the dunes are moving, and we say to ourselves that at one point, that will cause some problems. So c ‘good to do something. “

Marc Geinoz

Coastal watch

The concept of coastal lookouts was born in Australia, since taken over in many countries faced with rising sea levels which inexorably eat away at the coastline. In Saint-Brévin, as elsewhere, you have to choose strategic observation sites, which are constantly changing, depending on currents, swells or storms. All the photos taken by the lookouts feed into monitoring sheets which will allow a better understanding of the phenomena that lead to this erosion.

These photos are compiled on a site at the town hall, and are observed by scientists, in particular from the University of Nantes, who will be able to assess the coastline. On the other hand, these photos will also be looked at by the technical services to understand the actions necessary to protect the coast.“, explains Jean-François Golhen, municipal councilor of Saint-Brévin-les-Pins, delegate for the Sea and the Coastline.


source site