Using a combination of proxies to characterise Ermitage beach dynamic in Reunion Island
Résumé
Coastal observatories appear to be essential for an efficient coastal management. It’s therefore necessary to harmonize protocols and indicators to improve interoperability of data. In Reunion Island, of Ermitage zone integrated a French National Observatory Service since 2013. This network aims to sustain the measurements acquired on shoreline (beach profile, Digital Surface Model) through the use of very high resolution tools. The objective of the study is to show the complementarity of different protocols to characterize and quantify shoreline retreat and beach erosion at Ermitage beach.
Despite an apparent low variability in beach response across beach profiles and DEMs data, ironwood excavation measurement appear to be an efficient proxy for past erosion trend.