National Network of Regional Coastal Monitoring Programmes

The Specifications listed on this page are used for the National Network of Regional Coastal Monitoring Programmes. A national specification is adopted where possible and specific regional requirements are detailed in regional Briefs.

Quality control procedure documents are being made available for lidar, aerial photography, topographic data, hydrodynamics, bathymetry and habitat mapping. Although each region has its own data requirements, the National Network of Regional Coastal Monitoring Programmes is committed to deliver the same level of data quality throughout the Network.

A Multi-Supplier Dynamic Purchasing System is available to the National Network of Regional Coastal Monitoring Programmes for the Provision of Coastal Monitoring Services.

A number of map viewer layers are made available as a Web Map Service (WMS) in various software packages. This page explains how to access the WMS layers in ArcMap and QGIS. A sample project file for use in QGIS with the main layers pre-loaded can be downloaded from this page too.

It is possible to access real-time data via an open Application Programming Interface (API). This page has instructions on how to obtain a key and how to request data.

The storm catalogue is an archive of the spatial footprint and associated storm track of extreme wave events since 2003.

Data from Datawell directional Waverider buoys deployed by the National Network of Regional Coastal Monitoring Programmes of England, plus data from 3 industry buoys kindly provided by RWE Innogy and Wave Hub Limited, together provide an opportunity to assess the extent of bimodal seas both spatially and temporally.

iCOASST (integrating COAstal Sediment SysTems) is a consortium project set out to investigate the best way to predict coastal morphological change at the scales needed to inform shoreline management, strategy studies and long-term coastal decision making. The project has produced a number of tools and models, linked through the iCOASST framework, available here along with pilot site model comparisons and user guides.

SWEEP OWWL is a 1-km resolution hydrodynamic model developed in Delft3D for the southwest of the UK. The model is forced along four boundaries by UK Met Office 2D spectral wave data, water levels, and currents, and the entire domain is forced with gridded wind and pressure data at 7-km resolution.

Shingle B is an online tool for prediction of shingle beach profile under the influence of bi-modal sea states. It was developed following a flume study carried out at HR Wallingford examining the profile response of gravel beaches to bimodal wave spectra, characterised by swell and wind wave periods in various combinations. Shingle-B was funded by the Environment Agency and produced in association with HR Wallingford.

A toolbox to support the analysis of coastal data. Professor Ian Townend, University of Southampton has kindly made available this software package which can import waves, tide and beach profile data downloaded from the website. Beach dynamics, spatial and temporal coastal change, storminess and the influence of clustering are just some of the aspects which can be examined.

Defra’s 2002 futurecoast data can be downloaded as GIS projects. Futurecoast provides a nationally consistent review of coastal processes and past evolution, together with a description of how the coast might evolve in the future.

Outputs from the NERC funded Coastal Resilience project, which uses participatory approaches to assess strategic options for shoreline management from a resilience perspective.

WireWall is a capacitance wire system that makes field measurements of wave-by-wave overtopping volumes and speed. These data enable site-specific calibration of industry standard tools used to estimate wave overtopping. Better calibration of numerical approaches will help reduce uncertainty in coastal scheme design and flood forecasting safety thresholds.

The data collected through the Regional Coastal Monitoring Programmes are regularly used in research and education. Here we collate examples of undergraduate and post-graduate research which has used the data, often working closely with the programme teams, along with links to their final outputs where possible.

Useful links to coastal related websites, analysis and visualisation tools.

Commonly used terms and abbreviations.

The DCDA is an extensive archive, hosting a great diversity of photographs, newspaper articles, aerial images and historical maps of the Dorset coast as far back as 1740. This work is a centrepiece for knowledge exchange on how areas have developed over time through a visual representation.

CoastSnap is a global community science project which aims at engaging members of the public with our ever changing coastline. CoastSnap relies on multiple photos taken from a fixed point over time to help identify changes due to storms, rising sea levels, human activities and other factors.

A description of each of the wave parameters available from a Datawell DWR MkIII wave buoy and two additional parameters provided by the CCO, Energy Period (Te) and Wave Power (P).

The FFSAR-Coastal is a project funded by ESA to apply the Fully Focused SAR altimetry processor on Sentinel-3 data and evaluate its potential to make a significant new contribution to coastal and estuarine monitoring systems.