In a world first, a real-time forecasting map of Western Australia’s coastline is helping predict impending beach erosion and flooding a week ahead of time.

The national early warning system has been piloted in two geographically distinct regions – one stretching about 350 kilometres between Dunsborough in WA’s south and Two Rocks in the north; and the second, a 450-kilometre section north and south of Sydney.

The coastal hazard system predicts the severity of tidal and storm impacts every 100 metres alongshore and at vulnerable hotspots with at-risk housing and infrastructure.

The Framework for national-scale coastal storm hazards early warning was developed by University of NSW engineers in partnership with the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, the University of Western Australia, WA Department of Transport and the City of Mandurah.

A team led by the UWA’s Oceans Institute set up five coastal monitoring systems in Mandurah and has conducted monthly drone surveys at the hotspot since 2019.

Research fellow Michael Cuttler said the team, working with local governments and Transport, provided a valuable WA perspective to the project.

“The east coast has a lot of big headlands and in-bay beaches, and we have a lot of near shore rocky and limestone reefs, which throws a bit of a curveball into the near shore physics,” he said.

“We’re still gathering a lot of knowledge on the background dynamics of how things operate on this coast but this forecasting system is a good step forward to get everybody’s heads tuned into being aware of cause and response.”

While data collection of this kind may influence perspectives on issues like climate change in the future, this study, says Cuttler, focuses much more on the short-term response.