Establishment of a continuous beach observation and real-time Coastal Inundation Forecasting System (CO-IFS)
Project Overview
This project focuses on disaster resiliency and coastal hazards through post-hurricane natural beach and dune recovery and real-time forecasts of coastal water levels, inundation, and waves, and will take place over two years.
This project is managed by the Coastal Ocean Analysis and Simulation Team (COAST) at the Institute for Resilient Infrastructure Systems. UGA COAST is focused on solving a wide range of complex coastal issues for present and future conditions. Learn more about COAST here.


project site
Jekyll Island is one of Georgia’s 14 major barrier islands and specifically one of the most accessible to tourism. The island is home to over a thousand acres of coastal forests, dune systems and wildlife nesting area.
Barrier islands like Jekyll act as a front line for the coast against storm surge and hurricane impacts. However, sea level rise and increasing severity of hurricanes threatens both these islands and the coasts they protect.
Our PLan


project phases
Year 1 is focused on establishing a “Living Laboratory” on Jekyll Island, focusing on semi-continuous beach and dune surveys. Hurricanes Ian (category 5, 2022) and Nicole (category 1, 2022) caused substantial beach and dune erosion across Jekyll Island. Initial GPS-RTK surveys on Jekyll Island indicate over 2 feet of vertical erosion on the beach face and severe dune erosion and scarping.
The establishment of a Living Laboratory (dedicated field survey site) allows for long-term monitoring of the natural recovery of the beach and dune system and supports both research and education. The outcome of this project is new knowledge of temporal and spatial recovery and beach evolution, which drastically impacts flood risk for the beach- and dune-front properties.
Year 2 is where the team plans to set up a real-time forecasting system of coastal inundation for coastal Georgia. Coastal Georgia is vulnerable to coastal inundation from high tides, winter storms and tropical cyclones. The forecasting system will aim to provide a daily five-day forecast of water levels, waves, and inland inundation. This system would provide emergency managers and local officials with potential impact areas.
Meet the Team
This project is supported by funding from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.



Matt Bilskie, Ph.D. Associate Professor, College of Engineering

Aditya Gupta, Ph.D. Assistant Research Scientist, IRIS

Saeid Khaksarinezhad PhD Student, College of Engineering