CEOS Coastal Observations, Applications, Services, and Tools (COAST) Ad Hoc Team has been quite busy during the past year executing our Phase 2 Implementation Plan through coastal product development and stakeholder engagement. A kickoff product showcase outreach event was held in October 2021, co-hosted by the Group on Earth Observations (GEO). This event introduced the two pilot domains (Land Impacts to Sea and Sea Impacts to Land) and the initial product themes of flooding, bathymetry, and coastline mapping (Sea Impacts to Land) and Coastal Eutrophication/Sediment (Land Impacts to Sea), as well as the five initial geographic pilot regions. Throughout 2021 and into early 2022, COAST product teams targeted the Chesapeake Bay and Bay of Bengal pilot regions as well as the West coast of Africa to independently advance potential CEOS COAST products. The most noteworthy result was the successful technology transfer in the Earth Analytics Interoperability Laboratory (EAIL) of the coastline mapping product developed by Geoscience Australia for Australia and the West coast of Africa to the Chesapeake Bay region.
On April 29, 2022, the half-day Chesapeake Bay Stakeholder Workshop was held virtually – engaging over 40 regional agency, NGO, academic, and industry representatives to see what the team had to offer to help their science and management of Chesapeake Bay. This was the first half-day workshop by CEOS COAST, and more are planned in the other CEOS-COAST geographic pilot areas. The workshop was designed and advertised using tools/templates which were developed by the CEOS WG CapD. Subsequent stakeholder co-design meetings have been held in group and 1:1 settings with the developers to ensure the products meet user needs and have a low technical barrier to access.
To learn more about co-design, CEOS COAST’s program manager Dr. Merrie Beth Neely actively participated in the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) Co-Design Virtual Workshop held June 7-9, sponsored by the UN Decade of Ocean Observations for Sustainable Development – for which COAST is an IOC-endorsed contribution (recognized June 8, 2021). It is hoped the techniques and lessons Dr. Neely learned, especially during the storm surge exemplar collaboration with CoastPredict (an IOC-endorsed UN Ocean Decade Programme), will improve stakeholder co-design approach of COAST products.
COAST was prominently featured in the Coastal Hazards session of the May 2022 ESA Living Planet Symposium, convened by Dr. Jerome Benveniste, and co-chaired by Dr. Neely. A community conversation and poster session also amplified products and lessons learned by COAST. Improvements to the CEOS COAST page on the CEOS website and an interactive brochure were completed in late 2021, and additional outreach opportunities at the 2022 GEO Virtual Symposium (Monday May 2, 2nd session on Coastal Zone Management and Marine Spatial Planning), the June Chesapeake Bay Program Wetlands Working Group, and the NOAA 2021 Science Report (page 59), as well as future general audience publication(s).
Merrie Beth Neely (NOAA), Rashmi Sharma (ISRO), and Paul DiGiacomo (NOAA)
