Hi everyone, my name is Chloe, and I'm a geography field studies tutor.

This lesson is all about coastal field work.

We're going to be looking at the kind of questions you can ask, the kind of data you can collect, and how you would go about collecting that data.

Let's get started.

At the end of this lesson, you will be able to collect primary and secondary data at the coast to help you answer a geographical inquiry question.

There's quite a few keywords to think about today, so let's take a look at these now.

Coastal morphology is the physical shape and size of a beach, a cliff, waves, or beach sediment.

A transect is an imaginary line along which samples of data are collected.

A ranging pole is a metal pole and normally it's red and white striped that is used to mark a point in a survey.

A clinometer is a handheld device used to measure the gradient of a slope.

And a quadrat is a square frame used at ground level to show the limits of a sample area.

So let's look at the structure of this lesson.

Firstly, what enquiry questions can be asked about coasts? Then we'll look at how geographers collect data at the coast.

And finally, we'll investigate what secondary data sources are used to study the coast.

Coasts are sites of near constant change.

Waves affect the shape of the beach, the cliff, and the size and shape of beach sediment.

Geographers often study the characteristics of a coastal area and how the characteristics vary spatially.

Now, this map shows a popular coastal area in Dorset.

It might be one that you've studied yourself.

Aisha is thinking of enquiry questions that investigate how the physical characteristics of the coast vary spatially.

What could her inquiry questions be? Well, she could look at the west-to-east variation in coastal morphology.

In other words, following the line of the purple arrow on the map there.

She says, "I could investigate the question: How does coastal morphology vary as one moves from west to east along the coast?" So let's check our understanding so far.

Which of these inquiry questions could Alex ask if he was investigating coastal morphology? A, how does the shape of the coast vary along a one kilometre stretch of Durdle Door beach? B, what impact does the sea wall at Swanage have on local people? Or C, how many landslides have occurred on the cliffs at Durdle Door? Do pause the video if you need to, have a think about which one of these Alex could ask if he was investigating coastal morphology.

Hopefully, you realised that it's answer A, how does the shape of the coast vary along a one kilometre stretch of Durdle Door beach? This is talking about the shape of the coast, so it's definitely talking about coastal morphology, and it's the only one which is really covering that aspect.

Whilst C is talking about a type of morphology, this is more about mass movement.

It's not about coastal morphology in the sense of the beach itself.

Coasts are also places where local people often have to live with the erosive power of the sea and the impact this can have.

Geographers frequently study the impact of coastal management on a place and the people who live there, as well as whether the coastal management is actually working.

This photo is of Eastbourne beach.

It has groynes as a form of coastal management.

You can see them dotted all the way along the beach there.

Lucas is investigating the impact of the groynes here.

So what could his enquiry question be? So he could investigate if the groynes are successfully acting as barriers to the movement of beach sediment.

His question could be, how does the height of beach vary on either side of the groynes Eastbourne beach? If the beach is higher on the side of the groyne facing the direction of longshore drift, it would show that the groynes are successfully preventing the movement of sediment, and then Lucas would be able to answer his question.

So let's check our understanding here.

True or false.

Geographers can study how coastal management affects people, as well as whether it actually works.

Pause the video and have a think and I'll come back to you in a moment.

So the answer is true.

And why is that? Because geographers frequently study the impact of coastal management on a place and the people who live there, as well as whether the coastal management is actually working.

So our first practise task of this lesson, sort the enquiry questions into those about coastal morphology and those about coastal management.

You can see we've got a little table here to put the letter codes into.

So which ones are about coastal morphology and which of the questions below are about coastal management? Have a think, maybe ask a friend to help as well, and I'll come back to you in a moment.

So let's look at the answers here.

In terms of coastal morphology, remember that's about the shape of things at the coast.

So B talks about the gradient and how it varies as one moves away from the shore.

So that has to be about coastal morphology.

And question C is talking about beach sediment itself.

So that is also in reference to coastal morphology.

Coastal management, we're looking at A and D.

You can see A is discussing how a new sea wall might have impacted how people use the beach.

And D is about beach nourishment, so we know that is a form of coastal management.

So we know that that question has to go under that category.

Hope you got those right.

Let's move on to the second part of this lesson, all about how geographers actually collect data at the coast.

So geographers studying coastal morphology can measure different aspects of the beach shape.

The width of the beach can be measured using a tape measure.

The tape should lie flat along the beach surface, stretching from the shoreline, the bit that's closest to the sea, to the back beach, so the bit that's further away, and you can see it in the photograph here.

The tape measure is being stretched out from the sea to the cliff that's behind it.

A number of measurements can be taken in different locations along the beach, and then you can see how the width changes along the length of the beach.

Geographers can also measure gradient, and this can be done at regular intervals along a transect running from the shore to the back beach.

So in this case, the geographers have kept their tape measure in place and they're now using it as a transect line.

In this example, the geographers are measuring the gradient for each three metre section of the transect, and this process is known as beach profiling.

So let's look at these in different stages.

Step one, starting at the end of the transect, two ranging poles are placed three metres apart.

You can see them here in the picture, three metres apart.

Next, the person at the pole nearest the sea places the clinometer alongside pole at the division between a red and white section.

So you can see that they have put the clinometer so the top edge of it is exactly in line with the red and white division.

So next, the person looks along the top edge of the clinometer and angles it, so it's pointing at the same red-white division on the other pole.

The clinometer contains a weighted dial, and that means that the arrow on the clinometer will point to a value, and it's this value that's the gradient of the beach.

It's in degrees, and it only measures the gradient between those two poles.

To then measure the next section, you would have to measure out another section of three metres and repeat the process again.

So let's check what we've taken in there.

Andeep wishes to measure the angle of the beach.

What's the first step in this data collection method? Will he be holding the clinometer next to the ranging pole? Will he be pointing the clinometer at the other ranging pole? Or will he be measuring out the transect across the width of the beach? Have a think about this.

Pause the video, and I'll tell you the right answer soon.

Well done, yes, he needs to find the width of the beach first and draw out a transect along it before he starts putting his ranging poles and clinometer in place.

Well done.

Geographers might measure sediment morphology as well, so the shape and size of beach sediment.

Placing a quadrat on the beach, which is one of these square frames, that's a good way of sampling sediment.

Sediment in the picked sample can be measured along its longest length.

It can be categorised according to how rough or smooth it is.

And for this, we use something called the Powers Index.

And you can see you've got six categories there that you can use to categorise your beach sediment.

And geographers might also record the geology of the sediment as, of course, we know that can have an impact on the shape of the beach too.

If a geographer is investigating the effectiveness of groynes, they can measure sediment buildup either side of the groyne.

A tape measure can be dropped down from the top of the groyne to the top of the beach sediment, and we can see that in the photograph here.

The shorter the distance, the greater the amount of sediment build up.

Let's check our understanding here.

Which three aspects of beach sediment might a geographer collect data on? A, its position, geology, and roughness? B, its length, geology, and roughness? C, its position, its surface temperature, and its mass? Or D, the length, the surface temperature, and the mass? Which one sounds like three aspects of beach sediment that a geographer would collect data on? Yes, well done.

It's B.

So a geographer would measure the longest length on the piece of sediment.

They would look at how rough or smooth it is using the Powers Index, and they might also take a note of the geology that the sediment represents.

So our second task, Izzy is investigating how coastal morphology changes along a stretch of beach.

Give three forms of data that Izzy could measure as part of her data collection.

Then you could go out and actually practise using a clinometer and ranging poles to measure the gradient between two points.

Now don't worry, you don't have to be at a beach to do this, but choose somewhere that has a slope.

I imagine there's somewhere nearby where there's a small hill or a small slope that you could use for this purpose.

Here's the important bit though.

Note down any actions you take that try to make your measurements as accurate as possible.

So what do you do to try to make sure that the data that you record is really accurate? Pause the video here because I know you've got a lot to do, and then we'll come back with some ideas in a moment.

Right, let's look at Izzy, and remember, she's investigating coastal morphology.

So what three forms of data could she measure? Well, there's lots of things you could put here.

So could be the width of the beach, it could be the gradient of the beach, and she'd have to break it down into little sections.

It could be the size of beach sediment.

It could be how rough beach sediment is as well.

Now you've gone out and you've had a go at using a clinometer and a ranging pole to measure the gradient of a slope.

So how did you make your measurements as accurate as possible? Well, it could be that you decided to use more than one person to measure the same gradient, and this way you could check for consistency in your data.

You would have to make sure that the ranging poles were held exactly vertically.

If they were angled slightly, it would mean our gradient would not be measured accurately.

The clinometer user needs to look really closely down that top edge of the clinometer.

If they're standing too far away from it, they're not going to be able to angle it accurately.

And the ranging poles themselves need to be identical.

They need to be identical in height, and the red-white divisions on them need to be the same, so that when you're pointing the chronometer from one to the other, you know that you're actually measuring the accurate gradient.

Finally, one person who's using the clinometer while another one is reading off the gradient is probably a good system to use.

This means the clinometer can stay in one place.

It can remain steady while the other person is actually reading off the data.

Now, let's move on to our final section, which is all about secondary data that you could use to study coasts as part of a field work enquiry.

Maps and satellite images of the coastal field site can provide different forms of secondary data.

Geographers can actually measure the width and length of the beach by using the map itself, as well as record the height of cliffs because you're gonna have contour lines which show you the height of different places as well.

So you can actually get quite a lot of data just from laying a ruler on top of a map.

It might also be possible to compare current maps and images with old ones, and this is really useful if you're comparing the size of a beach before and after the building of a coastal management scheme.

It would give you an indication as to whether it would be a success or not.

You might also use a map to talk about how quickly a coastline is being eroded.

Real-time and historical data on the size and strength of waves and the wind direction can be found online.

Surfing forecast websites are really useful for this.

They give really highly-detailed data that can be used by geographers to show how longshore drift may have affected coastal morphology.

Right, let's see if you can complete the missing words in this paragraph.

Have a read through, pause the video and try to find the four missing words.

Right, let's see what you got.

Geographers can use maps to measure the width and length of a beach, as well as the height of the cliffs.

Surfing forecast websites can provide data on the size and strength of waves and the direction of the wind.

Did you get all of those? Specialist maps can also help geographers study the coast.

Geology maps are particularly useful, and there's one here of the Swanage area.

These are shaded to show the position of different rock types.

Geographers use these to predict how quickly a coastline will erode by looking at whether there are hard or soft rocks there.

So you can actually make predictions about the future shape of the coastline.

Secondary data can also be more subjective or more opinion based.

So things like newspapers, online articles, blogs, social media posts, these can all reveal how people feel about issues like coastal erosion and coastal management as well.

They can give you a valuable insight into the lived experience of local people.

In other words, what it is like to live day to day next to a coastline which is eroding or which is having a new piece of coastal management being built.

So let's have another check.

Laura is using social media to investigate the proposed coastal management schemes at a beach that she is visiting.

What secondary data might social media give her? It could give her information about historical weather data and insight into the lived experience of local people or background information about why the coastal management is needed.

Which one is most likely out of those three? Yes, the social media is most likely to tell Laura about what it is like on a day-to-day basis to live in that area.

Our final task.

Sam is investigating the changing coastal morphology of her local beach and whether coastal management might be needed in the future.

What sources of secondary data might support her investigation? Have a think about all of the ones we've looked at today and think about which ones in particular would be able to inform Sam about coastal morphology and coastal management.

So what kind of sources of data have you come up with? So your answer might include things like maps and particularly old maps of the area.

Might include satellite images of the area as well.

She could use surfing forecast websites to get some of that wave and wind data.

She might need to use specialist geology maps to think about how the area might change in the future and therefore where the coastal management is needed.

She's also gonna look at newspaper articles, online articles, blogs, social media posts as well to really tell her the full picture of what's going on along her coastline.

We've covered lots of information today.

Let's just have a quick summary of what we've learned.

Geographical enquiry questions at the coast tend to focus on coastal morphology and coastal management.

Data collection techniques at the coast look at the shape of the beach and the size of sediment.

Secondary data can provide background information about a place such as its geology or more dynamic data such as wind and wave strength.

Well done, there was a lot of information there about the kinds of things that you can do in coastal field work.

I hope it's given you some inspiration to go out and actually do some field work for yourself at the coast.