Digital Earth Australia Coastlines is a continental dataset that includes annual shorelines and rates of coastal change along the entire Australian coastline from 1988 to the present.
The product combines satellite data from Geoscience Australia's Digital Earth Australia program with tidal modelling to map the most representative location of the shoreline at mean sea level for each year. The product enables trends of coastal retreat and growth to be examined annually at both a local and continental scale, and for patterns of coastal change to be mapped historically and updated regularly as data continues to be acquired. This allows current rates of coastal change to be compared with that observed in previous years or decades.
The ability to map shoreline positions for each year provides valuable insights into whether changes to our coastline are the result of particular events or actions, or a process of more gradual change over time. This information can enable scientists, managers and policy