Calpe beach will enlist the help of locals and tourists with new technology

The Arena-bol beach in Calpe, will now count on the help of locals and tourists to monitor erosion, sand loss or any long-term changes that will help researchers understand why some beaches are more resilient than others, allowing them to take appropriate action based on the findings. 

The Institute of Environment and Marine Science of the Catholic University of Valencia (IMEDMAR-UCV), and the Institut de Ciències del Mar-CSIC of Barcelona have installed in Calpe (Alicante) the first CoastSnap station in the Valencian Community, which will allow the monitoring of the coastline of the Arena-Bol beach through the collaboration of locals and tourists, with the aim of recording cycles of erosion or loss of sand.

The Arena-bol beach in Calpe, will now count on the help of locals and tourists to monitor erosion, sand loss or any long-term changes that will help researchers understand why some beaches are more resilient than others, allowing them to take appropriate action based on the findings. 

The Calpe City Council has collaborated with the researchers, setting up a smartphone holder for residents and tourists to place their mobile phones and take a picture of the beachfront. After taking the photo, users must share it on Instagram or Twitter using the hashtag ‘#coastsnapcalp’ or send the image to the initiative’s email address indicating the day and time it was taken. These images are compiled by CoastSnap to build a database that will provide new insights into how beaches respond to specific weather conditions, as well as information about waves or storms.

This community project, led in Calpe by Amanda Sancho (IMEDMAR-UCV) is carried out in several countries around the world and in other parts of Spain such as Cádiz, Girona and Vigo. “Beaches are constantly changing due to the changing conditions of waves, winds, currents and tides. However, these cycles are different for each beach, depending on the layout of the beach, its exposure to waves and the amount of sand”, stated Sancho

With CoastSnap-Calp, anybody can share their images with the research team of IMEDMAR-UCV and the Institut de Ciències del Mar-CSIC, who will integrate these results in the framework of the MOCCA research project (Mediterranean sheltered beach Morphodynanics in the face of Climate Change), which deals with the morphodynamics of sheltered beaches and has financed this installation. The results will be incorporated into the Coast Sentinels project, which coordinates all CoastSnap stations in Spain.