The setting is idyllic and offers an incredible panorama of the Grands Sables beach on the island of Groix (Morbihan). Perfect spot for an Instagram post, the place is also of interest to scientists. To combine business with pleasure, a CoastSnap station has just been installed on a cliff overlooking the beach. The system, set up by Lorient Agglomeration, in partnership with
South Brittany University (UBS)thus allowing visitors to take a magnificent photo of the place by placing their mobile phone on the metal station.
[CoastSnap]
🏖️ New station to monitor the #littoral at #Groix
🥇 1st island resort in France
📸 This innovative device with @UBS_university
allows the public to contribute with photos+ info 👉 https://t.co/qhr99Ui3fD pic.twitter.com/iRGlG4QXHO
— Lorient Agglo (@LorientAgglo) February 11, 2022
It is then up to them to send their photos by email or to share them via social networks with the hashtag #CoastSnapGroix. The compilation of photos taken by the general public will be studied with a magnifying glass by the laboratory of marine geosciences and geomorphology of the coast of the UBS and will allow it to follow almost in real time the evolution of the beach.
Six CoastSnap stations installed on the Morbihan coast
Thanks to the pictures, the scientists will indeed collect a whole lot of information such as “the variation in sand heights on the foreshore and on the dune, the evolution of the profile of the beach, the coastline, the vegetation fixing the dune or developments or even the stranding of seaweed and the presence of a sea line”. So much valuable data that will allow them to monitor this sensitive beach, one of the only convex beaches in Europe.
Since 2019, five other beaches in Morbihan have been equipped with CoastSnap stations, a collaborative tool for monitoring the coast that was born in Australia. The one installed three years ago on the Grande Plage site in Gâvres collects an average of fifteen photos each month. “Analysis of these photos makes it possible to better understand the evolution of the sites, to improve their management, in particular in the event of exceptional meteorological phenomena and to monitor the consequences of climate change through the rise in sea level. », specifies Lorient Agglomeration.