Effective LiDAR-based modelling and visualisation of managed retreat scenarios for coastal planning: An example from the southern UK

The use of GIS-based techniques to alter and visualise landscape features under proposed managed retreat alternatives proved successful. Clear differences in tidal inundation and the tidal prism were observed following the modelling of large scale engineering features. These differences in inundation were apparent both using current tidal data and predicted sea level rise data. The tidal prism was strongly affected by the choice of the managed retreat scenario. Subtle changes in landscape features were shown to strongly affect the water accommodation potential of the estuary. The study demonstrates that high resolution data facilitated the detailed visualisation and modelling of fine-scale landscape change. Furthermore, the alteration of landscape features suggested that the area of inundation could potentially vary by over 20% (>100 ha); and that these landscape changes would noticeably alter tidal impact in this estuary.