Fran Solly - North Shields Jetty, SA

Citat ion Calder-Potts, C., Roebuck, C. Wilhelmseder, L-C, Resta, E., Bun, M., Johnston, C. 2014. A snapshot of future sea levels: Photographing South Australia’s King Tide. Green Cross Australia, Australia. Acknowledgements This project was jointly funded and conducted by Green Cross Australia, South Australia’s Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources and other partners. We are grateful to all those individuals who shared their photos and enthusiasm with us. Copyright and Disclaimer © 2014 Green Cross Australia. All rights are reserved. Except to the extent permitted by the Copyright Act 1968, no part of this publication covered by copyright may be transmitted, reproduced or copied in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the owners of this publication. To the extent permitted by law, Green Cross Australia (including its employees and consultants) excludes all liability to any person for any consequences, including but not limited to all losses, damages, costs, expenses and any other compensation, arising directly or indirectly from using this publication (in part or in whole) and any information or material contained in it.

address from ceo 2

executive summary 3

introduction 4

about the project 5

rationale 6

sa 10

outcomes 22

conclusion 24

thanks 25

contact 26

contents

The IPCC’s fifth assessment report predicts global sea levels will rise by between 52-98 cm by the year 2100 under a high emissions scenario. With aggressive emissions reductions, a rise by 28-61 cm is predicted. An average rise of 50cm over the 21st century would mean that events occurring every 10 years could occur every 10 days in 21001. Our coast is a vital part of our way of life. Protecting it and adapting to the changing sea levels will be critical in maintaining our special relationship with the coast. It is important that we communicate and help visualise the potential impacts of climate change, so we can start raising awareness and preparing for the future. Between May 2013 and June 2014, the Witness King Tides project did just that. This project is an innovative community initiative that uses summer and winter king tides to give us a sneak peak of the effects of high sea levels on beaches, infrastructure, and coastal communities. Dozens of individuals, community groups, local councils and coastal protection groups have taken part, resulting in a collection of powerful images. Witness King Tides is based on a world-first New South Wales government photographic event in 2009. Green Cross Australia is proud to be delivering this event at a national scale, and note that it is also being replicated in the USA, Canada and New Zealand. Our congratulations go out to the many people and organisations that contributed to the project’s success in South Australia. While I cannot mention them all here, I would like to single out our partners in the Climate Change Unit of the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources, Australian Coastal Society, LGA South 1http://www.climatechange.gov.au/~/media/publications/coastline/cc-risks-full-report.pdf

Australia, Greening Australia, the Conservation Council of South Australia, our ‘Tide Tracker” Felicity Ann Lewis, and most importantly, everyone who went out there to capture and upload all those great images. The result is a collection of 264 photographs depicting the effects of the king tide along the South Australia coast, or 5% of the national campaign underway since 2011. As this report goes to press, we prepare for a winter photo opportunity on 14 June 2014, which will be one of many future calls to action through an increasingly engaged South Australian network. The best way to appreciate the power of this initiative is to see for yourself at the website: http://www.witnesskingtides.org.

Mara Bún CEO, Green Cross Australia

Aussie Knack - Near Port Adelaide, the bridge between the mainland and Garden Island

address from ceo

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This report provides a detailed overview of Green Cross Australia’s “Witness King Tides” project focussing on the activities in South Australia in May 2013 and April 2014, and plans for future scalability. Witness King Tides raises awareness and understanding of the impacts of sea level rise in coastal communities. Although sea level rise poses a significant risk to many coastal communities, temporal and regional variation present challenges to public engagement. The project is designed to help people understand what the impacts of sea level rise may look like in their local area. Because king tides are the highest predictable tides of the year, they offer excellent opportunities for communities to visualise the future impacts of higher sea levels around our coasts.

Witness King Tides is an ongoing national initiative that will continue to inspire participation of coastal communities right around Australia as king tides occur. The photographs collected form a permanent (albeit non-scientific) record of the changes our coasts are experiencing and photographs from past years will act as useful points of reference for future king tides. Witness King Tides brings together a range of organisations including local governments, state governments, community groups and private industry. The program is anchored through support of the South Australian Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources who contributed grant funding and resources towards local introduction of the project.

executive summary

Brenton Brockhouse - Jetty at Port Willunga

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Green Cross Australia Green Cross Australia is an environmental non-profit that empowers Australians to cultivate resilience and adapt to the effects of our changing climate through interactive, partnership based projects. We are the Australian affiliate of Green Cross International, founded by Mikhail Gorbachev. Our work addresses disaster resilience, sustainable living and environmental education. Our programs include:

hardenup.org How can you be ready for severe

weather? We help prepare people for severe weather events to protect families, properties and communities through our

interactive disaster resilience portal.

builditbackgreen.org How does your community recover after

natural disasters? We help disaster-affected communities build back

sustainably, by providing them with resources to become more resilient.

witnesskingtides.org How do we make climate change

relevant? We raise awareness about the affects of climate change on coastal

communities through a fun and meaningful community photography

initiative.

How would you survive a natural

disaster? ACT First is a personalised resource that help residents of Canberra and the ACT region prepare for extreme

weather events. actfirst.org.au

We inspire primary school children to take every day actions to make a

difference through our award winning environmental education program.

greenlanediary.org

How can we shift towards a future powered by sustainable energy? Every

rooftop aims to make solar energy accessible through an innovative leasing model and financially supports our work.

everyrooftop.org.au

introduction

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The Witness King Tides project aims to help coastal and estuarine communities understand the impacts of sea level rise by photographing king tides to visualise the effects rising sea levels may have on our coastal environments. The concept for Witness King Tides originated from the Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) in New South Wales in 2009. A pilot program was delivered, the success of which is captured in, “A Snapshot of Future Sea Levels2”. The 2009 NSW OEH project led by Principle Coastal Scientist Phil Watson generated over 4,000 photographs. More than 250 mostly local and State government employed participants all over the NSW coast from Tweed Heads to Eden captured images.

2http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/climatechange/09722KingTide.pdf

The success of the NSW pilot program inspired international initiatives in the USA and Canada3. It also inspired the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency (DCCEE) to support Green Cross Australia to develop the digital dimensions of the project and roll it out for Queensland during summer 2011/12. Following the success of the Queensland project, Green Cross Australia has gained support from a range of coastal organisations, coastal and estuarine councils and state governments (including South Australia, New South Wales and Tasmania) to run Witness King Tides across all of Australia. Green Cross Australia and our partners aim to deliver Witness King Tides as an annual event for coastal communities into the future.

3 http://www.witnesskingtides.org/about-us/king-tides-around-the-world.aspx

about the project

Causeway between Tumby Bay and Tumby Bay Island, Tumby Bay by Ben Smith

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Although sea level rise is perhaps the most well known effect of climate change, there is still confusion among the community as to causes and effects. One common misconception is that sea level rise is analogous to water rising in a bathtub; that is, rise will occur at the same rate around the world. However there are several factors that affect sea level rise, and therefore sea levels will not rise at a uniform rate across the coastline. Another challenge in communicating sea level rise is that the impacts and effects will play out over decades. This lack of temporal proximity can be a barrier to engagement. By using the king tide as "glimpse" of possible future impacts of sea level rise, Witness King Tides can engage with communities about this threat and develop understanding on potential adaptation responses.

What is sea level rise? Sea level rise is a response to increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the consequent changes in the global climate4. This increase in greenhouse gas concentration results in rising atmospheric and oceanic temperatures, causing sea levels to rise via two mechanisms: thermal expansion of ocean water and increased contribution of water to the ocean reserves from melting snow, ice and permafrost5. 4 http://www.cmar.csiro.au/sealevel/ 5 IPCC. 2007. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2007. Solomon, S., D. Qin, M. Manning, Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K.B. Averyt, M. Tignor and H.L. Miller (eds.) Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK and New York, USA.

Thermal expansion is basically an increase in the volume of water. When water warms, it expands. According to the IPCC6, the mean annual rate of global averaged sea level rise was 1.7 mm between 1901 and 2010, 2.0 mm between 1971 and 2010, and 3.2 mm between 1993 and 2010. Tide-gauge and satellite altimeter data are consistent regarding the higher rate of the latter period.

Measuring sea level rise Scientists have recorded a Global Mean Sea Level increase of 210mm between 1880 and 2009 through the use of three indicators: paleo-indicators, tide gauges and satellite altimeters7. Projections of future sea level rise are calculated through climate models that take into account future global greenhouse gas emissions and historic sea level rise data. The figure below shows the relationship between projections and observations - the grey shading and black lines represent projections published by the IPCC under a range of scenarios while the blue and red lines represent measurements

6 IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, Summary for Policy Makers, p 11 7 http://www.cmar.csiro.au/sealevel/sl_meas_intro.html

rationale

Dean Shaw – Overlooking Christies Beach

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taken by tidal gauges and satellite altimeters, respectively. This figure shows that until 2006, sea levels were rising at the upper bound of projections8. Although this figure illustrates the accuracy of projections, it is important to note that sea level rise could diverge either above or below these limits depending on future greenhouse gas emissions and atmospheric and oceanographic feedback mechanisms. taken by tidal gauges and the red line represents data from satellite altimeters.

Sea level rise complexities The primary complexity in communicating the effects of sea level rise is that there will be regional differences in the rates of the rise9. The effects of sea level rise will be influenced at a regional level by a range of factors including land subsidence and rising land masses10, adjustments in the ocean floor and gravitational pull of ice sheets11. The map below (figure 2) shows the rate of sea level rise around Australia as measured by coastal gauges and satellite observations from January 1993 to December 201112. As evidenced on the map, there is significant variation in the rate of sea level rise. The rate of rise was lower around South Australia compared with the Gulf of Carpentaria.

8 http://www.cmar.csiro.au/sealevel/sl_proj_obs_vs_proj.html 9 http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/full/10.1175/1520-0442%282004%29017%3C2609%3AEOTRDO%3E2.0.CO%3B2 10 http://www.cmar.csiro.au/sealevel/sl_impacts_sea_level.html Mitrovica, JX and WR Peltier 1991, ‘On Postglacial geoid subsidence over the equatorial oceans’. Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 96, No. B12, pp. 20,053-20,071. 12 http://www.csiro.au/Outcomes/Climate/Understanding/State-of-the-Climate-2012/Oceans.aspx

Figure 2: Rate of sea-level rise around Australia as measured by coastal tide gauges (circles) and satellite observations (contours) from January 1993 to December 2011 (Source: CSIRO 2012)

Figure 1: Sea level observation (Source: CSIRO 2008)

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Communities and sea level rise Community understanding of sea level rise is especially important in Australia where 85% of the population lives within 50km of the coast13. The coastal region is extremely important economically, socially and environmentally to the country14. The impacts of sea level rise include inundation and flooding, beach erosion, infrastructure inundation and increased vulnerability to severe weather events such as storm surges. Our coastal ecosystems will also be affected through soil salinization due to more frequent and expansive saltwater intrusion15. The figure below indicates the factor by which the frequency of coastal flooding events will increase under conditions of a 0.5 metre sea-level rise. For example, in Adelaide, the frequency of flooding events will increase by a factor of about 100.

13http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Previousproducts/1301.0Feature%20Article32004?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=1301.0&issue=2004&num=&view= 14 http://www.ozcoasts.gov.au/climate/sd_fqa.jsp 15 http://www.climatechange.gov.au/en/climate-change/australias-coasts-and-climate-change/understanding-the-risk.aspx

Understanding the impacts of sea level rise at a regional level is an important step towards developing adaptation solutions. Visualising areas at risk of erosion and inundation through photographs can form a starting point for conversation. Engaged communities can explore how rising sea levels may shape their coastal environment and consider the impacts of sea level rise in their town planning and development ventures.

Sea level rise and king tides King tides are natural phenomena that occur twice a year when the alignment of the sun, earth and moon has the largest gravitational effect on the oceans. They are the highest predictable tides of the year. They offer an excellent opportunity for communities to visualise the impacts of higher sea levels in their region. It is important to note that meteorological events such as low pressure systems and storm surges can occur during any tidal cycle and may produce tidal levels higher than those of the predicted king tide. Similarly, meteorological influences can also result in the water level falling below the predicted tide.

Elliston town jetty. Photo by Ben Smith

Figure 3: http://staff.acecrc.org.au/~johunter/home_prof.html For more information, see Church et al., 2008

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Harry Carbone - Henley Jetty near the Henley Beach Surf Life Saving Club

Henley Beach SA King Tide Anzac Day 2009 by Anne Wheaton

Jan Hopgood - Port Noarlunga, South Australia near the Jetty

Nick Harvey - Brighton

Elizabeth Resta - Henley Beach

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The South Australian Witness King Tides program was piloted in May 2013, and partnerships developed leading into an initial promoted event in early April 2014. A follow-on shoot is planned for mid 2014. Altogether 264 photos have been uploaded to the SA database, or 1 photo for every 6,344 South Australians. This compares to 1 per 6,003 NSW residents for our supported NSW initiative when 1216 photos were uploaded. Future calls to action through social media will continue to build the South Australian photo library.

Engagement through digital channels Green Cross Australia uses digital engagement methods in order to maximise participation in the Witness King Tides project, driving traffic to South Australia via eNews together with our own and local partner social media. The project’s custom built website has the following features:

• Two maps on the homepage, one shows the predicted king tide times by area; the other displays images submitted to the project

• The ‘What are king tides?’ section explains sea level rise, its causes and how it is measured. It also explains king tides and features videos from Dr John Church (CSIRO) and NASA JPL researcher Dr Josh Willis

• An interactive tool that participants can use to upload, describe and geo-locate their images, and localised Flickr stream galleries

• Information from project partners (including state and local government as well as scientific research agencies) on sea level rise, climate change and adaptation

• Information on how to ‘plan your shoot’

Project partners and supporters were given a communication and marketing guide that features newsletter copy, social media posts, articles for websites and images. South Australian partners share promotional materials across their digital networks.

Web analytics We use Google analytics to measure audience levels and participation across the Witness King Tides website, as a digital engagement indicator. For the period 1 May 2013 until 1 June 2013 as the South Australian project was introduced and a Northern Tasmanian call to action was issued, the national Witness King Tides website had over 4,100 engaged users. During the fortnight before and after the April 2014 South Australian King Tide event there was likewise a marked surge in national visitors to the site. The number of visitors to the site peaked between 24 May and 28 May 2013, as participants registered and checked their local tide times and uploaded their photos. During this time there were 2,164 sessions, of which 587 were from South Australia (27.1%).

sa 2013 - 2014

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Screen shot of witnesskingtides.org home page.

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Focussed analytics – understanding our emerging South Australian audience With support from DEWNR Green Cross Australia has been able to build a networks partnerships who supported the project thorugh eNews, social media and print promotion. Key partners include:

• Greening Australia • Conservation Council of South Australia • University of Adelaide • Australian Coastal Society – SA Branch • Western Adelaide Coastal Resdent’s

Association • (full list on page 17) We look forward to working with these partners to support the project through their own networks as it continues to scale in future. Between March 1 and April 30 2014, Adelaide reached a dominant 44% share of 2,922 national online sessions . Core participants viewed 2,004 pages of content over 373 sessions, with some sessions lasting over 30 minutes. This heavier use pattern relates to participants likely to continue to return for future events.

Google Analytics

Capital CityNo.

Sessions%

SessionsNo.

Sessions%

SessionsNo.

Sessions%

SessionsNo.

Sessions%

SessionsAdelaide 0 0.0% 392 1.6% 1,701 9.0% 1,892 14.2%Brisbane 697 64.7% 8,633 35.6% 4,260 21.7% 2,116 15.8%Hobart 0 0.0% 998 4.1% 578 3.1% 286 2.1%Melbourne 54 5.0% 2,209 9.1% 4,089 21.7% 1,935 14.5%Perth 0 0.0% 391 1.6% 475 2.5% 289 2.2%Sydney 131 12.2% 7,668 31.6% 3,847 20.4% 3,683 27.6%

% of Total 882 81.8% 20,291 83.6% 14,950 78.4% 10,201 76.3%

2011 2012 2013 Jan 1 - Jun 5 2014

Capital CityNo.

Sessions%

SessionsAdelaide 1,455 44.10%Sydney 467 14.16%Melbourne 422 12.79%Brisbane 318 9.64%Perth 92 2.79%(not set) 52 1.58%Canberra 39 1.18%Auckland 34 1.03%Gold Coast 23 0.70%Newcastle 20 0.61%

% of Total 2,922 88.58%

Mar 1 - Apr 30 2014

1,455

467

422

318

92 52 39 34 23 20 Adelaide

Sydney

Melbourne

Brisbane

Perth

(not set)

Canberra

Auckland

Gold Coast

Newcastle

The table above shows how Adelaide participation as a % of national traffic grew from:

• 0% in 2011 • 1.6% in 2012 • 9.0% in 2013 • 14.2% in 2014

Minutes(on(site Sessions Page(viewsPages(viewed(per(session

Between&3&(&10 222 1060 4.8Between&10&(&30 132 752 5.7

Over&30 19 192 10.1373 2004 5.4

Extended(sessions(in(Adelaide(bewteen(Mar(1(and(Apr(30

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eNews eNews were used to catalyse action:

• How to get involved in the project • Tips on how to plan your shoot • Countdown to the king tide event • Thank you for participating • Link to the survey

We measure success analysing ‘click through rates’ (CTR), the percentage of readers who click on eNews links. According to Mail Chimp, the industry average CTR for non-profits is 3.25%. Education sector average CTR is 3.42% and the entertainment and events sector average is 2.51%. The ‘Lights’ Camera, Action!’ eNews on 23 May 2013 generated a high 23.85% CTR. witnesskingtides.org visitor numbers peaked on 24 May 2013 with 1,240 visitors, as our national and growing local audience welcomed South Australian participation in the project. We hit above average CTR throughout the South Australian campaign. A January 2014 eNews was distributed to 5,369 subscribers with an open rate of 26.1% An eNews in March 2014 initiated the build-up towards April’s event.

A fun invitation to join us in April followed.

Engagement through social media channels Social media (Green Cross Australia and partner Facebook and Twitter) was used extensively throughout the campaign. Participants like Glen Dalridge (below) had fun uploading photos and sharing them with the Witness King Tides Community on Facebook.

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A Facebook post from 2 April 2014. Facebook activity peaked during the first four days of April 2014 as people came out to take photos around the coast at staggered times following the tide timetable.

#WitnessKingTides The project was promoted with the hashtag #witnesskingtides used to track the event on Twitter. The April 2014 event was one of the first Witness King Tides activities to harness the power of the #witnesskingtides via Instagram.

Below is an example of an Instagram image uploaded by a Tide Tracker:

Instagram post using #witnesskingtides from April 2014. The number of likes on the photo show how powerful this medium is in engaging communities. Using the hashtag also provided Green Cross Australia with a simple way to engage with our Tide Trackers.

Promoting this hashtag and the use of Instagram meant the project could reach out and engage a bigger audience than ever before.

Number of likes, comments and shares on Facebook from 16 March to 14 April 2014.

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Media engagement Witness King Tides offers an opportunity to reach mainstream audiences with a fresh, localised approach to addressing the impacts of sea level rise and coastal adaptation. In South Australia the media participated actively in covering and promoting the event, with some notable highlights which are captured in the coverage overview offered below. In addition to strong television, print and radio coverage, the project was featured widely through diverse digital networks – we only capture some of these below. Print

• Adelaide Advertiser: King Tides to hit our beaches

• Victor Harbor Times: King Tides Hit Victor Harbor

• Port Lincoln Times: King tides coming Thursday

Television

• Channel 7 Adelaide: Live weather report from Hallett Cove

• ABC Eyre Peninsula: Pre-event interview with Elizabeth Resta

Radio

• Power FM: Pre-event interview with Elizabeth Resta

• ABC Adelaide: Post-event interview with Elizabeth Resta

International King Tides partnerships (USA, Canada, Australia +)

• http://kingtides.net/blog/2014/01/16/king-tides-hit-australias-east-coast-january-2nd/

Digital coverage

• https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/22304464/witness-king-tides-project-get-involved/ • http://www.plainsproducer.com.au/?p=7235 • http://www.ecovoice.com.au/witness-king-tides-collects-more-than-5000-photos/ • http://www.adelaide.edu.au/coastal/news/ • http://tcktcktck.org/2013/06/take-a-photo-see-the-future-of-sea-level-rise/54133 • http://environmentinstitute.wordpress.com/2013/05/24/snap-the-sea-see-the-future-witness-king-

tides-25-may-2013/ • http://www.mygc.com.au/news/8892/ • http://www.fluidr.com/places/Australia/South+Australia/Adelaide/Glenelg+North/random/only-

photos • http://www.conservationsa.org.au/media-releases/1586-king-tides-roll-in-to-south-australia.html • http://www.shothotspot.com/hotspot/northwest-sa-australia/port-willunga • http://australiancoastalsociety.org/category/news-and-events/ • http://issuu.com/surfcoasttimes/docs/bt-20130528

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Mandi Whitten - Semaphore South

Tracey Nye - Brighton Jetty

Fernando M. Goncalves - West Beach

Ben Smith - Doctors Beach, Streaky Bay

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Partnerships The Witness King Tides project was supported by a wonderful group of partners who share Green Cross Australia’s purpose and community engagement appetite.

Project supporters Project supporters promoted the Witness King Tides project to their local communities to encourage participation through a range of mediums including local newsletters, eNewsletters, displaying posters, engaging local media, hosting community events and encouraging staff to participate.

Promotional Tweet from Conservation Council SA.

Photograph of the post Witness King Tides WACRA event posted on their Facebook page 3 April 2014.

Promotional support and Facebook post from WACRA. Project supporters include: • South Australian Department of

Environment, Water and Natural Resources

• Australian Coastal Society • LGA South Australia • Greening Australia • Conservation Council of South Australia • Beyond Today EcoVillage • University of Adelaide • Marion City Council • City of Charles Sturt • City of Victor Harbor • Western Adelaide Coastal Residents

Association (WACRA) • Natural Resources Eyre Peninsula • Centre for Coastal Research

Tina Brew – Birkenhead, Port Adelaide

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Witness King Tides supporters were highly engaged, very supportive and eager to promote the event through their channels. In addition, some supporters took it a step further with SA Conservation Council SA submitting their own press release to support the project and Eyre Peninsula creating their own website to promote the project and provide hyper-local details.

Screen shot of Eyre Peninsula King Tide homepage.

Engagement through local councils Given both the community participation focus of the Witness King Tides project and the emphasis on regional variation and observation of sea level rise and associated impacts local government engagement and participation was a focus. Eight councils impacted by April high tides in South Australia were approached and invited to participate in the project – three participated (Marion City Council, City of Charles Sturt and City of Victor Harbor). Support for Witness King Tides from participating Councils included promotion of events in Council communication channels such as eNews, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram as well as connections through personal networks.

Instagram post from City of Marion promoting the event.

Screen shot of City of Marion’s Witness King Tides announcement March/April 2014.

City of Marion twitter support April 2014.

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Participation in South Australian Climate Adaptation Showcase Green Cross Australia was delighted to participate in the 2014 Showcase together with Professor Nick Harvey who welcomed the project on behalf of the Australian Coastal Society, and Victor Harbor developer Stephen Wright whose ‘Beyond Today” development was showcased as a South Australian case study of positive adaptation (see: http://www.witnesskingtides.org/about-us/south-australian-inspiring-coastal-adaptation-stories.aspx)

Anne Wheaton - Henley Beach Jetty

City of Charles Sturt - Grange beach and jetty Mandi Whitten – Birkenhead Bridge, Port Adelaide

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Project Ambassadors - ‘Tide Trackers’ People with notoriety around environmental, climatic or coastal associations were approached and invited to become project ambassadors (‘Tide Trackers’). We selected two South Australian Tide Trackers to add to our national group which now totals 13 – including national media presenters and authors. Tide Trackers are provided with marketing materials and asked to promote the project to their networks. We were delighted when Marion Mayor Felicity Ann Lewis took a personal interest in this project and became a Tide tracker. Likewise our partnership with Greening Australia enabled outreach to the environmental community through their newsletters championed by Tide Tracker

When Greening Australia got behind the Facebook campaign we reached a wider conservation audience. By including a full page article about the South Australian Witness King Tides project in the national Greening Australia magazine, our Adelaide based GA colleagues have built awareness within their supporter base of the importance of this project. This will bode well for future calls to action into the June 2014 event and beyond. The article is captured on the page below.

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To date 264 photos of king tides have been uploaded from around South Australia. Though the Adelaide region produced the majority of the images, photographs were uploaded from throughout the state including Victor Harbor, Port Lincoln, Kingston, Kingcote and Chinaman Wells, representing a mix of coastal communities. Photos were generally of a high standard with some images clearly showing very high water levels. Participants even reached back into their photo archives of previous king tides in the spirit of sharing. It should be noted that the early April 2014 dates were chosen with assistance from Australian Coastal Society using Bureau of Meteorology timetables, timed to align with project delivery milestones. Unfortunately the dates chosen did not deliver particularly dramatic high tides, but we will continue to build participation with our growing engaged audience to capture winter tide images in mid June 2014. Although some images captured so far in the South Australian Flickr stream do not show

dramatic images of flooding, inundation or water spilling over riverbanks, this aligns with the theme of the project to promote a calm and rational understanding of sea level rise. These images will provide interesting points of reference for the project in coming years and decades. Other photos identified areas that are already extremely vulnerable. Photos uploaded to the WKT website illustrated a range of hazards associated with coastal inundation, including beach erosion, sea wall encroachment, flooded streets and infrastructure to backed up drains. Some participants were able to submit comparison photos of the same location at high and low tides to put the tidal range into context.

Public Photo Exhibition Witness King Tides photographs were displayed 2014 South Australia Natural Resource Management Science Conference held at the University of Adelaide April 14 – 15. Over 500 guests were registered for the event, with broad representation from state government, universities and the NGO sector. The top 25 photographs were selected and displayed in the marquee, where they could be viewed at multiple opportunities throughout the event. University of Adelaide representatives said they observed people discussing the photos, and the event was engaging.

outcomes

Elizabeth Resta - Somerton Beach

Aussie Knack - Torrens Island Power Station, Port Adelaide

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Project reflection When formulating the number of photos expected from the South Australian execution of the event, consideration to differences in population should have been more closely regarded. Witness King Tides was first trialed in Queensland in early 2012, with 1,600 photos uploaded from Cape York to Coolangatta from a total Queensland population of 4,672,000. Per capita, that’s one photo for every 2,920 Queenslanders. South Australia’s population is 1,675,000. With 264 photos uploaded, South Australians submitted one photo for every 6,345 residents. However, the April 2014 event occurred during a period where tidal impacts were not particularly dramatic. When there is a storm for example more dramatic photo opportunities emerge. Notwithstanding this factor, an impressive partnership has been formed across government, community and research sectors, and with strong media coverage this project has been well and truly introduced to South Australians. Based on conversations with partners and participants we believe there will be continued participation. Inspired by our friends at Australian Coastal Society and University of Adelaide student volunteers, we have reached out for winter South Australian photo shoot, and we are confident that over coming months and years a growing collection of South Australian king tide photos will build as a legacy for future observation, and a basis for community responses to sea level rise and coastal inundation risks.

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The 2013/14 South Australian Witness King Tides project was made possible through the generous support of the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources and others. The media buzz surrounding the project contributed to its success by raising awareness of the event and the potential impacts of sea level rise. Engagement with community organisations and local governments was instrumental to reaching out to coastal communities and gaining participants. The Witness King Tides website is the main point of reference for participants to learn more about the importance of understanding the impacts of sea level rise and to gather locally-relevant information for king tide events. It is also the central portal for participants to upload and view photographs taken of the king tide by themselves and other participants. We look forward to making the project an annual event to create a regularly updated collection of crowd-sourced images to develop a collective understanding of the impacts that climate change may have on our coastlines.

conclusion

Tracey Nye – Esplanade, Glenelg

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Green Cross Australia would like to thank all of our partners, supporters and participants for their involvement in the Witness King Tides project.

thanks

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For more information about the project please contact: Green Cross Austral ia w: greencrossaustralia.org e: info@greencrossaustralia.org p: 07 3003 0644

contact

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© 2014 Green Cross Australia