On the African coast, a unique video surveillance system for better risk management
Source: The Conversation France
The African continent has a unique topography, with the largest number of low-lying coastal areas (e.g. sandy beaches). This low altitude exposes populations to oceanic and climatic hazards. With global warming, these hazards are tending to increase in both frequency and intensity.
In this article, published by The Conversation France, researchers Grégoire Abessolo Ondoa, Bapentire Donatus Angnuureng and Rafael Almar explain that by combining different observation technologies: a network of video surveillance cameras in coastal areas (to measure variations in sea level towards the coast), satellite imagery (altimetry, spectrometry...), and information gathering in the field, only when weather conditions permit. To date, local authorities have set up a network of 8 monitoring and warning systems along the coastlines of 5 countries (Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Benin, Cameroon).
This alert and surveillance system is a combination of an image capture network (video surveillance and satellite images) and decision-making algorithms.
Figure 1 - The African coastal camera network.
The photos show the surroundings of the installation sites and the cameras installed.
Yellow dots show cities with more than one million inhabitants. Authors, Provided by the author