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vegetation, is invaluable to environmental research. By repeating measurements, we
can look at changes over time, such as the erosion induced by overwash (water
washing over the land) during a hurricane. One approach used by my colleagues,
Drs. Devon Eulie and Reide Corbett, and I was a balloon-mounted digital SLR camera. This portable system was relatively easy to deploy, although rather bulky and
dependent upon low wind speed (Fig. 6.6). We used this platform to collect periodic
high-resolution (pixels of several centimeters) imagery over more than a 1-year
period. These data allowed us to visualize and measure short- and long-term coastal
changes. The work was informative to estuarine shoreline mapping we had conducted throughout NC for the Division of Coastal Management. Also, by combining
mapped changes with wave information from measurements and models, we were
able to demonstrate how wind-driven erosion can cause potentially rapid shoreline
Fig. 6.6 (Top Left) Dr. Devon Eulie, a former Ph.D. student, prepares a balloon-camera system on
the inland margin of Pamlico Sound. (Right) Photograph showing the balloon-camera system in
operation. (Bottom Left) Aerial image collected after Hurricane Earl in 2010 from the ballooncamera system (from Eulie et al. 2013). The orange line indicates the shoreline on the post-storm
image from October 2010. The red and yellow lines are shoreline positions mapped in June and
August 2010, respectively, before the passage of Hurricane Earl in September 2010. (Images by
J.P. Walsh)
J. P. Walsh
vegetation, is invaluable to environmental research. By repeating measurements, we
can look at changes over time, such as the erosion induced by overwash (water
washing over the land) during a hurricane. One approach used by my colleagues,
Drs. Devon Eulie and Reide Corbett, and I was a balloon-mounted digital SLR camera. This portable system was relatively easy to deploy, although rather bulky and
dependent upon low wind speed (Fig. 6.6). We used this platform to collect periodic
high-resolution (pixels of several centimeters) imagery over more than a 1-year
period. These data allowed us to visualize and measure short- and long-term coastal
changes. The work was informative to estuarine shoreline mapping we had conducted throughout NC for the Division of Coastal Management. Also, by combining
mapped changes with wave information from measurements and models, we were
able to demonstrate how wind-driven erosion can cause potentially rapid shoreline
Fig. 6.6 (Top Left) Dr. Devon Eulie, a former Ph.D. student, prepares a balloon-camera system on
the inland margin of Pamlico Sound. (Right) Photograph showing the balloon-camera system in
operation. (Bottom Left) Aerial image collected after Hurricane Earl in 2010 from the ballooncamera system (from Eulie et al. 2013). The orange line indicates the shoreline on the post-storm
image from October 2010. The red and yellow lines are shoreline positions mapped in June and
August 2010, respectively, before the passage of Hurricane Earl in September 2010. (Images by
J.P. Walsh)
J. P. Walsh