The United Nations marks World Earth Day 2026 under the central theme “Our Power, Our Planet”, emphasizing that environmental progress is sustained by the daily actions of communities, for which there is a responsibility to inform and mobilize public opinion regarding the urgency of the climate crisis.
As we move beyond the first quarter of the 21st century, the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicates that, as a consequence of rising global mean temperature, the global mean sea level is increasing at a faster rate than at the beginning of this century, with ocean thermal expansion being the dominant driver. By the end of this century, depending on global temperature rise scenarios, mean sea level may increase to approximately 0.40 m, or, under a less optimistic scenario, to around 0.90 m. As a result, 70% of coastal zones worldwide—already exposed to erosion processes and overtopping of natural defenses—may experience an intensification of these impacts. Particularly severe is the situation in southern European countries, including Portugal, where extreme sea levels that, according to IPCC reports, had return periods of 100 years in the recent past, now occur with return periods of less than 10 years. Low-lying sandy coastal areas are the most affected, with impacts becoming especially evident after storm events.
Research carried out at CESAM on coastal processes in sandy beaches along the western coast of Portugal—considered one of the most energetic coastlines in the world—poses significant challenges in terms of data acquisition. Ongoing technological developments are providing research with equipment capable of enhanced data collection. The establishment of observational time series for key coastal indicators (e.g., shoreline position, beach width, dune erosion rates, coastal overtopping, submerged bar bathymetry), with high temporal resolution and coverage, is becoming feasible through indirect observation methods (such as video camera imagery). This is enabling a paradigm shift in coastal monitoring, from a context of data scarcity to one of data abundance. In parallel, current computational capacity allows the application of advanced artificial intelligence approaches for data processing and analysis, which is essential not only for the automatic detection and quantification of coastal indicators, but also for their short-term forecasting (days/weeks). This shift is beginning to transform the landscape of coastal monitoring in Portugal, with the prospect that operational services for real-time automatic detection and forecasting of relevant coastal indicators—particularly for the management of sandy beaches prone to erosion and in port areas—will be implemented in the near future. In this context, CESAM’s research can be considered pioneering in these areas.
The CESAM pilot station at Praia de Mira, established under a collaboration protocol between the University of Aveiro and the Municipality of Mira in 2017, and located in one of the coastal erosion hotspots of the Aveiro coastline, is one of several University of Aveiro prototypes where these operational services have begun to be tested. It also aims to contribute to the assessment of the effectiveness of implemented measures, such as artificial sand nourishment. CESAM pilot stations installed in the port administrations of Figueira da Foz, Ericeira, and Sines—developed within research projects—aim to estimate bathymetry, extract local wave parameters, and detect overtopping of coastal infrastructures. These are further examples of ongoing research focused on technological maturation, grounded in both fundamental and applied science, carried out by an interdisciplinary CESAM team. In the near future, it is expected that more mature replicas of these prototypes will be deployed in other locations across the national territory within a technology transfer framework. These tools are expected to contribute not only to informing decision-makers but also to raising public awareness and fostering engagement on these issues, aligning with the objectives of the United Nations.
At CESAM, this research falls within Thematic Line 1 – Climate Change, Adaptation and Mitigation, which includes objectives such as assessing the vulnerability of terrestrial ecosystems to climate change and developing adaptation and mitigation strategies; and Thematic Line 3 – Socio-Ecological Systems and Resources, which focuses on knowledge sharing with policymakers, local communities, and industry to co-design solutions for the sustainable use of resources. This research is developed in an integrated manner through several Research Clusters, namely RC1 – Deep Sea, Ocean and Transitional Ecosystems, which aims to develop innovative technologies, including remote sensing and numerical modelling, to study, monitor, and predict the behaviour and evolution of marine and transitional environments; RC3 – Ocean and Atmospheric Modelling, which focuses on assessing the vulnerability of coastal regions to climate change; and RC4 – Ecosystem Management and Conservation, which includes the implementation of conservation and restoration strategies, including nature-based solutions.
In recent years, several CESAM projects have contributed to advancing scientific knowledge and supporting public policy development in this field. The NAVSAFETY project focuses on the development of technology for near real-time monitoring of bathymetric indicators in port areas using indirect observation methods; the SHORESAFETY project proposes an integrated approach based on video monitoring systems to generate real-time topo-bathymetric models in sandy beaches; and the A-AAGORA project develops innovative solutions to enhance climate resilience in coastal zones by promoting the integration of scientific knowledge into adaptation policies and sustainable management strategies.
Figure 1: At a global scale, between 1984 and 2015, the permanent loss of coastal land amounted to nearly 28,000 km²—equivalent to the area of Haiti—almost twice the area of land gained (approximately 14,000 km²) over the same period. Source: Mentaschi, L., Vousdoukas, M., Pekel, J., Voukouvalas, E., & Feyen, L. (2018). Global long-term observations of coastal erosion and accretion. Scientific Reports, 8. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-30904-w.
Article by Paulo Baganha, researcher at CESAM/DGEO.