Beach Profiling
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While our beaches are fully staffed by volunteer profiling teams at the moment, we are always in need of new volunteers to serve on our beach profiling substitute list! If you're interested in learning more about how to volunteer as a substitute monitor, contact Wells.
What is beach profiling?
Beaches are constantly changing! Forces like storms, ocean currents, and changes in sea level work together to add and remove sand from the beach. Beach profiling is a simple way to track these changes over time. By measuring the contour, or profile, of a beach at regular monthly intervals, we can observe long-term patterns of sand erosion and accretion. Our volunteers are currently monitoring six beaches on the New Hampshire coast for changes year-round.
What do beach profiling volunteers do?
Join our beach profiling effort!
Do you love our New Hampshire beaches? Do you want to learn more about the science behind why our beaches look the way they do, see the beach in a new way, and get to know others in the community who are just as motivated to care for our beaches?
We are always in need of new substitute beach profile monitors. Contact Wells for more information on how to become involved.
Links, resources, and partner organizations
Want to learn more? Read this interactive story about how Sea Grant volunteers are helping communities learn more about their valuable beaches and changing coastlines, here.
Our partners at Maine Sea Grant have been conducting volunteer beach profiling for almost twenty years, and you can read all about their profiling work, watch their introductory video to learn what beach profiling is all about, or read more about how beach profiling has been used to help create beach management plans.
Volunteer Resources
- Blank beach profiling data sheets to print
- Beach profiling volunteer position descriptions
- Beach profiling methods
- Beach profiling methods for uploading data
Photo by Emily Lord for Nature Groupie
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