Northern Ireland Shoreline Change Analysis from 1800s to 1975

Historical shoreline positions for the entire 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 to visualize coastal retreat and accretion.

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.
• Calibrating predictive coastal change models using the Linear Regression Rate (LRR) and Weighted Linear Regression Rate (WLR) metrics.
• Assessing long-term coastal dynamics for management planning using the Net Shoreline Movement (NSM) and Shoreline Change Envelope (SCE) statistics.

Strengths

• Analysis is based on all available Ordnance Survey maps and aerial imagery, providing a long-term perspective.
• Rate-of-change statistics are calculated at a high spatial resolution of 25-meter intervals along the coast.
• Includes multiple statistical measures of change (NSM, SCE, EPR, LRR, WLR) for robust analysis.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The specific temporal coverage for individual data points is not detailed beyond 'since the early 1800s'.

Provenance

Source

OpenDataNI, with analysis provided by Ulster University.

Collection Method

Historical shoreline analysis based on Ordnance Survey maps and aerial imagery, processed using the ArcGIS Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS).

Time Range

Early 1800s to 1975 (inferred from title).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-18 11:23:59.899095; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Northern Ireland coastline.