Drone Imagery Shows Shoreline Changes at Rachel Carson Reserve

North Carolina Sea Grant and NC Space Grant joint fellow Megan Geesin studied sites along Taylor Creek at Carrot Island.

A new North Carolina Sea Grant and NC Space Grant study using drone imagery reveals erosion of marsh and shoreline along Carrot Island in Beaufort, North Carolina.

Megan Geesin, the study’s lead author and a coastal science researcher at East Carolina University, says the area of concern is a section of coastal marsh near Taylor Creek, which faces a combination of forces that contribute to erosion.

“Taylor Creek is a relatively narrow body of water, but it has a large tidal range, which means there is water rushing in and out throughout the tidal cycle,” says Geesin, a former joint graduate research fellow with North Carolina Sea Grant and NC Space Grant. “This sometimes causes a ‘longshore current’ — a fast-paced current that runs parallel to the shoreline, dragging large amounts of sediment with it.”

Monitoring shorelines is costly, Geesin says, and such projects often face limited timelines and budgets. But, she says, not only are drones effective, they also offer a low-cost solution for long term monitoring.

“Drones allow us to cover larger areas and also reduce disturbances to fragile habitats,” says Geesin. “This will allow us to assess the success of existing living shorelines, for instance, which can inform future living shoreline restoration projects, as well as helping to identify areas in need of restoration.”

Geesin and her team tracked shifts in elevation and vegetation down to the centimeter.

“As nature-based solutions to shoreline erosion continue to expand in design and application, this study underscores the potential for the use of drones in evaluating their effectiveness,” says Amanpreet Kohli, the research and program coordinator for North Carolina Sea Grant. “Testing innovative methods to monitor shorelines advances our ability to assess and refine these critical restoration strategies, and to deliver lasting, measurable benefits in dynamic coastal environments.”

Link to the full study: Assessing the effects of engineered oyster reefs on shoreline change using drones

North Carolina Sea Grant and NC Space Grant Graduate Research Fellowships

Lily Soetebier is a contributing editor for Coastwatch and a science communication intern at the North Carolina Sea Grant. She is pursuing an M.S. in technical communication from North Carolina State University.