Digital Tide-Coordinated Shoreline

The shorelineis one of the most important features on earth’s surface. It is valuableto a diverse user community. But the dynamic nature of the shoreline makes it dif � cult to be representedin a naturally dynamic style and to be utilized in applications.The of � cially usedshoreline,for examplein nauticalcharts,isthe so-calledtide-coordinatedshoreline. It is also the shoreline that makes the computation of shoreline changes and associated environmentalchangesmeaningful.Mapping of the tide-coordinatedshorelinehas been very costly. On the other hand, instantaneous shorelines extracted from different data sources may be available.Also, high-resolutionsatellite and airborne imagery have the capacity of stereo imaging and can be used to extract instantaneousshorelinesat a high accuracy and low cost. This article proposes an approach to derivation of digital tidecoordinated shorelines from (a) those instantaneous shorelines and (b) digital coastal surface models and a digital water surface model. Some preliminary study results, analysis, and the potential of the approach are discussed. Keywords shoreline, tide-coordinatedshoreline, coastal terrain model, water surface model