Understanding the effect of environmental and climate change on coastal lagoon management: The potential of Earth Observation.

Welcome to Lagoons for Life

Coastal lagoons are water bodies found along the coastline and are separated from the open sea by spits and sediment barriers with limited points of water exchange. “According to a classification by Kjerfve (1986), there are three types of coastal lagoons based on the number of entrance channels (inlets) and, thus, the degree of water exchange with the ocean: (a) choked, (b) restricted, and (c) leaky.

Choked lagoons have only one inlet, which restricts the influence of tidal currents and water level fluctuations in the lagoon. They can be either parallel to the shore or, when associated with river deltas, at a right angle to the shore. Restricted lagoons have two or more inlets and a well-defined tidal circulation, whilst leaky lagoons exhibit numerous inlets and are the most influenced by tidal currents in all three lagoon types. Both restricted and leaky are most usually oriented parallel to the shore.” (Source: Politi et al., 2016)

Ecosystem Services

Coastal lagoons provide a plethora of ecosystem services, such as fisheries, aquaculture, storm protection and tourism (e.g. Newton et al., 2014, Rova et al., 2015, Sousa et al., 2016), and as a result they are hotspots of human settlement and activities.

Lying at the intersection between land and the ocean, coastal lagoons are influenced by both land input (e.g. nutrients, runoff, river management activities) and interaction with the sea (e.g. tides, sea pollution, erosion, storm surges and sea level change). Such dynamic systems are highly sensitive to environmental and climate change, but our understanding of how lagoons respond to change globally is limited.

Sea level rise already threatens shallow coastal lagoons such as the Venice Lagoon (UNESCO, 2011) and a plethora of pressures and drivers of change in lagoons, often with direct implications for societal well-being, have been identified (Newton et al., 2014).

Managing Ecosystems

Improving our understanding of how lagoons respond to change at local, regional and global scales is necessary to sustainably manage these ecosystems, and the ecosystem services they provide, and assess the socio-environmental implications of future development (Abigail et al., 2009).

Having recognised a data and knowledge gap in the systematic study of coastal lagoons, we propose to establish a Lagoons Forum that will study those vulnerable ecosystems holistically, by integrating environmental, social and economic datasets from multiple sources.

Through linking with international experts, stakeholders, researchers and scientists, we aim to co-design lagoon management strategies that address current and future issues in coastal lagoon ecosystems and their ecosystem services.

About Lagoons for Life

Understanding how coastal lagoons respond to change at local, regional and global scales is necessary to sustainably manage lagoons, and the ecosystem services they provide, and assess the socio-environmental implications of future development in the context of climate change.

Earth Observation (EO) plays a key role in environmental monitoring and long-term climate change studies, but considerable knowledge gaps exist in exploiting the full potential of EO for coastal lagoon research.

In September 2017, the European Space Agency (ESA) and Future Earth funded a workshop with the aim to explore some of these gaps, and facilitate joint research activities between the international Earth Observation and Coastal Zone Research communities.

As a result, a new scientific hub, the Lagoons Forum, was established. Originally formed by the 17 participants of the workshop under the auspices of international research organisations and programmes, we anticipate this community to grow in the coming years.

How to Join

If you would like to find out more about joining us, please send us an email via the button below.

View List of Case Studies

GloboLakes ID	L4L ID	Name	Country(-ies)	Lon	Lat
46	46	MIRIM	Brazil; Uruguay	-53.0865	-32.8292
210	210	ALEXANDRINA	Australia	139.1647	-35.4863
231	231	MANGUEIRA	Brazil	-52.8054	-33.1452
245	245	IZABAL	Guatemala	-89.1474	15.51582
358	358	RAZIM Lake	Romania	28.96155	44.83648
410	410	SYVASH Lake, South	Ukraine	35.18666	45.42091
418	418	ABY	Ivory Coast; Ghana	-3.16085	5.218121
459	459	UNKNOWN	Russia	-175.992	67.7006
485	485	LAGOS	Nigeria	3.5814	6.533915
509	509	UNKNOWN	Ukraine	30.30391	46.25575
618	618	SAINT LUCIA	South Africa	32.46463	-28.0252
746	746	MAUREPAS	United States	-90.5013	30.25228
748	748	CALCASIEU Lake	United States	-93.3126	29.92336
801	801	FEIA	Brazil	-41.3396	-22.0128
1121	1121	NEGRA	Uruguay	-53.6821	-34.0318
1216	1216	BERRE	France	5.106023	43.46507
1361	1361	UNKNOWN	Mexico	-106.072	22.96091
1437	1437	TANSIN, Laguna de	Honduras	-83.9326	15.28418
1616	1616	POELELA	Mozambique	35.05908	-24.535
1656	1656	UNKNOWN	Brazil	-50.0823	-29.699
1941	1941	VALLI DI COMACCHIO	Italy	12.17159	44.60923
2012	2012	PUEBLO VIEJO	Mexico	-97.8851	22.15301
2246	2246	ANOLGYTGYN	Russia	163.7551	59.99997
2408	2408	UNKNOWN	Ukraine	33.49999	45.20278
2518	2518	UNKNOWN	Chile	-72.3266	-51.882
2532	2532	NISSUM FJORD, BVLING FJORD, FELSTED KOG	Denmark	8.190208	56.35722
2554	2554	?EBSKO Lake	Poland	17.41162	54.71743
2927	2927	VARANO, Lago di	Italy	15.7474	41.8808
2961	2961	KURCHANSKIY	Russia	37.4875	45.27895
3025	3025	HOURTIN, Lac d'	France	-1.11226	45.13539
3171	3171	MARRYAT Inlet	United States	-166.508	68.37941
3189	3189	GEORGE	Australia	139.9895	-37.4094
3196	3196	CAZAUX ET DE SANGUINET, TANG DE	France	-1.15574	44.48339
248614	248614	CURONIAN	Lithuania; Russia	21.02102	55.14782
	300000	VENICE	Italy	12.320551	45.390796
	300001	SACCA DI GORO	Italy	12.316598	44.820251
	300002	CHILIKA	India	85.371875	19.726564
	300003	PATOS, LAGOA DOS	Brazil	-51.358066	-31.068207
	300004	MAR CHICA	Morocco	-2.856464	35.172973
	300005	PONTCHARTRAIN	USA	-90.122209	30.183038
	300006	TAM GIANG	Vietnam	107.727901	16.442084
	300007	RIA FORMOSA	Portugal	-7.895	36.994

Lagoons for Life: Resources

Find out more about the Lagoons for Life project by joining our forum, or browsing our archive of data sources, publications, presentations and news.

Forum

In 2017 the International Lagoons Forum was established, with international representation.

Resources

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