A fine resolution camera is needed to capture the topography of beaches and sand dunes. Otherwise the glare from the sun will make it difficult to resolve features necessary for creating tie points when conducting structure-from-motion photogrammetry. Here, we configured our best drone for measuring topographic complexity of beaches and sand dunes. Meet the Matrice 600 Pro aircraft equipped with a Ronin-MX gimbal carrying a Sony A7III camera, also known as MaRS. Grad student Phil Van Wagoner pilots the MaRS while grad student Jessica Richter watches as the visual observer.

Sand dunes provide natural coastal protection against storm surge and high waves while preventing coastal flooding and providing important ecological habitat. A dune blowout is a gap in a dune caused by strong winds blowing sand out from under and around the vegetation, where loss of vegetation and loose sand can result in greater erosion of the dune. Over the last 10 years, coastal geomorphologist Dr. Paul Gares has been monitoring changes in dune blowouts within the Province Lands in Cape Cod National Seashore. Here, the crew obtained a permit from the park to join Dr. Gares in collecting topographic and wind data to monitor aeolian erosion.