Historic Coastlines: Using Geospatial Technologies for Coastal Resiliency

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For the past four years, the Geospatial Research Facility (GRF) has partnered with Michigan's Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) to research geomorphological processes at work by harnessing the power of geographic information science (GISc) and historical imagery. After a fifteen-year period of near historic lows, all of the Great Lakes have exceeded their average monthly levels since 2014. While seasonal variations are common, both persistent lows and highs present their own unique dangers for coastlines, for homes, and for businesses that depend on the Great Lakes. Hydropower and boat-related activity particularly suffer beneath reduced water levels while sudden increases in water levels present threats to our shores and coastlines. By early 2020, the Michigan Municipal League estimated high water damages to public lands and infrastructure had reached $63.7 million. 

The GRF uses geospatial technology and scenario-based land-use planning methods for the purpose of protecting our coastal resources and strengthening our coastal communities' resilience in the face of coastal hazards. The GRF's team of GIS analysts began with an archive of historic aerial imagery spanning eighty years. The team meticulously georeferenced the images against contemporary shorelines, developing a photomosaic of our past shorelines at well-documented intervals and digitized the past shorelines and bluff lines. The GRF can use these digitized shorelines to visualize and analyze change over time, modeling the rate of coastal change and  applying a Coastal Vulnerability Index (CVI) for identifying areas more vulnerable to erosion. 

Understanding our coastal change over time provides critical data as EGLE responds to the growing erosion problems faced by our coastal communities.

The GRF's viewer for Lakes Huron and Michigan

Click Here for the Lake Michigan and Lake Huron Historical Shoreline Viewer

The GRF's Lake Superior Viewer

Click Here for the Lake Superior Historical Shoreline Viewer

Financial assistance for this project was provided, in part, by the Michigan Coastal Zone Management Program, Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, and is supported through a grant under the National Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, as amended, administered by the Office for Coastal Management, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.