A Queensland government project is interested in summer holiday beach photos taken around the time of king tides.

 

King tides are the highest tides of the year and one of the biggest is forecast for January - although already over Christmas an ex-tropical cyclone sitting almost 1,000 km off the east coast of Australia has pushed up swells as big as four metres.

 

Beaches from Fraser Island in Queensland to the south of New South Wales have had to be closed and there's been erosion and some minor flooding as the water pushed inland.

 

David Robinson from the Queensland Centre for Climate Change Excellence wants to collect images of how high the seawater reaches in as many locations as possible.

 

"We know that the sea level is rising but it's a little difficult to visualise and understand what that means," he said.

 

"But if we take photographs of the big tides of the year, then this will give us an indication of what's going to come in the future."

 

"The king tides of today will become the everyday tides of the future."

 

Similar photographic studies have been undertaken in New South Wales, California in the US and Canada.

Photos can be uploaded to www.witnesskingtides.org and they will go towards an interactive map.