Annual Shorelines and Coastal Change Rates for Australia, 1988-Present

1988 to the present, this continental dataset provides annual shorelines and rates of coastal change for Australia's over 30,000 km coastline. It is produced by the Australian Ocean Data Network, combining satellite data from Geoscience Australia's Digital Earth Australia program with tidal modelling to map the typical coastline location at mean sea level each year. The dataset enables the examination of coastal erosion and growth trends at local and continental scales.

Use Cases

• Monitoring and mapping annual rates of coastal erosion based on the historical shoreline positions.
• Prioritizing coastal management actions based on historical coastline change patterns.
• Modeling how coastlines respond to drivers like extreme weather events or sea level rise.
• Supporting geomorphological studies of how and why coastlines have changed across time.

Strengths

• Covers the entire Australian coastline, over 30,000 km in length.
• Provides annual shoreline data from 1988 to the present, enabling long-term trend analysis.
• Combines satellite data with tidal modelling to map the coastline at mean sea level.

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.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network, utilizing Geoscience Australia's Digital Earth Australia program.

Collection Method

Combines satellite data with tidal modelling to map the typical coastline location at mean sea level for each year.

Time Range

1988 to present

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-10 16:50:39.283357; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Entire Australian coastline