School of Physical Science, Graduate Research Programme in Climate Change and Human Habitat, Federal University of Technology Minna, Minna, Nigeria.
Centre for Coastal Management, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana.
Environ Monit Assess. 2021 Mar 2;193(3):154. doi: 10.1007/s10661-021-08949-8.
Climate change and intense anthropogenic activities have heightened the vulnerability of coastal areas globally. The intensification in the dynamism and uncertainty of coastal processes and change in the past few decades have led researchers and coastal managers to explore new tools with the capability of undertaking a rapid assessment of coastal resources at a relatively lower cost compared with the conventional in situ data collection. The latest advances in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platforms and sensor technologies have made them useful environmental remote sensing tools due to the high temporal and spatial resolution and relatively inexpensive operating costs. This study reviews literature that explored UAV applications in five different areas of the coastal zone comprising the intertidal, coastal organisms and habitats, marine litter, coastal zone disaster management, and coastal zone land use and land cover mapping. The review provides evidence of the potentials and effectiveness of UAVs for coastal zone management (CZM). However, factors such as difficulty in imaging water, setting out ground control points (GCPs) for geolocation of images, and processing large volumes of data can pose a challenge to coastal managers. Extensive review shows the capabilities of current UAV technologies for monitoring and tracking changes in the coastal environment at high spatial and temporal resolution.
气候变化和强烈的人为活动加剧了全球沿海地区的脆弱性。在过去几十年中，沿海过程的动态性和不确定性加剧，以及变化，促使研究人员和沿海管理人员探索新的工具，这些工具具有以相对较低的成本快速评估沿海资源的能力，与传统的现场数据收集相比。由于具有较高的时间和空间分辨率以及相对较低的运营成本，无人驾驶飞行器 (UAV) 平台和传感器技术的最新进展使它们成为有用的环境遥感工具。本研究回顾了文献中探索 UAV 在包括潮间带、沿海生物和栖息地、海洋垃圾、沿海地区灾害管理以及沿海地区土地利用和土地覆盖制图在内的五个不同沿海区域的应用。该审查提供了 UAV 用于沿海地区管理 (CZM) 的潜力和有效性的证据。然而，诸如难以对水成像、为图像的地理定位设置地面控制点 (GCP) 以及处理大量数据等因素可能会对沿海管理人员构成挑战。广泛的审查表明了当前 UAV 技术在以高时空分辨率监测和跟踪沿海环境变化方面的能力。
