Stochastic Water-Level Fluctuations in Satellite-Derived Shoreline Assessments: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Coastal management relies on the monitoring of coastal behavior, both in the short and long term, which requires a high availability of accurate and up-to-date data. Conventional in situ surveying methods are constrained by spatiotemporal limitations and high operational and logistical costs. In response, satellite-derived methods offer a powerful alternative based on the remote assessment of morphodynamic features. Despite their advantages, these methods are limited by the influence of deterministic and stochastic sea-level variations, which introduce significant errors. Currently, corrections based on deterministic components (i.e., astronomical tides) are widely incorporated into scientific assessments. However, stochastic variations, such as waves and surge conditions, are not equally represented. This work conducted a systematic review of published scientific literature to assess the integration of corrections for stochastically induced errors. The results demonstrated that a limited number of studies have developed an approach that substantially improves error reduction across a wide range of coastal settings. However, environmental and methodological–conceptual aspects still constrain these techniques for large-scale applications. If robust adjustments are achieved through highly reliable topo-bathymetric, water-level, and wave datasets, satellite-derived data become a unique tool that can directly support coastal disaster mitigation and risk management.