No abstract

Direct measurements of aeolian sand transport on coastal dunes and beaches is of paramount importance to make correct decisions about coast management. As most of the existing studies are mainly based on a statistical approach, the solution presented in this paper proposes a sensing structure able to orient itself according to wind direction and directly calculate the amount of wind-transported sand by collecting it and by measuring its weight. Measurements are performed remotely without requiring human action because the structure is equipped with a ZigBee radio module, which periodically sends readings to a local gateway. Here data are processed by a microcontroller and then transferred to a remote data collection centre, through GSM technology. The ease of installation, the reduced power consumption and the low maintenance required, make the proposed solution able to work independently, limiting human intervention, for all the duration of the expected experimental campaign. In order to analyze the cause-effect relationship between the transported sand and the wind, the sensing structure is integrated with a multi-layer anemoscope-anemometer structure. The overall sensor network has been developed and tested in the laboratory, and its operation has been validated in field through a 48 h measurement campaign.

No abstract

A multidisciplinary study based on several digital (geology, lithology, shoreline evolution, photo-interpretation of aerial and ortho-photographs) and field (topographic and vegetational surveys, grain-size analysis) datasets prompted new insights to a better definition of the processes in action at the Grande beach at São Francisco do Sul Island (Santa Catarina, Brazil). The resulting data enabled us to produce a multi-thematic map at 1:50,000 scale that might be useful in assisting decision-makers to manage the coastal system, taking into account involved factors at once and not separately. In addition, the map may be implemented and integrated with new information, since the database is provided in geographical information system. The results confirmed the importance of addressing coastal systems with a multi-faceted approach that can be applied everywhere, not only in settings similar to São Francisco do Sul Island.