The monitoring and assessment of natural resources and man-made systems in the coastal environment are essential with increasing sea levels, storm frequency, and storm duration. Data and tools that improve decision-making efforts related to impacts from increased storm surge and high-tide flood inundation events affecting these natural resources and man-made systems are beneficial in planning and building community resiliency and adaptation strategies. A multi-scale geospatial framework has been developed to aid coastal resource managers and planners with the synthesis and visualization of impacts to areas of interest. Geospatial workflows are used to develop one square kilometer and one-hectare hexagonal grids for the estuarine drainage areas, from Texas to Florida, associated with the Gulf of Mexico. The multiscale approach allows for a more regional assessment to be isolated down to develop visualizations and planning at local levels. Foundational data are summarized at both grid scales and specific data needs will be determined with engagement at the community level for specific planning. As an example, data synthesis within this framework would allow managers to not only identify if an area has a potential impact, but it will also provide information related to percent land cover, population estimates, number of structures, transportation mileage, etc. related to that impact. The use of this framework provides for the mapping and visualization of vulnerable environments to analyze the potential impacts on a region or community allowing coastal managers to make well-informed decisions and better communicate with impacted populations.

The impacts of the sea level rise (SLR), high tide flooding, storm surge, extreme weather events, and other shifting climatic conditions pose an increasing risk to the natural and built environments in coastal areas. Decision-makers often lack easy-to-use tools that would facilitate a rapid data-driven assessment of the vulnerability associated with these impacts on infrastructure systems of the built environment such as transportation, power, wastewater, communications, and other systems. This project used a Geographic Information System framework to improve data analysis of the geographic variability in the vulnerability and risk to these systems. This provides for improved adaptive decision-making capabilities to identify system vulnerabilities and increase the resiliency and sustainability of coastal communities. This presentation highlights the work of two geospatial efforts for the assessment of infrastructure systems at both the regional and local scales. The efforts include a multistate assessment of the SLR impacts on transportation infrastructure and a local-level vulnerability assessment of on-site wastewater disposal systems. These analyses are based on geospatial science and consider spatial relationships between different segments of infrastructure systems. The results are disseminated via interactive web-based applications (maps and dashboards) to help identify the most vulnerable communities. These efforts produced geospatial tools to automate data identification and extraction across multiple layers. Decision-makers can use the developed tools to augment their decision-making processes and find better adaptive management solutions to ensure that the coastal communities are more robust and prepared to withhold potential SLR impacts.

The Dauphin Island Sea Lab (DISL) has operated the Alabama Real-Time Coastal Observation System (ARCOS) continuously since 2003 to monitor hydrographic and meteorological conditions in and around Mobile Bay. In 2020, Hurricane Sally extensively damaged the hardware and infrastructure of the network rendering many stations inoperable and in some cases beyond repair. We used this event as an opportunity to review the network state pre-Sally and identify points of failure to inform future network architecture resiliency. Support from the Alabama Center of Excellence and additional funding sources enabled the acquisition of a new Data Architect and a dedicated ARCOS technician to provide additional manpower for maintenance and systems integrations. This has provided the necessary resources to restore the network back to operational status. Maintenance schedules were increased to provide better resiliency and network uptime, and legacy protocols were reviewed to improve data integrity and quality assurance. The ARCOS team has also developed new visualizations and interfaces to enhance data interactions for both the general public and stakeholders. Additionally, upgrades to data delivery and storage are being developed. Looking ahead, our future plans include expanding network parameters, incorporating other gulf-wide monitoring networks into our data streams, and increasing stakeholder engagement.

With increasing coastal erosion, high-accuracy monitoring of coastal ecosystems and restoration sites is imperative. Researchers, resource managers, and other stakeholders greatly benefit from low-cost alternatives to traditional monitoring methods. Unoccupied aircraft systems (UAS), commonly known as drones, provide a rigorous solution to this issue with the added benefits of reduced disturbance of monitoring sites, lessened field effort for monitoring, and flexibility of monitoring frequency. 
We explore the utility of high-resolution UAS paired with a primarily open-source processing workflow at a Living Shoreline restoration site on Dauphin Island, AL. To investigate a range of cost options, we tested RGB and multispectral imagery for spatial extent, elevation, and vegetation composition both before and directly after the construction of planted marsh mounds. UAS data was directly compared to field-based ground truth data to assess the accuracy of UAS methods.
In addition to the benefits of using UAS for research and monitoring, we discuss how it can greatly enhance public engagement with restoration projects. When creatively leveraged, UAS assets can aid in the explanation of restoration goals, provide robust time-series records, and illustrate project outcomes to wide audiences.