Coastal Observations Applications Services and Tools (COAST) Ad Hoc Team
Observing Our Coasts (ECO Magazine May 2021 Special Issue on the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development
New! Read about COAST’s vital work monitoring & protecting vulnerable, important, & complex regions in this Special Issue on the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (pg 108)
Purpose
There are significant risks and threats to human health and safety, as well as the abundant ecosystem resources at the land-sea interface of coasts. Coastal hazards such as flooding and inundation, as well as water quality and associated impacts (e.g., eutrophication, hypoxia, harmful algal blooms, sediment loadings and coral reef et al. habitat degradation) to ecosystem health and productivity, represent particularly great challenges for society to address. To address these and other challenges and risks in the coastal zone, CEOS formed the COAST (Coastal Observations, Applications, Services and Tools) team in 2019 in an effort toward providing new and improved scientific/technical capabilities and building capacity for a more robust, end-to-end value chain (observations to data to products to information to actionable knowledge) in support of coastal stakeholders and global sustainable development.
CEOS Alignment & Benefit to Stakeholders
COAST will formulate and implement high impact pilot projects that leverage the CEOS Analysis Ready Data (ARD) framework already demonstrated for terrestrial applications, as well as leverage the emerging WGISS/Systems Engineering Office CEOS Earth Analytics Interoperability Lab (EAIL). The COAST Ad Hoc Team will encourage broader utilization of Earth observations and other CEOS capabilities for societal benefits within coastal zones (e.g., Blue Economy; SDG-14), and demonstrate specific opportunities and mechanisms for CEOS to engage, particularly through the linkage of the Group on Earth Observations Blue Planet and AquaWatch Initiatives, likewise engaging with external stakeholders such as Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission/Global Ocean Observing System, United Nations (UN) Environment, World Meteorological Organization, and the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030).
Scope & Priorities
There is a broad spectrum of coastal needs, issues and challenges, with a diverse ecosystem of stakeholders that can potentially be engaged in Phase 2. The CEOS-COAST Phase 1 deliverables identified the specific scope and priorities of the COAST effort moving forward, focusing on the transboundary and transdisciplinary nature of the coastal zone. Specifically, this includes sea impacts on land – including coastal hazards such as flooding and inundation, at continental as well as for small island states – as well as land impacts on the sea, including water quality issues such as coastal eutrophication and sediment loading, affecting the ability of the coastal ecosystem to deliver valuable goods and services.
CEOS COAST Pilot Regions and Coastal Product Demonstrations