About KOSTASystem
Why KOSTASystem?
Coastal systems play an essential role in human life. The variety and uniqueness of the ecosystems that converge in this area encompass environmental, socio-economic, cultural and educational values of great importance. The coast is heavily populated and exposed to wave action, which increases its vulnerability. This, together with the challenges associated with climate change adaptation, makes them worthy of special attention.
The management of coastal systems encompasses processes with a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. Therefore, image-supported remote sensing techniques are an effective monitoring tool, providing useful data, covering large areas of coverage and high sampling frequency.
Videometry and coastal applications
In this line, AZTI has led the development of the KOSTASystem technology, a videometry system that makes it possible to monitor the coastline by combining autonomous video cameras and algorithms for image processing. Since 2004, these developments have been carried out with technological (ISURKI company, see TECHNOLOGY) and scientific collaboration (KOSTARISK cross-border joint laboratory made up of the SIAME team of the University of Pau and Adour countries, the Rivages ProTech centre of SUEZ and AZTI) to obtain products that transform images into useful information for coastal management, with short, medium and long-term applications. The KOSTARISK pilot development area is included in CoastPredict’s Global Global Coast Experiment de Atlas of the Decade of the Oceans (Basque Country Pilot Site PS-018b-01).
15 years of experience
The KOSTASystem station located in the Oka estuary (Mundaka) has been imaging the mouth of the estuary since 2007.
+ of 20 stations on 110km of coastline
More than twenty stations have been installed and commissioned along the Basque Coast, covering different coastal systems and key infrastructures.
Locations in 3 countries
Thanks to partners and collaborators, the implementation of KOSTASystem technology continues to grow with more than thirty coastal sites in Spain, France and Morocco to support institutions and users in coastal regions to address current and future climate risks.
Publications
Liria, P., Epelde, I., Santiago, I., Garnier, R., Abalia, A., Mader, J., 2021. Kostasystem, a coastal videometry technology: Development and applications. In: 9th EuroGOOS International Conference.