What it is
A coastal monitoring service for ports in tidal environments, providing information on low tide lines and intertidal features. It helps authorities, pilots and planners understand how shallow areas and tidal flats evolve over time.
What questions it answers
Where is the low tide line currently located, and how has it shifted historically?
Are there new or growing shallow areas (e.g., sandbanks, shoals) that could affect access channels or berths?
How can this information support dredging strategies, navigational safety and environmental monitoring?
How it works (high level)
The service combines satellite imagery sensitive to water–land boundaries with tidal information to identify images acquired at or near low tide. From these, it derives a representation of the intertidal zone and low tide line, which can be compared across time periods. Outputs can be overlaid on existing port charts and used as an additional layer in safety and planning discussions.
Role in the EO4PORT roadmap
This product demonstrates how EO can support operational and safety-related needs identified by ports, and how tidal and EO data can be combined into an information service that feeds directly into risk assessment and maintenance planning.