Managing Adelaide's Beaches

A visit to the beach is part of the Australian culture. In Adelaide people of all ages come from far and wide to enjoy a dip in the water, a walk along the sandy beach and many other activities.

Adelaide’s coastline is one connected system with sand naturally moving northward by the wind and waves. This causes a build-up of sand on beaches such as Glenelg and Semaphore and erosion on our southern and central coast such as Seacliff and West Beach and Henley Beach South.

The State Government works with local councils to manage Adelaide’s metropolitan beach system and keep sand on our beaches.

Adelaide essentially has one long beach running 28 kilometres from Kingston Park to Outer Harbor. The beaches are managed in sections or ‘cells’ to address the impact built structures have on sand movement.

Check out our video below to see how sand is managed on Adelaide’s metropolitan beaches.

Monitoring with Cameras

Two cameras have been installed at Glenelg Jetty to monitor the effects of beach management operations on the coastline.

The cameras will capture images to allow Department for Environment and Water coastal engineers to analyse information on beach changes.

The data gathered will help guide future coastal management decisions and will complement beach survey data collected by the Coast Protection Board.

The cameras will monitor movements on the beach to help minimise disruption to the public during sand replenishment works.

The Glenelg Jetty cameras will operate from Friday, 4 August, to 30 November, 2023. Still images will be taken every 10 minutes during daylight hours.

Private consultants, engaged by the department, will collect the images and store them securely in accordance with state government data requirements.

The images will be used only for coastal research by the department and will not be published.

Holdfast Bay Council approved the installation of the cameras and signs have been installed near the jetty to inform the public that the cameras are in operation.

Coastal monitoring cameras previously have been used at Largs Bay and West Beach.

Monitoring with Drones

Using drones is another method employed to monitor the coast to support decision making. On a clear day a drone equipped with a high-resolution camera can capture an aerial view of the coast: the beaches, dunes, sandbars offshore and the movement of sand in the nearshore environment. This form of monitoring has been very useful over the past few years while the external sand has been delivered to West Beach. The most recent drone footage can be viewed here December 2022 drone footage

Drones equipped with topographic LiDAR sensors are also used to capture highly detailed elevation data of parts of the coast. The Coast Protection Branch continues to explore new and emerging technologies that can support the existing survey and monitoring methods.

Visual monitoring

Visual monitoring also helps with decision making. It involves inspecting the coast regularly and especially after storms and high seas, or while beach replenishment operations are underway. Photographs are taken at set locations and are useful for comparison and observing short-term changes in beach height or dune position.

The set of pictures below show how visual inspections from a set location help to observe short-term changes in beach height.