1974 AP: Northern Ireland Historical Shoreline Change Analysis

Historical shoreline positions for the Northern Ireland coastline, analyzed from Ordnance Survey maps and aerial imagery dating back to the early 1800s. Ulster University processed the data using the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) to calculate rate-of-change statistics at 25-meter intervals. The dataset includes metrics like Net Shoreline Movement and Linear Regression Rate, providing a dynamic picture of coastal change over annual to decadal periods.

Use Cases

• Modeling coastal erosion risk based on historical rate-of-change statistics like End Point Rate (EPR).
• Visualizing spatial patterns of shoreline retreat and accretion using transect data collected at 25m intervals.
• Assessing long-term coastal change for management planning using the Shoreline Change Envelope (SCE) metric.
• Calibrating predictive models of shoreline position using Linear Regression Rate (LRR) and Weighted Linear Regression Rate (WLR) statistics.

Strengths

• Analysis spans a long temporal range, from the early 1800s to the present.
• Rate-of-change calculations are provided at a consistent 25-meter spatial interval along the coast.
• Includes multiple statistical measures of change (NSM, SCE, EPR, LRR, WLR) derived from the DSAS software.

Limitations

• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the Northern Ireland coastline.

Provenance

Source

OpenDataNI

Collection Method

Analysis of historical Ordnance Survey maps and aerial imagery using the ArcGIS Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS).

Time Range

Early 1800s to present

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-18 11:23:31.798740; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Northern Ireland coastline