Case study:
EDI Surveys has been involved with the Environment Agency’s coastal monitoring programme since 1991 and we are currently the holders of a 5 year contract to survey profile and grid surveys on the foreshore from Grimsby to Southend-on-Sea, approximately 400km of coastline.
The majority of the work involves the survey of level profiles along fixed transect lines from low water level to a point inland of the sea defence / cliff top or dune line, with these transects being spaced at intervals between 100m and 500m.
Using RTK GNSS survey units we take recordings of the locations position, height and ground covering type (i.e. grass, mud, sand etc) every few paces. Once back in the office the collected data is processed by software to create cross sections of the coast line. When this new data is laid over cross sections of the same coast line collected from previous years we can see a graphical representation of how our coastline is changing over time. This valuable information gives the Environment Agency data to create the defence polices needed to protect us from the risk of flooding and erosion.