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Modelling sea level change on the Gold Coast
Introduction:
Surfing is a hugely popular activity, driven by a multi-billion dollar
industry. Climate change, and the possibility of rising sea levels, could have
a drastic
affect on the sport.
Duranbah, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
Source
of image I copyright Flickr user JonasPhoto
This lesson uses Google Earth to investigate the impact of sea level change on
the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.
The Gold Coast
source Wikipedia
The Gold Coast is the most popular location for tourism in Queensland; one of the biggest draws being the internationally renowned surfing beaches.
Gold Coast Surf
Source
of image I copyright Flickr user JonasPhoto
Aim:
The aim of the lesson is to create a series of Google Earth polygons to
illustrate the impact of sea level change. These form the basis for a report
style assignment.
Click to enlarge the thumbnail below:
Credits:
The lesson uses
images kindly made available by Flickr users Jonas Photo,
TigglesofOz, yaruman5, and beppovox under a Creative Commons license. The technique for creating polygons to represent
sea level change is also described at Lightblueline.
Resources:
I recommend that the following files are downloaded, opened in Google Earth and
checked beforehand:
Google
Earth placemark: Gold Coast overview
Google
Earth placemark folder: Surfing locations
Google
Earth polygon folder: Sea level change polygons (optional)
All files
Learning Activities:
Starter activity:
Zoom in to Snapper Rocks to note the surfers in the water
Open the folder of placemarks illustrating some of the other surfing locations. Discuss why the location is so important to the surfing community.
Main Activities
(1) Describe the physical and human features of the region
Open the Gold Coast overview and investigate more closely in Google Earth
(2) Check the live webcams: Surfers
Paradise & Duranbah
[other
cams]
(3) Draw a sketch of the Gold Coast region, based on the overview placemark.
Use information from
the Layers Panel to annotate it. The most useful information from the panel
can be found under "Geographic
Web" as shown below. Other information
can be turned off.
(4) Create a series of polygons to represent sea level change, or use the
polygons here.
• Zoom to the desired level and turn on Terrain via the Layers
panel
• Choose Add Polygon from the top menu
• Use the mouse to click and drag nodes to create the polygon over the desired
area. The polygon appears white and the dialogue box appears:
• In the dialogue box name the polygon and add a description if desired.
Under
Style, change the colour (reds and purples work well) and set the opacity to
between 50 and 60%.
Under View click snapshot current view:
• Under Altitude,
move the slider to the desired sealevel height (e.g. 5m)
Select Relative
To Ground and then click OK to exit the dialogue. Create polygons to represent
1 5 and 10m sea level rises:
(5) Draw another sketch of the coastline to show how sea level change could affect
the Gold Coast.
(6) Assignment
Write a report or produce a presentation to describe the impact
of a 1m 5m and 10m rise
in sea
level
on
the region.
Use screenshots
from
Google
Earth
to illustrate the
report.
Plenary
Students could discuss whether it is feasible to protect the Gold Coast from sea level rise with engineering solutions. There are several examples of large scale coastal management engineering projects in the area including the Narrowneck Reef and the Tweed Sand Bypass Project.