Learning outcome 2: Design and conduct interdisciplinary research in marine resource management.

For my GIS minor I am currently conducting research on local Maine beaches, tracking their volume fluctuations across the hurricane season. I am doing this through the use of unpiloted aerial vehicles provided by the GIS department, specifically the DJI Mavic 3e. Using the drone, I create a flight path for the vehicle to follow over specific beaches at low tide. Once the data has been collected, I process it in metashape to produce digital elevation maps (DEMs) and orthomosaics. The final product is for each survey is a 3-dimensional model of each beach. Using the data from two different surveys I can then find the difference in elevation and or the volume shift of the entire beach. This is extremely useful when creating coastal resilience strategies. It will play a roll in the coming years to serve as a benchmark for new data. This perfectly represents my completion of learning outcome 2 as I created the research project myself then with help from Will Kochtitzky I fined tuned it into the focused project it is now. I am currently tracking natural resource (sediment) changes in abundance so that it can be properly managed in the future.

(DJI Mavic 3e with RTK)

Survey Locations

Hills Beach Freddy Beach Fortunes Rocks