Tyrella beach: How beachgoers are turning snaps into science

Biausque said the process is entirely anonymous.

“You don’t have to leave your name or anything, unless you want to.”

The project will run throughout the seasons and there are options on the page to record what else you notice.

“If you’re coming in the winter and you can see coastal erosion or you can see vegetation change, you can click on those and you can add comments – though you don’t have to,” she added.

While people like Biausque cannot visit Tyrella every day, regular visitors can help the scientists answer their questions by sending photos.

“Why do we have algae standing here? Why sometimes you can see the vegetation progressing? Why do you come in the winter and the beach is so different?

“All of this is the interaction between the sand or the sediment and the waves, the currents, the tides, and at the minute we know that all of those processes are going to change in the future.

“But to understand how we can live with it and adapt around that, we need to understand better how it works today. So that’s why we need to collect.”