The first installation of an ARGUS coastal imaging station in Australia was undertaken in 1996 by the Coastal Imaging Laboratory at OSU, supported by the Australian Defense Force Academy in Canberra. This was part of an international network of approximately 10 stations that were operating at that time across a range of coastal environments in the U.S.A., The Netherlands, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. Palm Beach in Sydney, New South Wales (NSW), was selected because of the usual presence of multiple rip currents at this site. A further seven ARGUS stations have been progressively installed and operated in Australia by the Water Research Laboratory, University of New South Wales (WRL), in cooperation with WL Delft Hydraulics in The Netherlands.
The first of these stations was installed in 1999, as a means to monitor the beaches of the Northern Gold Coast. This was the first station operated by WRL, and was commissioned by Gold Coast City Council (GCCC) to fulfil the monitoring requirements of the Northern Gold Coast Beach Protection Strategy (NGCBPS) Environmental Management Plan (EMP). Approximately eight years of images and data were collected by this station before being decommissioned in 2008. These images were used to visualise and quantify beach changes, and to help assess the effectiveness of the Narrowneck artificial reef.
Narrowneck, Gold Coast, QLD
A new coastal imaging station is due to be installed by WRL to monitor the Northern Gold Coast region in early 2014. Images will be available here.
In December of 2002 a series of four Argus coastal imaging stations were installed to monitor the beaches of the Southern Gold Coast, these being at Kirra, Coolangatta-Greenmount, Rainbow Bay-Snapper Rocks, and Duranbah. This monitoring program was established to visualise and quantify the effects of the Tweed River Sand Bypassing Project, installed to bypass littoral drift sands across the Tweed River entrance. These stations have operated continuously since installation, and were recently upgraded to have the latest coastal imaging equipment, and subsequently higher resolution images as displayed below. Older images are on the left.
Recent images from these stations are available by following this link: Recent Images.
Between 2004 and 2008 WRL also undertook coastal imaging at Palm Beach on the Central Gold Coast for GCCC. This monitoring was part of the Palm Beach Beach Protection Strategy, and WRL provided continuous qualitative and quantitative information about the beach state, as well as six-monthly monitoring summary reports.
Palm Beach, QLD
Like the Northern Gold Coast, monitoring of Palm Beach will recommence in early 2014. Images will be available here.
Between July 2004 and July 2008 WRL assisted Warringah Council by providing quantitative and independent monitoring of coastal processes at Narrabeen-Collaroy Beaches, with particular focus on Precinct 3 as described in the Collaroy/Narrabeen Coastline Management Plan (1997). Digital images of the coastline were captured every daylight hour by five cameras mounted on the roof of a beach-front building, approximately 50 m above sea level. The results of this monitoring were detailed in six-monthly paper reports, presentations to Warringah Council and in real-time via the World Wide Web. This monitoring project continues today, and forms a fundamental part of several research projects at UNSW. Recent images from this station are available by following this link: Recent Images.
Between 2005 and 2008 WRL also maintained an Argus coastal imaging station on the North Narrabeen Surf Life Saving Club to monitor the Narrabeen Lagoon entrance. Images and data from this station were used to analyse the lagoon entrance processes, with information reported to Warringah Council and used in a UNSW research project.
Narrabeen Lagoon, NSW
