Coastal technical platform

A tool for scientific collaboration and pooling of resources in coastal hydraulics on the Mediterranean coast – south of mainland France.

Objectives

The primary objective of the coastal technical platform is to bring together and manage a range of field instruments aimed at characterising hydro-morphodynamic processes in coastal areas, i.e. within the wave action zone. The researchers involved in this structure have defined four missions in addition to managing a major array of instruments in the French coastal community:
1. to develop coastal sciences collaboratively on the Mediterranean coast – south of mainland France;
2. to work in coordination with OSU OREME on a number of so-called “Tâches d’observation” focusing on coastal geophysics, and to supply OSU OREME with historical hydro-morphodynamic data or data from field campaigns that are key to the scientific community;
3. to develop high-performance tools for processing hydraulic data derived from observation, based on the GNAT project (an acronym that stands for Gnat are Nearshore Advanced Tools or alternatively Gladys Nearshore Advanced Tool for two);
4. to coordinate or take part in major measurement campaigns, particularly on the southern coast, in France or overseas (Polynesie, Nouvelle-Calédonie, Antilles) in order to provide academic research in coastal sciences with high-quality observations.

Equipment

The coastal technical platform’s instrumentation consists of approx a hundred devices, including ADCP current profilers, ADV current meters, various types of high-resolution pressure gauges, velocimeters, high-precision barometers, weather measurement stations, temperature and conductivity sensors, very wide-band seismometers dedicated to analysing shoreline seismic noise, RTK GNSS stations and several echo sounders. The coastal technical platform has its own resources at sea (boat, kayak, barge), its equipment for underwater work, supporting structures for deploying instruments in coastal areas, and specific tools for deploying equipment on sandy seabeds (motor pump & jetting in particular).

Coastal technical platform & GLADYS network

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The “plateau technique littoral” is closely linked to the GLADYS network, which brings together researchers in coastal physics on the Mediterranean coast. The members of the GLADYS network depend upon the technical resources of the “plateau technique littoral” which activities are in return sustained by the specialized scientific community.

Learn more (french)

The beach institute at the University of Montpellier

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The beach institute of the University of Montpellier is a building located on the seafront in the commune of Le Grau-Du-Roi along the Mediterranean coast, providing a permanent or temporary home for researchers specialized in the study of the coastline with an essentially abiotic approach centered on physics. It is managed administratively by the Géosciences Montpellier laboratory (University of Montpellier & CNRS). The “plateau technique littoral” relies on the beach institute for the storage, the maintenance and the management of the instrumentation, the organisation of conference cycles and workshops for coastal specialists or a wider audience, and the hosting of research teams for collaborative work or operations at sea on the Mediterranean coast. The institute, which is currently under construction based on the renovation of an old 1,500 m2 building, should be operational by early 2025.