Sample records for national coastal condition

  1. National Coastal Condition Assessment

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    It is important to monitor coastal waters for potentially harmful trends and to identify areas in good condition. That is the purpose of the National Coastal Condition Assessment, which EPA conducts every few years.

  2. NATIONAL COASTAL CONDITION REPORT IV | Science ...

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    The National Coastal Condition Report IV (NCCR IV) is the fourth in a series of environmental assessments of U.S. coastal waters and the Great Lakes. The report includes assessments of all the nation’s estuaries in the contiguous 48 states and Puerto Rico, south-eastern Alaska, Hawaii, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa. The NCCR IV presents four main types of data: (1) coastal monitoring data, (2) coastal ocean/ offshore monitoring data, (3) offshore fisheries data, and (4) assessment and advisory data (new to NCCR IV). The NCCR IV relies heavily on coastal monitoring data from EPA’s National Coastal Assessment (NCA) to assess coastal condition by evaluating five indicators of condition—water quality, sediment quality, benthic community condition, coastal habitat loss, and fish tissue contaminants. To assess and report on the condition of the nation's coastal resources

  3. National Coastal Condition Assessment Report 2010

    EPA Science Inventory

    This National Coastal Condition Assessment 2010 (NCCA 2010) is the fifth in a series of reports assessing the condition of the coastal waters of the United States, including a vast array of estuarine, Great Lakes, and coastal embayment waters. It is part of the National Aquatic R...

  4. A NATIONAL COASTAL ASSESSMENT OF COASTAL SEDIMENT CONDITION

    EPA Science Inventory

    One element of the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program's National Coastal Assessment is to estimate the current status, extent, changes and trends in the condition of the Nation's coastal sediments on a national basis. Based on NCA monitoring activities from 1999-2001...

  5. National Coastal Condition Report I Factsheet

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    The National Coastal Condition Report describes the ecological and environmental conditions in U.S. coastal waters. This first-of-its-kind Report, presents a broad baseline picture of the overall condition of U.S. coastal waters as fair to poor.

  6. National Coastal Condition Assessment

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    The NCCA is a collaborative, statistical survey of the nation's coastal waters and the Great Lakes. It is one of four national surveys that EPA and its partners conduct to assess the condition and health of the nation's water resources.

  7. Development of a National-Scale Indicator of Benthic Condition for the National Coastal Condition Assessment.

    EPA Science Inventory

    The US EPA has evaluated the application of a national-scale indicator of estuarine benthic condition for the National Coastal Condition Assessment (NCCA). Historically, in the National Coastal Condition Reports (NCCR I-IV), estuarine benthic condition was assessed by applying m...

  8. NATIONAL COASTAL CONDITION REPORT IV

    EPA Science Inventory

    The National Coastal Condition Report IV (NCCR IV) is the fourth in a series of environmental assessments of U.S. coastal waters and the Great Lakes. The report includes assessments of all the nation’s estuaries in the contiguous 48 states and Puerto Rico, south-eastern Alaska, ...

  9. National Coastal Condition Report III Factsheet

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    The National Coastal Condition Report III (NCCR III) is the third in a series of environmental assessments of U.S. coastal waters and the Great Lakes. The report includes assessments of the nation’s estuaries in the contiguous 48 states and Puerto Rico.

  10. National Coastal Condition Report III (2008)

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    The National Coastal Condition Report III (NCCR III) is the third in a series of environmental assessments of U.S. coastal waters and the Great Lakes. The report includes assessments of the nation’s estuaries in the contiguous 48 states and Puerto Rico.

  11. EPA's National Coastal Condition Assessment: Pilot research ...

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    The EPA Office of Water’s 5-year cycles of national surveys of wetlands, lakes, rivers, and coastal areas help satisfy the assessment and antidegradation provisions of the Clean Water Act. Measuring extant conditions precedes measuring change in conditions. Surveys are challenged to adequately sample extreme conditions occurring in small areas. Extremely bad conditions are targets for remediation. Extremely good conditions are targets for protection. In 2010, the National Coastal Condition Assessment (NCCA) found the majority of the coastal Great Lakes (by area) was in good condition for water (60%) and sediment (51%) quality but not benthos (20%) and fish tissue contaminants (<1%). Low sampling success for biological sampling was an issue. As part of the 2014 Lake Erie CSMI field year, EPA’s Great Lakes National Program Office, working with the Office of Research and Development, began pilot research to integrate connecting channels into Great Lakes surveys. Assessments of the Huron-Erie corridor (HEC; 2014, 2015) and St Marys River (SMR; 2015, 2016) which have previously gone unassessed by NCCA, are being developed. Water, sediment, and benthic quality data from the 2014 HEC survey (n=60) were compared to 2010 NCCA data from adjacent lakes. Water quality rated “poor” (as % area) in HEC was intermediate compared to Lake Huron and Erie regardless of which lake-specific thresholds were used. However, the amount of area classified as “good” was highl

  12. 76 FR 31327 - Draft National Coastal Condition Report IV

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-05-31

    ... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [EPA-HQ-OW-2007-0119; FRL-9313-2] Draft National Coastal Condition Report IV AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Notice of availability and request for...: Gregory Colianni, Ocean and Coastal Protection Division, Office of Water, 4504T, U.S. Environmental...

  13. NATIONAL COASTAL ASSESSMENT

    EPA Science Inventory

    The purpose of the National Coastal Assessment (NCA) is to estimate the status and trends of the condition of the nation's coastal resources on a state, regional and national basis. Based on NCA monitoring from 1999-2001, 100% of the nation's estuarine waters (at over 2500 locati...

  14. National Coastal Condition Report IV (2012)

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    The NCCR IV data shows an overall condition score of 3.0 for the nation’s coastal waters; although this score has improved substantially since 1990, the overall condition of the nation’s coastal resources continues to be rated fair.

  15. National Coastal Condition Report IV Factsheet

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    Overall condition of the Nation’s coastal waters is fair. This rating is based on five indices of ecologicalcondition: water quality index, sediment quality index, benthic index, coastal habitat index, and fish tissue contaminants index.

  16. Assessing ecological conditions in the Great Lakes Connecting Channels using National Coastal Condition Assessment protocol

    EPA Science Inventory

    The EPA Office of Water’s National Coastal Condition Assessment (NCCA) helps satisfy the assessment and antidegradation provisions of the Clean Water Act by estimating water, sediment, and benthic quality conditions in the Great Lakes nearshore on a five-year cycle starting...

  17. Assessing the Nation's Coastal Waters....Better

    EPA Science Inventory

    The USEPA has been assessing estuarine and coastal condition in the United States since 1999 via the National Coastal Assessment (NCA) and National Aquatic Resources Surveys (NARS) programs. Approximately 1500 randomly selected coastal sites were surveyed annually during summers ...

  18. EPA’s National Coastal Condition Assessment: Pilot research in Great Lakes connecting channels

    EPA Science Inventory

    The EPA Office of Water’s 5-year cycles of national surveys of wetlands, lakes, rivers, and coastal areas help satisfy the assessment and antidegradation provisions of the Clean Water Act. Measuring extant conditions precedes measuring change in conditions. Surveys are chal...

  19. Assessing sediment quality in the Great Lakes Connecting Channels using National Coastal Condition Assessment protocol

    EPA Science Inventory

    The EPA Office of Water’s National Coastal Condition Assessment (NCCA) helps satisfy the assessment and antidegradation provisions of the Clean Water Actby estimating water, sediment, and benthic quality conditions in the Great Lakes nearshore on a five-year cycle starting ...

  20. NATIONAL COASTAL CONDITION REPORT III

    EPA Science Inventory

    Coastal waers in the US include estuaries, coastal wetlands, coral reefs, ,mangrove and kelp forests, seagrass meadows, and upwelling areas. Critical coastal habitats provide spawning grounds, nurseries, shelter, and food for finfish, shellfish, birds, and other wildlife. The n...

  1. A PROBABILISTIC ASSESSMENT OF BENTHIC CONDITION OF CALIFORNIA ESTUARIES: RESULTS FROM THE NATIONAL COASTAL ASSESSMENT 1999

    EPA Science Inventory

    As part of the National Coastal Assessment, the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program of EPA is conducting a three year evaluation of benthic habitat condition of California estuaries. In 1999, probabilistic sampling for a variety of biotic and abiotic condition indica...

  2. A PROBABILISTIC ASSESSMENT OF BENTHIC CONDITION OF WEST COAST ESTUARIES: RESULTS FROM THE NATIONAL COASTAL ASSESSMENT 1999-2000

    EPA Science Inventory

    As part of the National Coastal Assessment, the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program of EPA is conducting a six year evaluation of benthic habitat condition for coastal waters of the western U.S. In 1999, probabilistic sampling for a range of biotic and abiotic conditi...

  3. TRANSFERRING TECHNOLOGIES, TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES: THE NATIONAL COASTAL ASSESSMENT

    EPA Science Inventory

    The purpose of the National Coastal Assessment (NCA) is to estimate the status and trends of the condition of the nation's coastal resources on a state, regional and national basis. Based on NCA monitoring from 1999-2001, 100% of the nation's estuarine waters (at over 2500 locati...

  4. NATIONAL COASTAL CONDITION REPORT II

    EPA Science Inventory

    Coastal waters in the US include estuaries, coastalwetlands, coral reefs, mangrove and kep forests, seagrass meadows, and upwelling areas. Critical coastal habitats provide spawning grounds, nurseries, shelter, and food for finfish, shellfish, birds, and other wildlife. the nat...

  5. THE ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT PROGRAM: NATIONAL COASTAL ASSESSMENT - LESSONS LEARNED

    EPA Science Inventory

    The purpose of the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program's National Coastal Assessment is to estimate the current status, extent, changes, and trends in ecological indicators of the condition of the nation's coastal resources on a state, regional and national basis. Bas...

  6. NATIONAL COASTAL ASSESSMENT APPROACH AND FINDINGS IN THE NORTHEAST

    EPA Science Inventory

    The National Coastal Assessment (NCA) has three major goals: 1) assess ecological condition of the nation's estuarine resources based on comparable data of known quality, 2) determine reference conditions for more detailed studies of ecological stressors and responses, and 3) he...

  7. REGIONAL AND STATE VIEWS OF ESTUARINE CONDITION IN NORTHEASTERN UNITED STATE BASED ON 2001 AND 2001 NATIONAL COASTAL ASSESSMENT DATA

    EPA Science Inventory

    The National Coastal Assessment (NCA) is a probability-based survey that permits assessment of estuarine conditions at national, regional, or large-system scales. Additionally, states may use these data to comply with requirements of the Clean Water Act (CWA), which mandates re...

  8. Can a rapid underwater video approach enhance the benthic assessment capability of the National Coastal Condition Assessmentin the Great Lakes?

    EPA Science Inventory

    In the U.S. National Coastal Condition Assessment (NCCA) field survey in summer 2010, over 400 sites in the nearshore zone of the U.S. Great Lakes were sampled. As a supplement to core NCCA benthic taxonomy and sediment chemistry, underwater video images of the bottom condition ...

  9. Ecological Condition of Coastal Ocean Waters along the U.S. Western Continental Shelf: 2003

    EPA Science Inventory

    The western National Coastal Assessment program of EPA, in conjunction with the NOAA National Ocean Service, west coast states (WA, OR, and CA), and the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project Bight ’03 program, assessed the ecological condition of soft sediment habita...

  10. NATIONAL COASTAL ASSESSMENT: MONITORING AND MODELING IN SUPPORT OF TMDL CALCULATIONS

    EPA Science Inventory

    The National Coastal Assessment (NCA) has three major goals: 1) assess ecological condition of the nation's estuarine resources based on comparable data of know quality; 2) determine reference conditions, 3) help build infrastructure in states and EPA Regions. Much of the init...

  11. 76 FR 39857 - Alaska Coastal Management Program Withdrawal From the National Coastal Management Program Under...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-07-07

    .... SUMMARY: By operation of Alaska State law, the federally approved Alaska Coastal Management Program... partner in the National Coastal Management Program. The ACMP expired by operation of Alaska Statutes 44.66... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration Alaska Coastal Management...

  12. A PHOENIX RISING: ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT PROGRAM AND THE COASTAL 2000 NATIONAL SURVEY

    EPA Science Inventory

    The purpose of the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program-Coastal Resources is to estimate the current status, extent, changes, and trends in ecological indicators of the condition of the nation's coastal resources (intertidal, subtidal, and offshore) on a regional and n...

  13. Frameworks Proposed for Reporting on the First National Wetland Condition Assessment

    EPA Science Inventory

    The 2011 National Wetland Condition Assessment (NWCA) is the first-ever national assessment of wetland condition and the fifth in a series of National Aquatic Resource Surveys (NARS), after streams, rivers, lakes, and coastal systems. The NWCA was implemented by the U.S. Environ...

  14. IMPROVING ESTUARINE EVALUATION THROUGH OUTREACH AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER TO STATES, TRIBES AND OTHER PARTNERS: EPA'S NATIONAL COASTAL ASSESSMENT

    EPA Science Inventory

    The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) National Coastal Assessment (NCA) is a large-scale, comprehensive environmental monitoring program designed to characterize the ecological condition of the Nation's coastal resources. A key to this successful program is the developmen...

  15. THE ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT PROGRAM: THE NATIONAL COASTAL ASSESSMENT ERF 2001, ST. PETE BEACH, NOV 4-8, 2001

    EPA Science Inventory

    The purpose of the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program's National Coastal Assessment (NCA) is to estimate the current status, extent, changes, and trends in ecological indicators of the condition of the nation's coastal resources on a state, regional and national basi...

  16. EPA'S NATIONAL COASTAL ASSESSMENT PROGRAM

    EPA Science Inventory

    The National Coastal Assessment (NCA) is an environmental monitoring program initiated by the US Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Research and Development in 2000. The goal is to monitor selected ecological indicators in the nation's estuarine waters and to produce an...

  17. Application of a three-tier framework to assess ecological condition of Gulf of Mexico coastal wetlands

    EPA Science Inventory

    A multi‐level coastal wetland assessment strategy was applied to wetlands in the northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM) to evaluate the feasibility of this approach for a broad national scale wetland condition assessment (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Wetlands Condition ...

  18. Coastal vulnerability assessment of Olympic National Park to sea-level rise

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Pendleton, Elizabeth A.; Hammar-Klose, Erika S.; Thieler, E. Robert; Williams, S. Jeffress

    2004-01-01

    A coastal vulnerability index (CVI) was used to map the relative vulnerability of the coast to future sea-level rise within Olympic National Park (OLYM), Washington. The CVI scores the following in terms of their physical contribution to sea-level rise-related coastal change: geomorphology, regional coastal slope, rate of relative sea-level rise, shoreline change rates, mean tidal range and mean wave height. The rankings for each variable were combined and an index value calculated for 1-minute grid cells covering the park. The CVI highlights those regions where the physical effects of sea-level rise might be the greatest. This approach combines the coastal system's susceptibility to change with its natural ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions, yielding a quantitative, although relative, measure of the park's natural vulnerability to the effects of sea-level rise. The CVI provides an objective technique for evaluation and long-term planning by scientists and park managers. The Olympic National Park coast consists of rocky headlands, pocket beaches, glacial-fluvial features, and sand and gravel beaches. The Olympic coastline that is most vulnerable to sea-level rise are beaches in gently sloping areas.

  19. An integrated approach to assess broad-scale condition of coastal wetlands - The Gulf of Mexico Coastal Wetlands pilot survey

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Nestlerode, J.A.; Engle, V.D.; Bourgeois, P.; Heitmuller, P.T.; Macauley, J.M.; Allen, Y.C.

    2009-01-01

    The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) initiated a two-year regional pilot survey in 2007 to develop, test, and validate tools and approaches to assess the condition of northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM) coastal wetlands. Sampling sites were selected from estuarine and palustrine wetland areas with herbaceous, forested, and shrub/scrub habitats delineated by the US Fish and Wildlife Service National Wetlands Inventory Status and Trends (NWI S&T) program and contained within northern GOM coastal watersheds. A multi-level, stepwise, iterative survey approach is being applied to multiple wetland classes at 100 probabilistically-selected coastal wetlands sites. Tier 1 provides information at the landscape scale about habitat inventory, land use, and environmental stressors associated with the watershed in which each wetland site is located. Tier 2, a rapid assessment conducted through a combination of office and field work, is based on best professional judgment and on-site evidence. Tier 3, an intensive site assessment, involves on-site collection of vegetation, water, and sediment samples to establish an integrated understanding of current wetland condition and validate methods and findings from Tiers 1 and 2. The results from this survey, along with other similar regional pilots from the Mid-Atlantic, West Coast, and Great Lakes Regions will contribute to a design and implementation approach for the National Wetlands Condition Assessment to be conducted by EPA's Office of Water in 2011. ?? Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2008.

  20. THE NATIONAL COASTAL ASSESSMENT: PARTNERSHIP FOR SUCCESS COASTAL ZONE SYMPOSIUM, CLEVELAND, OH JULY 15-19, 2001

    EPA Science Inventory

    Partnering for Success (Abstract). Presented at Coastal Zone 01: Hands Across the Water - Linking Land, Lake, and Sea, 15-19 July 2001, Cleveland, OH. 1 p. (ERL,GB R843).

    The National Coastal Assessment (Coastal 2000) is a coastal monitoring survey that responds to the ne...

  1. UPDATE ON THE ECOLOGICAL CONDITION OF THE DELMARVA COASTAL BAYS

    EPA Science Inventory

    The results of the 1993 assessment of the ecological condition of the Delaware and Maryland coastal bays were discussed at the Delmarva Coastal Bays Conference in 1996. The objective of this paper is to update our knowledge on the condition of the coastal bays with information fr...

  2. Keeping pace with future environmental conditions in coastal Oregon, USA

    Treesearch

    Rebecca Flitcroft; Guillermo Guannico

    2013-01-01

    Recognizing the national importance of coasts and Great Lake shorelines, in 1972, leaders in Congress created the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) to balance economic development and natural resource protection so that we can continue to enjoy the benefits the coasts provide. To meet the goals of the Act, the National Coastal Zone Management Program (CZM Program)...

  3. Application of a three-tier framework to assess ecological condition of Gulf of Mexico coastal wetlands.

    PubMed

    Nestlerode, Janet A; Hansen, Virginia D; Teague, Aarin; Harwell, Matthew C

    2014-06-01

    A multi-level coastal wetland assessment strategy was applied to wetlands in the northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM) to evaluate the feasibility of this approach for a broad national scale wetland condition assessment (US Environmental Protection Agency's National Wetlands Condition Assessment). Landscape-scale assessment indicators (tier 1) were developed and applied at the sub-watershed (12-digit hydrologic unit code (HUC)) level within the GOM coastal wetland sample frame with scores calculated using land-use maps and geographic information system. Rapid assessment protocols (tier 2), using a combination of data analysis and field work, evaluated metrics associated with landscape context, hydrology, physical structure, and biological structure. Intensive site monitoring (tier 3) included measures of soil chemistry and composition, water column and pore-water chemistry, and dominant macrophyte community composition and tissue chemistry. Relationships within and among assessment levels were evaluated using multivariate analyses with few significant correlations found. More detailed measures of hydrology, soils, and macrophyte species composition from sites across a known condition gradient, in conjunction with validation of standardized rapid assessment method, may be necessary to fully characterize coastal wetlands across the region.

  4. REGIONAL AND STATE VIEWS OF ESTURAINE CONDITION IN NORTHEAST US BASED ON 2000 AND 2001 COASTAL ASSESSMENT DATA

    EPA Science Inventory

    The National Coastal Assessment (NCA) is a probability-based survey that permits assessment of estuarine conditions at national, regional, or large-system scales. Additionally, states may use these data to comply with requirements of the Clean Water Act (CWA), which mandates re...

  5. Coastal vulnerability assessment of Dry Tortugas National Park (DRTO) to sea-level rise

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Pendleton, Elizabeth A.; Thieler, E. Robert; Williams, S. Jeffress

    2005-01-01

    A coastal vulnerability index (CVI) was used to map the relative vulnerability of the coast to future sea-level rise within Dry Tortugas National Park in Florida. The CVI ranks the following in terms of their physical contribution to sea-level rise-related coastal change: geomorphology, regional coastal slope, rate of relative sea-level rise, historical shoreline change rates, mean tidal range and mean significant wave height. The rankings for each input variable were combined and an index value calculated for 1-minute grid cells covering the park. The CVI highlights those regions where the physical effects of sea-level rise might be the greatest. This approach combines the coastal system's susceptibility to change with its natural ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions, yielding a quantitative, although relative, measure of the park's natural vulnerability to the effects of sea-level rise. The CVI provides an objective technique for evaluation and long-term planning by scientists and park managers. Dry Tortugas National Park (DRTO) consists of relatively stable to washover-dominated portions of carbonate beach and man-made fortification. The areas within Dry Tortugas that are likely to be most vulnerable to sea-level rise are those with the highest rates of shoreline erosion and the highest wave energy.

  6. Coastal vulnerability assessment of Cape Hatteras National Seashore (CAHA) to sea-level rise

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Pendleton, Elizabeth A.; Theiler, E. Robert; Williams, S. Jeffress

    2005-01-01

    A coastal vulnerability index (CVI) was used to map the relative vulnerability of the coast to future sea-level rise within Cape Hatteras National Seashore (CAHA) in North Carolina. The CVI ranks the following in terms of their physical contribution to sea-level rise-related coastal change: geomorphology, regional coastal slope, rate of relative sea-level rise, historical shoreline change rates, mean tidal range, and mean significant wave height. The rankings for each variable were combined and an index value was calculated for 1-minute grid cells covering the park. The CVI highlights those regions where the physical effects of sea-level rise might be the greatest. This approach combines the coastal system's susceptibility to change with its natural ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions, yielding a quantitative, although relative, measure of the park's natural vulnerability to the effects of sea-level rise. The CVI provides an objective technique for evaluation and long-term planning by scientists and park managers. Cape Hatteras National Seashore consists of stable and washover dominated segments of barrier beach backed by wetland and marsh. The areas within Cape Hatteras that are likely to be most vulnerable to sea-level rise are those with the highest occurrence of overwash and the highest rates of shoreline change.

  7. Coastal Vulnerability Assessment of Padre Island National Seashore (PAIS) to Sea-Level Rise

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Pendleton, Elizabeth A.; Thieler, E. Robert; Williams, S. Jeffress; Beavers, Rebecca S.

    2004-01-01

    A coastal vulnerability index (CVI) was used to map the relative vulnerability of the coast to future sea-level rise within Padre Island National Seashore in Texas. The CVI ranks the following in terms of their physical contribution to sea-level rise-related coastal change: geomorphology, regional coastal slope, rate of relative sea-level rise, shoreline change rates, mean tidal range and mean significant wave height. The rankings for each variable were combined and an index value calculated for 1-minute grid cells covering the park. The CVI highlights those regions where the physical effects of sea-level rise might be the greatest. This approach combines the coastal system's susceptibility to change with its natural ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions, yielding a quantitative, although relative, measure of the park's natural vulnerability to the effects of sea-level rise. The CVI provides an objective technique for evaluation and long-term planning by scientists and park managers. Padre Island National Seashore consists of stable to washover dominated portions of barrier beach backed by wetland, marsh, tidal flat, or grassland. The areas within Padre that are likely to be most vulnerable to sea-level rise are those with the highest occurrence of overwash and the highest rates of shoreline change.

  8. From Marshes to the Continental Shelf: Results of the Western Component of the US EPA National Coastal Assessment

    Treesearch

    W. G. Nelson; H. II Lee; J. O. Lamberson

    2006-01-01

    The National Coastal Assessment of the US EPA began field work in the Western US in 1999-2000. Probabilistic sampling for biotic and abiotic condition indicators was conducted at 381 stations within estuaries and coastal embayments of Washington, Oregon and California. In 2002, intertidal and low salt marsh habitats were sampled at an additional 190 stations. As part...

  9. Carrying Capacity Model Applied to Coastal Ecotourism of Baluran National Park, Indonesia

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Armono, H. D.; Rosyid, D. M.; Nuzula, N. I.

    2017-07-01

    The resources of Baluran National Park have been used for marine and coastal ecotourism. The increasing number of visitors has led to the increasing of tourists and its related activities. This condition will cause the degradation of resources and the welfare of local communities. This research aims to determine the sustainability of coastal ecotourism management by calculating the effective number of tourists who can be accepted. The study uses the concept of tourism carrying capacity, consists the ecological environment, economic, social and physical carrying capacity. The results of the combined carrying capacity analysis in Baluran National Park ecotourism shows that the number of 3.288 people per day (151.248 tourists per year) is the maximum number of accepted tourists. The current number of tourist arrivals is only 241 people per day (87.990 tourists per year) which is far below the carrying capacity.

  10. 46 CFR 11.401 - Ocean and near-coastal national officer endorsements.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... 46 Shipping 1 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Ocean and near-coastal national officer endorsements. 11... Endorsements § 11.401 Ocean and near-coastal national officer endorsements. (a) Subject to the provisions of... on ocean waters qualifies the mariner to serve in the same grade on any waters, except towing vessels...

  11. Hierarchical Synthesis of Coastal Ecosystem Health Indicators at Karimunjawa National Marine Park

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Danu Prasetya, Johan; Ambariyanto; Supriharyono; Purwanti, Frida

    2018-02-01

    The coastal ecosystem of Karimunjawa National Marine Park (KNMP) is facing various pressures, including from human activity. Monitoring the health condition of coastal ecosystems periodically is needed as an evaluation of the ecosystem condition. Systematic and consistent indicators are needed in monitoring of coastal ecosystem health. This paper presents hierarchical synthesis of coastal ecosystem health indicators using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. Hierarchical synthesis is obtained from process of weighting by paired comparison based on expert judgments. The variables of coastal ecosystem health indicators in this synthesis consist of 3 level of variable, i.e. main variable, sub-variable and operational variable. As a result of assessment, coastal ecosystem health indicators consist of 3 main variables, i.e. State of Ecosystem, Pressure and Management. Main variables State of Ecosystem and Management obtain the same value i.e. 0.400, while Pressure value was 0.200. Each main variable consist of several sub-variable, i.e. coral reef, reef fish, mangrove and seagrass for State of Ecosystem; fisheries and marine tourism activity for Pressure; planning and regulation, institutional and also infrastructure and financing for Management. The highest value of sub-variable of main variable State of Ecosystem, Pressure and Management were coral reef (0.186); marine tourism pressure (0.133) and institutional (0.171), respectively. The highest value of operational variable of main variable State of Ecosystem, Pressure and Management were percent of coral cover (0.058), marine tourism pressure (0.133) and presence of zonation plan, regulation also socialization of monitoring program (0.53), respectively. Potential pressure from marine tourism activity is the variable that most affect the health of the ecosystem. The results of this research suggest that there is a need to develop stronger conservation strategies to facing with pressures from marine tourism

  12. Controls of Multimodal Wave Conditions in a Complex Coastal Setting

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hegermiller, C. A.; Rueda, A.; Erikson, L. H.; Barnard, P. L.; Antolinez, J. A. A.; Mendez, F. J.

    2017-12-01

    Coastal hazards emerge from the combined effect of wave conditions and sea level anomalies associated with storms or low-frequency atmosphere-ocean oscillations. Rigorous characterization of wave climate is limited by the availability of spectral wave observations, the computational cost of dynamical simulations, and the ability to link wave-generating atmospheric patterns with coastal conditions. We present a hybrid statistical-dynamical approach to simulating nearshore wave climate in complex coastal settings, demonstrated in the Southern California Bight, where waves arriving from distant, disparate locations are refracted over complex bathymetry and shadowed by offshore islands. Contributions of wave families and large-scale atmospheric drivers to nearshore wave energy flux are analyzed. Results highlight the variability of influences controlling wave conditions along neighboring coastlines. The universal method demonstrated here can be applied to complex coastal settings worldwide, facilitating analysis of the effects of climate change on nearshore wave climate.

  13. Coastal sedimentary research examines critical issues of national and global priority

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Fletcher, Chip; Anderson, John; Crook, Keith A.W.; Kaminsky, George; Larcombe, Piers; Murray-Wallace, Colin V.; Sansone, Frank; Scott, David B.; Riggs, Stan; Sallenger, Asbury; Shennan, Ian; Thieler, E. Robert; Wehmiller, John F.

    2000-01-01

    An international conference was held recently in Honolulu, Hawaii, to examine and plan for coastal sedimentary research in the United States and globally. Participants agreed that sedimentary coastal environments constitute a critical national and global resource that suffers widespread degradation due to human impacts. Moreover, human population growth and inappropriate development in the coastal zone are escalating public asset losses due to coastal hazards and placing large numbers of communities at growing risk (Figure 1).

  14. Monitoring the Condition of the Estuaries of the United States: The National Coastal Assessment Experience

    EPA Science Inventory

    Coastal waters in the United States include estuaries, bays, sounds, coastal wetlands, coral reefs, intertidal zones, mangrove and kelp forests, seagrass meadows, and coastal ocean and upwelling areas (i.e. deep water rising to surface). These coastal areas encompass a wide diver...

  15. 75 FR 8649 - Evaluation of State Coastal Management Programs and National Estuarine Research Reserves

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-02-25

    ... Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM) announces a rescheduled site visit and time for a public... Management Programs and National Estuarine Research Reserves AGENCY: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, National Ocean Service, Commerce. ACTION...

  16. THE WESTERN EMAP APPROACH TO ASSESSMENT OF COASTAL ECOLOGICAL CONDITION

    EPA Science Inventory

    The primary objective of the Western Coastal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (WEMAP) is the assessment of ecological condition of the coastal systems of Washington, Oregon, and California. WEMAP also includes two associated pilot projects to demonstrate feasibili...

  17. Controls of multi-modal wave conditions in a complex coastal setting

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Hegermiller, Christie; Rueda, Ana C.; Erikson, Li H.; Barnard, Patrick L.; Antolinez, J.A.A.; Mendez, Fernando J.

    2017-01-01

    Coastal hazards emerge from the combined effect of wave conditions and sea level anomalies associated with storms or low-frequency atmosphere-ocean oscillations. Rigorous characterization of wave climate is limited by the availability of spectral wave observations, the computational cost of dynamical simulations, and the ability to link wave-generating atmospheric patterns with coastal conditions. We present a hybrid statistical-dynamical approach to simulating nearshore wave climate in complex coastal settings, demonstrated in the Southern California Bight, where waves arriving from distant, disparate locations are refracted over complex bathymetry and shadowed by offshore islands. Contributions of wave families and large-scale atmospheric drivers to nearshore wave energy flux are analyzed. Results highlight the variability of influences controlling wave conditions along neighboring coastlines. The universal method demonstrated here can be applied to complex coastal settings worldwide, facilitating analysis of the effects of climate change on nearshore wave climate.

  18. USACE National Coastal Mapping Program Update

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sylvester, C.

    2017-12-01

    The Joint Airborne Lidar Bathymetry Technical Center of Expertise (JALBTCX) formed in 1998 to support the coastal mapping and charting requirements of the USACE, NAVO, NOAA and USGS. This partnership fielded three generations of airborne lidar bathymeters, executed operational data collection programs within the U.S. and overseas, and advanced research and development in airborne lidar bathymetry and complementary technologies. JALBTCX executes a USACE Headquarters-funded National Coastal Mapping Program (NCMP). Initiated in 2004, the NCMP provides high-resolution, high-accuracy elevation and imagery data along the sandy shorelines of the U.S. on a recurring basis. NCMP mapping activities are coordinated with Federal mapping partners through the Interagency Working Group on Ocean and Coastal Mapping and the 3D Elevation Program. The NCMP, currently in it's third cycle, is performing operations along the East Coast in 2017, after having completed surveys along the Gulf Coast in 2016 and conducting emergency response operations in support of Hurricane Matthew. This presentation will provide an overview of JALBTCX, its history in furthering airborne lidar bathymetry technology to meet emerging mapping requirements, current NCMP operations and data products, and Federal mapping coordination activities.

  19. ELECTRONIC PUBLICATION OF DATA AND METHODS FOR COASTAL MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT

    EPA Science Inventory

    We are designing an electronic report on coastal conditions in the Northeast (from Delaware to Maine) for release in 2005. The report will be similar in appearance to a chapter on Northeast Coastal Conditions (EPA, National Coastal Condition Report 2), but based on twice as many...

  20. Integrated Coastal Data at NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Stroker, K. J.; Mesick, S.

    2016-02-01

    The National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) provides stewardship for the world's largest collection of data enabling communities to ensure preparedness and resilience to coastal hazards. In this unique collection, NCEI has the responsibility to ensure access to high-resolution coastal tide gauge data, coastal bathymetry and topography data, global geologic hazards data (tsunami, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions) as part of the World Data Center for Geophysics, and are expanding the archive to support other coastal data streams, such as coastal current velocity data important for safety in ports and harbors. These data, collected by partners from academia, federal and state governments, support a wide variety of uses. Ensuring accurate, high quality metadata for these data are essential for their proper use. In addition to providing easy access to partner data to extend the use of these data, NCEI also develops scientifically-validated derived products. One such example is our collection of high-resolution, coastal digital elevation models (DEMs) that integrate ocean bathymetry and land topography to support NOAA's mission to understand and predict changes in Earth's environment, and conserve and manage coastal and marine resources to meet our Nation's economic, social, and environmental needs. These DEMs can be used for modeling of coastal processes (tsunami inundation, storm surge, sea-level rise, contaminant dispersal, etc.), ecosystems management and habitat research, coastal and marine spatial planning, and hazard mitigation and community preparedness. Additionally, the US Extended Continental Shelf (ECS) project is determining the outer limits of the US continental shelf though the collection and analysis of data that describe the depth, shape and geophysical characteristics of the seabed and sub-seafloor. These data are all housed and stewarded at NCEI. The paper will discuss the wide variety of coastal data maintained and stewarded at NCEI

  1. 76 FR 10338 - Evaluation of State Coastal Management Programs and National Estuarine Research Reserves

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-02-24

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Evaluation of State Coastal... Administration (NOAA), Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, National Ocean Service, Commerce. ACTION... to its Reserve final management plan approved by the Secretary of Commerce, and adhered to the terms...

  2. POLLUTION AND ECOSYSTEM HEALTH - ASSESSING ECOLOGICAL CONDITION OF COASTAL ECOSYSTEMS

    EPA Science Inventory

    Summers, Kevin. 2004. Pollution and Ecosystem Health - Assessing Ecological Condition of Coastal Ecosystems. Presented at the White Water to Blue Water (WW2BW) Miami Conference, 21-26 March 2004, Miami, FL. 1 p. (ERL,GB R973).

    Throughout the coastal regions and Large Mari...

  3. National Coastal Condition Report I (2001)

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    Thousands of pieces of information on the condition of the estuarine and Great Lakes resources of the United States were collected from 1990 to 1997 with results showing estuaries to be in fair to poor condition.

  4. Coastal change-potential assessment of Sleeping Bear Dunes, Indiana Dunes, and Apostle Islands National Lakeshores to lake-level changes

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Pendleton, Elizabeth A.; Thieler, E. Robert; Williams, S. Jeffress

    2007-01-01

    A change-potential index (CPI) was used to map the susceptibility of the shoreline to future lake-level change within Apostle Islands, Indiana Dunes, and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshores (NL) along Lake Superior and Lake Michigan. The CPI in the Great Lakes setting ranks the following in terms of their physical contribution to lake-level related coastal change: geomorphology, regional coastal slope, rate and direction (i.e., rise and fall) of relative lake-level change, historical shoreline change rates, annual ice cover and mean significant wave height. The rankings for each input variable were combined, and an index value calculated for 1-minute bins covering the parks. The CPI highlights those regions where the physical effects of lake-level and coastal change might be the greatest. This approach combines the coastal system's potential for change with its natural ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions, yielding a quantitative, although relative, measure of the parks' natural susceptibility to the effects of lake-level variation. The CPI provides an objective technique for evaluation and long-term planning by scientists and park managers. The CPI is applied to the National Lakeshores of Apostle Islands, Indiana Dunes, and Sleeping Bear Dunes to test this methodology in lake settings. The National Lakeshores in this study consist of sand and gravel beaches, rock outcrops, and dune and glacial bluffs. The areas within these Great Lakes parks that are likely to experience the most lake-level-related coastal change are areas of unconsolidated sediment where regional coastal slope is low and wave energy is high.

  5. Creating a Coastal National Elevation Database (CoNED) for science and conservation applications

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Thatcher, Cindy A.; Brock, John C.; Danielson, Jeffrey J.; Poppenga, Sandra K.; Gesch, Dean B.; Palaseanu-Lovejoy, Monica; Barras, John; Evans, Gayla A.; Gibbs, Ann

    2016-01-01

    The U.S. Geological Survey is creating the Coastal National Elevation Database, an expanding set of topobathymetric elevation models that extend seamlessly across coastal regions of high societal or ecological significance in the United States that are undergoing rapid change or are threatened by inundation hazards. Topobathymetric elevation models are raster datasets useful for inundation prediction and other earth science applications, such as the development of sediment-transport and storm surge models. These topobathymetric elevation models are being constructed by the broad regional assimilation of numerous topographic and bathymetric datasets, and are intended to fulfill the pressing needs of decision makers establishing policies for hazard mitigation and emergency preparedness, coastal managers tasked with coastal planning compatible with predictions of inundation due to sea-level rise, and scientists investigating processes of coastal geomorphic change. A key priority of this coastal elevation mapping effort is to foster collaborative lidar acquisitions that meet the standards of the USGS National Geospatial Program's 3D Elevation Program, a nationwide initiative to systematically collect high-quality elevation data. The focus regions are located in highly dynamic environments, for example in areas subject to shoreline change, rapid wetland loss, hurricane impacts such as overwash and wave scouring, and/or human-induced changes to coastal topography.

  6. 50 CFR 84.21 - How do I apply for a National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... Wetlands Conservation Grant? 84.21 Section 84.21 Wildlife and Fisheries UNITED STATES FISH AND WILDLIFE... PROGRAM NATIONAL COASTAL WETLANDS CONSERVATION GRANT PROGRAM Applying for Grants § 84.21 How do I apply for a National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant? (a) Eligible applicants should submit their...

  7. Technical Approaches for Answering the Question: What is the condition of the Nation's Waters?

    EPA Science Inventory

    The National Aquatic Resource Surveys were designed to answer the question of the status and trends in the condition of each of our aquatic resources: coastal waters, lakes and reservoirs, rivers and streams and wetlands. At the higher levels, the EPA is consistently asked a see...

  8. Albemarle Sound demonstration study of the national monitoring network for US coastal waters and their tributaries

    Treesearch

    Michelle Moorman; Sharon Fitzgerald; Keith Loftin; Elizabeth Fensin

    2016-01-01

    The U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) is implementing a demonstration project in the Albemarle Sound for the National Monitoring Network for U.S. coastal waters and their tributaries. The goal of the National Monitoring Network is to provide information about the health of our oceans and coastal ecosystems and inland influences on coastal waters for improved resource...

  9. Development of Benthic Indicators for Nearshore Coastal Waters of New Jersey - A REMAP Project

    EPA Science Inventory

    EPA's National Coastal Assessment (NCA) is providing the first complete, consistent dataset on the condition of benthic communities in the nation's estuaries. Prior to NCA, New Jersey based its evaluation of the ecological condition of its coastal waters solely on dissolved oxyg...

  10. Coastal Virginia's timber resource - trends, present conditions, and opportunities for improvement

    Treesearch

    Raymond M. Sheffield

    1978-01-01

    The present condition and future of the timber resource in the Coastal Plain of Virginia have caused increasing concern among resource planners, land managers, and citizens. Problems identified in past forest surveys contributed to this concern. This report focuses on some of the timber resource problems of the Coastal Plain by presenting forest resource trends,...

  11. National assessment of shoreline change part 4: historical coastal cliff retreat along the California coast

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Hapke, Cheryl J.; Reid, David

    2007-01-01

    Coastal cliff retreat, the landward migration of the cliff face, is a chronic problem along many rocky coastlines in the United States. As coastal populations continue to grow and community infrastructures are threatened by erosion, there is increased demand for accurate information regarding trends and rates of coastal cliff retreat. There is also a need for a comprehensive analysis of cliff retreat that is consistent from one coastal region to another. To meet these national needs, the U.S. Geological Survey is conducting an analysis of historical coastal cliff retreat along open-ocean rocky coastlines of the conterminous United States and parts of Hawaii, Alaska, and the Great Lakes. One purpose of this work is to develop standard repeatable methods for mapping and analyzing coastal cliff retreat so that periodic updates of coastal erosion can be made nationally that are systematic and internally consistent. This report on the California Coast is an accompaniment to a report on long-term sandy shoreline change for California. This report summarizes the methods of analysis, interprets the results, and provides explanations regarding long-term rates of cliff retreat. Neither detailed background information on the National Assessment of Shoreline Change Project nor detailed descriptions of the geology and geomorphology of the California coastline are presented in this report. The reader is referred to the shoreline change report (Hapke et al., 2006) for this type of background information. Cliff retreat evaluations are based on comparing one historical cliff edge digitized from maps, with a recent cliff edge interpreted from lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) topographic surveys. The historical cliff edges are from a period ranging from 1920-1930, whereas the lidar cliff edges are from either 1998 or 2002. Long-term (~70-year) rates of retreat are calculated using the two cliff edges. The rates of retreat presented in this report represent conditions from the 1930

  12. Alabama-Mississippi Coastal Classification Maps - Perdido Pass to Cat Island

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Morton, Robert A.; Peterson, Russell L.

    2005-01-01

    The primary purpose of the USGS National Assessment of Coastal Change Project is to provide accurate representations of pre-storm ground conditions for areas that are designated high-priority because they have dense populations or valuable resources that are at risk from storm waves. Another purpose of the project is to develop a geomorphic (land feature) coastal classification that, with only minor modification, can be applied to most coastal regions in the United States. A Coastal Classification Map describing local geomorphic features is the first step toward determining the hazard vulnerability of an area. The Coastal Classification Maps of the National Assessment of Coastal Change Project present ground conditions such as beach width, dune elevations, overwash potential, and density of development. In order to complete a hazard vulnerability assessment, that information must be integrated with other information, such as prior storm impacts and beach stability. The Coastal Classification Maps provide much of the basic information for such an assessment and represent a critical component of a storm-impact forecasting capability. The map above shows the areas covered by this web site. Click on any of the location names or outlines to view the Coastal Classification Map for that area.

  13. USGS Western Coastal and Marine Geology Team

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Johnson, Sam; Gibbons, Helen

    2007-01-01

    The Western Coastal and Marine Geology Team of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) studies the coasts of the western United States, including Alaska and Hawai‘i. Team scientists conduct research, monitor processes, and develop information about coastal and marine geologic hazards, environmental conditions, habitats, and energy and mineral resources. This information helps managers at all levels of government and in the private sector make informed decisions about the use and protection of national coastal and marine resources.

  14. FISH ASSEMBLAGES AS INDICATORS OF LAKE SUPERIOR COASTAL WETLAND CONDITION

    EPA Science Inventory

    Fish assemblages associated with coastal wetlands in Lake Superior are poorly described. Understanding the environmental factors structuring the biota in these habitats is essential to developing robust indicators of their condition. To identify key environmental influences struc...

  15. Coastal Warning Display Program

    Science.gov Websites

    ! Boating Safety Beach Hazards Rip Currents Hypothermia Hurricanes Thunderstorms Lightning Coastal Flooding Tsunamis 406 EPIRB's National Weather Service Marine Forecasts COASTAL WARNING DISPLAY PROGRAM Marine COASTAL WARNING DISPLAY PROGRAM As of February 15, 1989, the National Weather Service retired its Coastal

  16. Coastal Prairie Restoration Information System: Version 1 (Louisiana)

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Allain, Larry

    2007-01-01

    The Coastal Prairie Restoration Information System (CPR) is a Microsoft Access database that allows users to query and view data about Louisiana coastal prairie species. Less than 0.1% of Louisiana's coastal prairie vegetation remains in a relatively undisturbed condition. Encompassing as much as 1 million hectares of land, coastal prairie is a hybrid of coastal wetlands and tall grass prairie. Over 550 plant species have been identified in Louisiana's coastal prairies to date. Efforts to conserve and restore this endangered ecosystem are limited by the ability of workers to identify and access knowledge about this diverse group of plants. In this database, a variety of data are provided for each of 650 coastal prairie species in Louisiana. The database was developed at the U.S. Geological Survey National Wetlands Research Center by Larry Allain, with software development by Myra Silva. Additional funding was provided by the biology department of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (ULL), the ULL Center for Environmental and Ecological Technology, and the National Science Foundation.

  17. South Texas coastal classification maps - Mansfield Channel to the Rio Grande

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Morton, Robert A.; Peterson, Russell L.

    2006-01-01

    The Nation's rapidly growing coastal population requires reliable information regarding the vulnerability of coastal regions to storm impacts. This has created a need for classifying coastal lands and evaluating storm-hazard vulnerability. Government officials and resource managers responsible for dealing with natural hazards also need accurate assessments of potential storm impacts in order to make informed decisions before, during, and after major storm events. Both economic development and coastal-damage mitigation require integrated models of storm parameters, hazard vulnerability, and expected coastal responses. Thus, storm-hazard vulnerability assessments constitute one of the fundamental components of forecasting storm impacts. Each year as many as 10 to 12 hurricanes and tropical storms will be the focus of national attention. Of particular interest are intense hurricanes (Categories 3 to 5 of the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale) that have the potential to cause substantial economic and environmental damage to the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the United States. These coastal regions include some of the largest metropolitan areas in the country and they continue to experience rapid population growth. Based on media reports, there is a general lack of public knowledge regarding how different coastal segments will respond to the same storm or how the same coastal segment will respond differently depending on storm conditions. A primary purpose of the USGS National Assessment of Coastal Change Project is to provide accurate representations of pre-storm ground conditions for areas that are designated high priority because they have dense populations or valuable resources that are at risk. A secondary purpose is to develop a broad coastal classification that, with only minor modification, can be applied to most coastal regions in the United States.

  18. Using National Coastal Assessment Data to Model Estuarine Water Quality at Large Spatial Scales.

    EPA Science Inventory

    The water quality of the Nation’s estuaries is attracting scrutiny in light of population growth and enhanced nutrient delivery. The USEPA has evaluated water quality in the National Coastal Assessment (NCA) and National Aquatic Resource Surveys (NARS) programs. Here we rep...

  19. Adaptation to Sea Level Rise in Coastal Units of the National Park Service (Invited)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Beavers, R. L.

    2010-12-01

    83 National Park Service (NPS) units contain nearly 12,000 miles of coastal, estuarine and Great Lakes shoreline and their associated resources. Iconic natural features exist along active shorelines in NPS units, including, e.g., Cape Cod, Padre Island, Hawaii Volcanoes, and the Everglades. Iconic cultural resources managed by NPS include the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, Fort Sumter, the Golden Gate, and heiaus and fish traps along the coast of Hawaii. Impacts anticipated from sea level rise include inundation and flooding of beaches and low lying marshes, shoreline erosion of coastal areas, and saltwater intrusion into the water table. These impacts and other coastal hazards will threaten park beaches, marshes, and other resources and values; alter the viability of coastal roads; and require the NPS to re-evaluate the financial, safety, and environmental implications of maintaining current projects and implementing future projects in ocean and coastal parks in the context of sea level rise. Coastal erosion will increase as sea levels rise. Barrier islands along the coast of Louisiana and North Carolina may have already passed the threshold for maintaining island integrity in any scenario of sea level rise (U.S. Climate Change Science Program Synthesis and Assessment Program Report 4.1). Consequently, sea level rise is expected to hasten the disappearance of historic coastal villages, coastal wetlands, forests, and beaches, and threaten coastal roads, homes, and businesses. While sea level is rising in most coastal parks, some parks are experiencing lower water levels due to isostatic rebound and lower lake levels. NPS funded a Coastal Vulnerability Project to evaluate the physical and geologic factors affecting 25 coastal parks. The USGS Open File Reports for each park are available at http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/project-pages/. These reports were designed to inform park planning efforts. NPS conducted a Storm Vulnerability Project to provide ocean and coastal

  20. PROBABILISTIC MONITORING FOR TRIBAL AQUATIC RESOURCE: EPA'S NATIONAL COASTAL ASSESSMENT TRIBAL TRAINING

    EPA Science Inventory

    Harvey, James, David Lawes, Vincent Cooke and Tom Heitmuller. In press. Probabilistic Monitoring for Tribal Aquatic Resources: EPA's National Coastal Assessment Tribal Training (Abstract). To be presented at the Monitoring Science and Technology Symposium, 20-24 September 2004, D...

  1. Normal and Extreme Wind Conditions for Power at Coastal Locations in China.

    PubMed

    Gao, Meng; Ning, Jicai; Wu, Xiaoqing

    2015-01-01

    In this paper, the normal and extreme wind conditions for power at 12 coastal locations along China's coastline were investigated. For this purpose, the daily meteorological data measured at the standard 10-m height above ground for periods of 40-62 years are statistically analyzed. The East Asian Monsoon that affects almost China's entire coastal region is considered as the leading factor determining wind energy resources. For most stations, the mean wind speed is higher in winter and lower in summer. Meanwhile, the wind direction analysis indicates that the prevalent winds in summer are southerly, while those in winter are northerly. The air densities at different coastal locations differ significantly, resulting in the difference in wind power density. The Weibull and lognormal distributions are applied to fit the yearly wind speeds. The lognormal distribution performs better than the Weibull distribution at 8 coastal stations according to two judgement criteria, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and absolute error (AE). Regarding the annual maximum extreme wind speed, the generalized extreme value (GEV) distribution performs better than the commonly-used Gumbel distribution. At these southeastern coastal locations, strong winds usually occur in typhoon season. These 4 coastal provinces, that is, Guangdong, Fujian, Hainan, and Zhejiang, which have abundant wind resources, are also prone to typhoon disasters.

  2. ASSESSING THE CONDITION OF THE NATION'S COASTAL WATERS

    EPA Science Inventory

    EPA's Office of Water submits a National Water Quality Inventory every 2 years to Congress prepared under Section 305(b) of the Clean Water Act. The estimate of total estuarine area increased by 49,000 square miles in 1998 primarily due to the addition of Alaska. This resulted in...

  3. Electronic atlas of the Russian Arctic coastal zone: natural conditions and technogenic risk

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Drozdov, D. S.; Rivkin, F. M.; Rachold, V.

    2004-12-01

    The Arctic coast is characterized by a diversity of geological-geomorphological structures and geocryological conditions, which are expected to respond differently to changes in the natural environment and in anthropogenic impacts. At present, oil fields are prospected and developed and permanent and temporary ports are constructed in the Arctic regions of Russia. Thus, profound understanding of the processes involved and measures of nature conservation for the coastal zone of the Arctic Seas are required. One of the main field of Arctic coastal investigations and database formation of coastal conditions is the mapping of the coasts. This poster presents a set of digital maps including geology, quaternary sediments, landscapes, engineering-geology, vegetation, geocryology and a series of regional sources, which have been selected to characterize the Russian Arctic coast. The area covered in this work includes the 200-km-wide band along the entire Russian Arctic coast from the Norwegian boundary in the west to the Bering Strait in the east. Methods included the collection of the majority of available hard copies of cartographic material and their digital formats and the transformation of these sources into a uniform digital graphic format. The atlas consists of environmental maps and maps of engineering-geological zoning. The set of environmental maps includes geology, quaternary sediments, landscapes and vegetation of the Russian Arctic coast at a scale of 1:4000000. The set of engineering-geocryological maps includes a map of engineering-geocryological zoning of the Russian Arctic coast, a map of the intensity of destructive coastal process and a map of industrial impact risk assessment ( 1:8000000 scale). Detailed mapping has been performed for key sites (at a scale of 1:100000) in order to enable more precise estimates of the intensity of destructive coastal process and industrial impact. The engineering-geocryological map of the Russian Arctic coast was

  4. Species Composition, Tree Quality and Wood Properties of Southern Pine Stands Under Ecosystemm Management on National Forests in the Peidmont and Coastal Plain

    Treesearch

    Alexander Clark; James W. McMinn

    1999-01-01

    National Forests in the United States are under sustainable ecosystem management to conserve biodiversity, achieve sustainable conditions and improve the balance among forest values. This paper reports on a study established to identify the implications of ecosystem management strategies on natural stands in the Piedmont and Coastal Plain. The impact of partial...

  5. Normal and Extreme Wind Conditions for Power at Coastal Locations in China

    PubMed Central

    Gao, Meng; Ning, Jicai; Wu, Xiaoqing

    2015-01-01

    In this paper, the normal and extreme wind conditions for power at 12 coastal locations along China’s coastline were investigated. For this purpose, the daily meteorological data measured at the standard 10-m height above ground for periods of 40–62 years are statistically analyzed. The East Asian Monsoon that affects almost China’s entire coastal region is considered as the leading factor determining wind energy resources. For most stations, the mean wind speed is higher in winter and lower in summer. Meanwhile, the wind direction analysis indicates that the prevalent winds in summer are southerly, while those in winter are northerly. The air densities at different coastal locations differ significantly, resulting in the difference in wind power density. The Weibull and lognormal distributions are applied to fit the yearly wind speeds. The lognormal distribution performs better than the Weibull distribution at 8 coastal stations according to two judgement criteria, the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test and absolute error (AE). Regarding the annual maximum extreme wind speed, the generalized extreme value (GEV) distribution performs better than the commonly-used Gumbel distribution. At these southeastern coastal locations, strong winds usually occur in typhoon season. These 4 coastal provinces, that is, Guangdong, Fujian, Hainan, and Zhejiang, which have abundant wind resources, are also prone to typhoon disasters. PMID:26313256

  6. Evaluating Approaches to a Coupled Model for Arctic Coastal Erosion, Infrastructure Risk, and Associated Coastal Hazards

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Frederick, J. M.; Bull, D. L.; Jones, C.; Roberts, J.; Thomas, M. A.

    2016-12-01

    Arctic coastlines are receding at accelerated rates, putting existing and future activities in the developing coastal Arctic environment at extreme risk. For example, at Oliktok Long Range Radar Site, erosion that was not expected until 2040 was reached as of 2014 (Alaska Public Media). As the Arctic Ocean becomes increasingly ice-free, rates of coastal erosion will likely continue to increase as (a) increased ice-free waters generate larger waves, (b) sea levels rise, and (c) coastal permafrost soils warm and lose strength/cohesion. Due to the complex and rapidly varying nature of the Arctic region, little is known about the increasing waves, changing circulation, permafrost soil degradation, and the response of the coastline to changes in these combined conditions. However, as scientific focus has been shifting towards the polar regions, Arctic science is rapidly advancing, increasing our understanding of complex Arctic processes. Our present understanding allows us to begin to develop and evaluate the coupled models necessary for the prediction of coastal erosion in support of Arctic risk assessments. What are the best steps towards the development of a coupled model for Arctic coastal erosion? This work focuses on our current understanding of Arctic conditions and identifying the tools and methods required to develop an integrated framework capable of accurately predicting Arctic coastline erosion and assessing coastal risk and hazards. We will present a summary of the state-of-the-science, and identify existing tools and methods required to develop an integrated diagnostic and monitoring framework capable of accurately predicting and assessing Arctic coastline erosion, infrastructure risk, and coastal hazards. The summary will describe the key coastal processes to simulate, appropriate models to use, effective methods to couple existing models, and identify gaps in knowledge that require further attention to make progress in our understanding of Arctic coastal

  7. The Arctic Coastal Erosion Problem

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Frederick, Jennifer M.; Thomas, Matthew Anthony; Bull, Diana L.

    Permafrost-dominated coastlines in the Arctic are rapidly disappearing. Arctic coastal erosion rates in the United States have doubled since the middle of the twentieth century and appear to be accelerating. Positive erosion trends have been observed for highly-variable geomorphic conditions across the entire Arctic, suggesting a major (human-timescale) shift in coastal landscape evolution. Unfortunately, irreversible coastal land loss in this region poses a threat to native, industrial, scientific, and military communities. The Arctic coastline is vast, spanning more than 100,000 km across eight nations, ten percent of which is overseen by the United States. Much of area is inaccessible bymore » all-season roads. People and infrastructure, therefore, are commonly located near the coast. The impact of the Arctic coastal erosion problem is widespread. Homes are being lost. Residents are being dispersed and their villages relocated. Shoreline fuel storage and delivery systems are at greater risk. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) operate research facilities along some of the most rapidly eroding sections of coast in the world. The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) is struggling to fortify coastal radar sites, operated to ensure national sovereignty in the air, against the erosion problem. Rapid alterations to the Arctic coastline are facilitated by oceanographic and geomorphic perturbations associated with climate change. Sea ice extent is declining, sea level is rising, sea water temperature is increasing, and permafrost state is changing. The polar orientation of the Arctic exacerbates the magnitude and rate of the environmental forcings that facilitate coastal land area loss. The fundamental mechanics of these processes are understood; their non-linear combination poses an extreme hazard. Tools to accurately predict Arctic coastal erosion do not exist. To obtain an accurate predictive model, a coupling of the influences of

  8. National Aquatic Resource Surveys

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    EPA reports information on the condition of our nation's waters using probabilistic surveys. The National Aquatic Resource Surveys assess the status of and changes in water quality of the nation's coastal waters, lakes, rivers and streams, and wetlands.

  9. Summary of wildlife-related research on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, 2002–17

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Pearce, John M.; Flint, Paul L.; Atwood, Todd C.; Douglas, David C.; Adams, Layne G.; Johnson, Heather E.; Arthur, Stephen M.; Latty, Christopher J.

    2018-01-23

    We summarize recent (2002–17) publicly available information from studies within the 1002 Area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as well as terrestrial and coastal ecosystems elsewhere on the Arctic Coastal Plain that are relevant to the 1002 Area. This report provides an update on earlier research summaries on caribou (Rangifer tarandus), forage quality and quantity, polar bears (Ursus maritimus), muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus), and snow geese (Chen caerulescens). We also provide information on new research related to climate, migratory birds, permafrost, coastal erosion, coastal lagoons, fish, water resources, and potential effects of industrial disturbance on wildlife. From this literature review, we noted evidence for change in the status of some wildlife and their habitats, and the lack of change for others. In the 1002 Area, muskox numbers have decreased and the Porcupine Caribou Herd has exhibited variation in use of the area during the calving season. Polar bears are now more common on shore in summer and fall because of declines in sea ice in the Beaufort Sea. In a study spanning 25 years, there were no significant changes in vegetation quality and quantity, soil conditions, or permafrost thaw in the coastal plain of the 1002 Area. Based on studies from the central Arctic Coastal Plain, there are persistent and emerging uncertainties about the long-term effects of energy development for caribou. In contrast, recent studies that examined direct and indirect effects of industrial activities and infrastructure on birds in the central Arctic Coastal Plain found little effect for the species and disturbances examined, except for the possibility of increased predator activity near human developments.

  10. 75 FR 9158 - Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act Provisions; Coastal Sharks Fishery

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-03-01

    ... Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act Provisions; Coastal Sharks Fishery AGENCY: National Marine... Commission's Interstate Fishery Management Plan (ISFMP) for Coastal Sharks. Subsequently, the Commission...-compliance review under the provisions of the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act (Atlantic...

  11. Development and Validation of Rapid Assessment Indices of Condition for Coastal for Coastal Wetlands in Southern New England, USA

    EPA Science Inventory

    Vegetation, soils, on-site disturbances, and watershed land use and land cover were assessed at 81 coastal wetland sites using the New England Rapid Asssessment Method (NERAM). Condition indices (CIs) were derived from various combinations of the multi-dimensional data using pri...

  12. 75 FR 44938 - Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act Provisions; Atlantic Coastal Shark Fishery

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-07-30

    ... Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act Provisions; Atlantic Coastal Shark Fishery AGENCY: National... moratorium on fishing for Atlantic coastal sharks in the State waters of New Jersey. NMFS canceled the moratorium, as required by the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act (Atlantic Coastal Act...

  13. Using Climate Change Information in Large Scale Coastal Planning: Louisiana's 2017 Coastal Master Plan

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Reed, D.

    2017-12-01

    The Louisiana coast has suffered severe land loss in recent decades as human activities have exacerbated the effects of natural stressors leading to catastrophic land loss and increased flood threats to coastal communities. Planning for the future requires a recognition of climate change but also leads to the challenge of understanding how different plausible future conditions influence the outcomes of restoration and protection actions. In coastal Louisiana, the $50 billion Coastal master Plan is legislatively required to be revisited every 5 years in order to ensure that plans for the future continue to be based on the best available, but constantly evolving, scientific information. For the 2017 iteration of the Coastal Master Plan, identification of the environmental scenarios to be explored began in 2014 and included both professional judgment regarding the most important drivers of future change, as well as climate change information derived during the National Climate Assessment. The number of scenarios to be explored was limited by both available resources and the need to make the findings accessible to stakeholders and policy makers. Plausible ranges were identified for key drivers of coastal landscape change, including climatic factors such as eustatic sea-level, precipitation and evapotranspiration. Sensitivity analysis was conducted to explore how the coastal landscape changed in response to combinations of values, allowed agency personnel to select three scenarios against which to test the effectiveness of different restoration and protection actions. The 2017 Coastal Master Plan was then developed by exploring the response of different actions to the scenarios, and how project costs also varied depending on future conditions. Such consideration of climate change in coastal planning at the state scale is facilitated by the availability of scientifically valid information on climate change, that has already been reviewed and sourced.

  14. Topobathymetric elevation model development using a new methodology: Coastal National Elevation Database

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Danielson, Jeffrey J.; Poppenga, Sandra K.; Brock, John C.; Evans, Gayla A.; Tyler, Dean; Gesch, Dean B.; Thatcher, Cindy A.; Barras, John

    2016-01-01

    During the coming decades, coastlines will respond to widely predicted sea-level rise, storm surge, and coastalinundation flooding from disastrous events. Because physical processes in coastal environments are controlled by the geomorphology of over-the-land topography and underwater bathymetry, many applications of geospatial data in coastal environments require detailed knowledge of the near-shore topography and bathymetry. In this paper, an updated methodology used by the U.S. Geological Survey Coastal National Elevation Database (CoNED) Applications Project is presented for developing coastal topobathymetric elevation models (TBDEMs) from multiple topographic data sources with adjacent intertidal topobathymetric and offshore bathymetric sources to generate seamlessly integrated TBDEMs. This repeatable, updatable, and logically consistent methodology assimilates topographic data (land elevation) and bathymetry (water depth) into a seamless coastal elevation model. Within the overarching framework, vertical datum transformations are standardized in a workflow that interweaves spatially consistent interpolation (gridding) techniques with a land/water boundary mask delineation approach. Output gridded raster TBDEMs are stacked into a file storage system of mosaic datasets within an Esri ArcGIS geodatabase for efficient updating while maintaining current and updated spatially referenced metadata. Topobathymetric data provide a required seamless elevation product for several science application studies, such as shoreline delineation, coastal inundation mapping, sediment-transport, sea-level rise, storm surge models, and tsunami impact assessment. These detailed coastal elevation data are critical to depict regions prone to climate change impacts and are essential to planners and managers responsible for mitigating the associated risks and costs to both human communities and ecosystems. The CoNED methodology approach has been used to construct integrated TBDEM models

  15. Coastal Geographic Structures in Coastal-Marine Environmental Management

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Baklanov, P. Ya.; Ganzei, K. S.; Ermoshin, V. V.

    2018-01-01

    It has been proposed to distinguish the coastal geographic structures consisting of a spatial combination of three interconnected and mutually conditioned parts (coastal-territorial, coastal, coastal-marine), which are interlinked with each other by the cumulative effect of real-energy flows. Distinguishing specific resource features of the coastal structures, by which they play a connecting role in the complex coastalmarine management, has been considered. The main integral resource feature of the coastal structures is their connecting functions, which form transitional parts mutually connecting the coastal-territorial and coastalmarine environmental management.

  16. THE NATIONAL COAST ASSESSMENT : EPA TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER TO STRATEGIC PARTNERS

    EPA Science Inventory

    The National Coastal Assessment (NCA) is a large-scale, comprehensive environmental monitoring program designed to characterize the ecological condition of the Nation's coastal resources (estuaries and near shore waters). A key to the success of the program is the development of ...

  17. Condition of Tidal Wetlands of Washington, Oregon and California - 2002

    EPA Science Inventory

    The National Coastal Assessment (NCA) of US EPA conducted the first probability based assessment of the condition of estuarine intertidal wetland resources of the West Coast of the U.S. in 2002. The study results constitute a baseline estimate of condition of coastal resources t...

  18. National Coastal Geology Program: a plan of geologic research on coastal erosion, coastal wetlands, polluted sediments, and coastal hard-mineral resources

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    ,

    1990-01-01

    More than 50 percent of the U.S. population currently live within 50 miles of an ocean, Great Lake, or major estuary. According to forecasts, the concentration of people along our coastlines will continue to increase into the 21st century. In addition to residential and commercial buildings and facilities worth tens of billions of dollars, the coasts and associated wetlands are natural resources of tremendous value, with estimates in excess of $13 billion per year for commercial and recreational fisheries alone. Human activities and natural processes are stressing the coastal environment. * Each of the coastal states and island territories is suffering problems related to coastal erosion. * Deterioration of wetlands is widespread and of great public concern. * Pollutants carried by rivers or runoff are discharged directly into coastal waters and accumulate in the sediments on the sea floor, in some areas causing damage to living resources and presenting a threat to public health. * Onshore sources for hard-mineral resources, such as sand and gravel used for construction purposes, are becoming increasingly difficult to find. New sources are being sought in coastal waters. Coastal issues will become even more important into the next century if sea level is significantly influenced by climate change and other factors.

  19. Effects of future climate conditions on terrestrial export from coastal southern California

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Feng, D.; Zhao, Y.; Raoufi, R.; Beighley, E.; Melack, J. M.

    2015-12-01

    The Santa Barbara Coastal - Long Term Ecological Research Project (SBC-LTER) is focused on investigating the relative importance of land and ocean processes in structuring giant kelp forest ecosystems. Understanding how current and future climate conditions influence terrestrial export is a central theme for the project. Here we combine the Hillslope River Routing (HRR) model and daily precipitation and temperature downscaled using statistical downscaling based on localized constructed Analogs (LOCA) to estimate recent streamflow dynamics (2000 to 2014) and future conditions (2015 to 2100). The HRR model covers the SBC-LTER watersheds from just west of the Ventura River to Point Conception; a land area of roughly 800 km2 with 179 watersheds ranging from 0.1 to 123 km2. The downscaled climate conditions have a spatial resolution of 6 km by 6 km. Here, we use the Penman-Monteith method with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) limited climate data approximations and land surface conditions (albedo, leaf area index, land cover) measured from NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra and Aqua satellites to estimate potential evapotranspiration (PET). The HRR model is calibrated for the period 2000 to 2014 using USGS and LTER streamflow. An automated calibration technique is used. For future climate scenarios, we use mean 8-day land cover conditions. Future streamflow, ET and soil moisture statistics are presented and based on downscaled P and T from ten climate model projections from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5).

  20. The need for sustained and integrated high-resolution mapping of dynamic coastal environments

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Stockdon, Hilary F.; Lillycrop, Jeff W.; Howd, Peter A.; Wozencraft, Jennifer M.

    2007-01-01

    The evolution of the United States' coastal zone response to both human activities and natural processes is dynamic. Coastal resource and population protection requires understanding, in detail, the processes needed for change as well as the physical setting. Sustained coastal area mapping allows change to be documented and baseline conditions to be established, as well as future behavior to be predicted in conjunction with physical process models. Hyperspectral imagers and airborne lidars, as well as other recent mapping technology advances, allow rapid national scale land use information and high-resolution elevation data collection. Coastal hazard risk evaluation has critical dependence on these rich data sets. A fundamental storm surge model parameter in predicting flooding location, for example, is coastal elevation data, and a foundation in identifying the most vulnerable populations and resources is land use maps. A wealth of information for physical change process study, coastal resource and community management and protection, and coastal area hazard vulnerability determination, is available in a comprehensive national coastal mapping plan designed to take advantage of recent mapping technology progress and data distribution, management, and collection.

  1. 75 FR 22103 - Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act Provisions; Atlantic Coastal Shark Fishery

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-04-27

    ... Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act Provisions; Atlantic Coastal Shark Fishery AGENCY: National... Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act (Act), NMFS, upon a delegation of authority from the... Plan for Atlantic Coastal Sharks (Plan) and that the measures New Jersey has failed to implement and...

  2. An Integrated Approach to Assess Broad-Scale Condition of Coastal Wetlands – The Gulf of Mexico Coastal Wetlands Pilot Survey.

    EPA Science Inventory

    The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) initiated a two-year regional pilot survey in 2007 to develop, test, and validate tools and approaches to assess the condition of northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM) coastal wetlands. Sampling sites were select...

  3. Rethinking the role of edaphic condition in halophyte vegetation degradation on salt marshes due to coastal defense structure

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xie, Tian; Cui, Baoshan; Bai, Junhong; Li, Shanze; Zhang, Shuyan

    2018-02-01

    Determining how human disturbance affects plant community persistence and species conservation is one of the most pressing ecological challenges. The large-scale disturbance form defense structures usually have a long-term and potential effect on phytocommunity in coastal saltmarshes. Coastal defense structures usually remove the effect of tidal wave on tidal salt marshes. As a consequence, edaphic factors such as the salinity and moisture contents are disturbed by tidal action blocking. However, few previous studies have explicitly addressed the response of halophyte species persistence and dynamics to the changing edaphic conditions. The understanding of the response of species composition in seed banks and aboveground vegetation to the stress is important to identify ecological effect of coastal defense structures and provide usefully insight into restoration. Here, we conducted a field study to distinguish the density, species composition and relationships of seed bank with aboveground vegetation between tidal flat wetlands with and without coastal defense structures. We also addressed the role of edaphic condition in vegetation degradation caused by coastal defense structures in combination with field monitor and greenhouse experiments. Our results showed the density of the seed bank and aboveground vegetation in the tidal flat without coastal defense structures was significantly lower than the surrounded flat with coastal defense structures. A total of 14 species were founded in the surrounded flat seed bank and 11 species in the tidal flat, but three species were only recorded in aboveground vegetation of the tidal flat which was much lower than 24 aboveground species in the surrounded flat. The absent of species in aboveground vegetation contributed to low germination rate which depend on the edaphic condition. The germination of seeds in the seed bank were inhabited by high soil salinity in the tidal flat and low soil moisture in the surrounded flat. Our

  4. Development and Validation of Rapid Assessment Indices for Condition of Coastal Wetlands in Southern New England USA

    EPA Science Inventory

    The goals of this study were to develop and validate a Rapid Assessment Method (RAM) for assessing the condition of coastal wetlands in New England, USA. Eighty-one coastal wetland sites were assessed; nested within these were ten reference sites which were previously assessed us...

  5. National Wetland Condition Assessment

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    The NWCA is a collaborative, statistical survey of the nation's wetlands. It is one of four national surveys that EPA and its partners conduct to assess the condition and health of the nation's water resources.

  6. Using National Coastal Assessment Data to Model Estuarine Water Quality at Large Spatial Scales

    EPA Science Inventory

    Background/Question/MethodThe water quality of the Nation’s estuaries is attracting increasing scrutiny in light of burgeoning coastal population growth and enhanced delivery of nutrients via riverine flux. The USEPA has evaluated water quality in US estuaries in the Nation...

  7. Positive responses of coastal dune plants to soil conditioning by the invasive Lupinus nootkatensis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hanslin, Hans Martin; Kollmann, Johannes

    2016-11-01

    Invasive nitrogen-fixing plants drive vegetation dynamics and may cause irreversible changes in nutrient-limited ecosystems through increased soil resources. We studied how soil conditioning by the invasive alien Lupinus nootkatensis affected the seedling growth of co-occurring native plant species in coastal dunes, and whether responses to lupin-conditioned soil could be explained by fertilisation effects interacting with specific ecological strategies of the native dune species. Seedling performance of dune species was compared in a greenhouse experiment using field-collected soil from within or outside coastal lupin stands. In associated experiments, we quantified the response to nutrient supply of each species and tested how addition of specific nutrients affected growth of the native grass Festuca arundinacea in control and lupin-conditioned soil. We found that lupin-conditioned soil increased seedling biomass in 30 out of 32 native species; the conditioned soil also had a positive effect on seedling biomass of the invasive lupin itself. Increased phosphorus mobilisation by lupins was the major factor driving these positive seedling responses, based both on growth responses to addition of specific elements and analyses of plant available soil nutrients. There were large differences in growth responses to lupin-conditioned soil among species, but they were unrelated to selected autecological indicators or plant strategies. We conclude that Lupinus nootkatensis removes the phosphorus limitation for growth of native plants in coastal dunes, and that it increases cycling of other nutrients, promoting the growth of its own seedlings and a wide range of dune species. Finally, our study indicates that there are no negative soil legacies that prevent re-establishment of native plant species after removal of lupins.

  8. National Wetland Condition Assessment 2011: A ...

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    The National Wetland Condition Assessment 2011: A Collaborative Survey presents the results of an unprecedented assessment of the nation’s wetlands. This report is part of the National Aquatic Resource Surveys, a series of statistically based surveys designed to provide the public and decision makers with nationally consistent and representative information on the condition of all the nation's waters. The National Wetland Condition report provides information on the biological condition of the nation’s wetlands and key stressors that affect them.

  9. National Assessment of Historical Shoreline Change: A Pilot Study of Historical Coastal Bluff Retreat in the Great Lakes, Erie, Pennsylvania

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Hapke, Cheryl J.; Malone, Shamus; Kratzmann, Meredith G.

    2009-01-01

    Coastal bluff retreat is a chronic problem along many high-relief coastlines in the United States. As coastal populations continue to grow and community infrastructures are threatened by erosion, there is increased demand for accurate information regard-ing trends and rates of bluff retreat. There is also a need for a comprehensive analysis that is consistent from one coastal region to another. To address these national needs, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), as part of the National Assessment of Coastal Change Hazards Project, conducted a pilot study of bluff retreat along the Lake Erie, Pa., coastline to assess the feasibility of undertaking a larger, multi-state analysis in the Great Lakes region. This report provides an overview of the pilot-study location and bluff geomorphology, the data sources and methodology, results of the analysis, and a discussion of the feasibility of undertaking a similar analysis along eroding bluffs in other Great Lakes states. This pilot study is part of an ongoing effort by the USGS to provide a comprehensive analysis of historical shoreline change and cliff and bluff retreat along open-ocean coastlines of the conterminous United States and parts of Hawaii, Alaska, and the Great Lakes. One purpose of the work is to develop standard, repeatable methods for mapping and analyzing coastal change so that systematic and consistent periodic updates of coastal erosion can be made nationally. Bluff-retreat evaluations are conducted by comparing the location of a historical bluff edge digitized from aerial photographs with those of recent bluff edges interpreted from both aerial photographs and lidar topographic surveys. The historical bluff edge is from 1938, whereas the more recent bluff edges are from 1998 and 2006 lidar data. Long-term (68-year) rates of retreat are calculated using the available bluff-edge data. The rates of retreat presented in this report represent conditions from the 1930s to 1998/2006, and are not intended for

  10. The socio-economic significance of the Turkish coastal environment for sustainable development.

    PubMed

    Kuleli, Tuncay

    2015-05-01

    The objective of this study was to estimate the contribution from the coastal resources in the coastal region to the national economy for sustainable development. There was no separate data base for the coastal zone so that the contribution from the coastal resources in the coastal region to the national economy was not evaluated. In estimating the significance of Turkish coastal cities, indirect methods and the geographical information system were used. In conclusion, it was found that 61.09% of the total national gross domestic product and 50.75% of the national agricultural, 90.98% of the national fisheries, 68.19% of the national tourism and 71.82% of the national industrial gross domestic product came from the coastal zone. It was determined that while coastal cities of Turkey had 28.23% of the national surface area, the coastal district had 12.96%; in other words, 21.5 million (28.04%) of the national population lived in 101.5 thousand km(2) (12.96%) of the national surface area. Approximately 44% of the national gross domestic product comes from the top ten coastal cities. According to the contribution ratio to the national economy of each coastal city, these low-lying coastal cities have about $16 billion risk value. An analysis showed that the coastal zone is very important for the national economy of Turkey and also the pressure on the coastal zone is very high. At a time of increasing pressures on coastal resources of Turkey, the decision-makers need the most up-to-date information on the full range of values these resources provide in order to make decisions that best reflect the public interest.

  11. Using science to strengthen our Nation's resilience to tomorrow's challenges: understanding and preparing for coastal impacts

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Simmons, Dale L.; Andersen, Matthew E.; Dean, Teresa A.; Focazio, Michael J.; Fulton, John W.; Haines, John W.; Mason, Jr., Robert R.; Tihansky, Ann B.; Young, John A.

    2014-01-01

    Hurricane Sandy caused unprecedented damage across some of the most densely populated coastal areas of the northeastern United States. The costly, landscape-altering destruction left in the wake of this storm is a stark reminder of our Nation’s need to become more resilient as we inevitably face future coastal hazards. As our Nation recovers from this devastating natural disaster, it is clear that accurate scientific information is essential as we seek to identify and develop strategies to address trends in coastal landscape change and reduce our future vulnerability to major storm events. To address this need, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) received $43.2 million in supplemental appropriations from the Department of the Interior (DOI) to conduct the scientific research needed to guide response, recovery, and rebuilding activities and to develop effective strategies for protecting coastal communities and resources in the future. This fact sheet describes how the USGS is combining interdisciplinary science with state-of-the-art technologies to achieve a comprehensive understanding of coastal change caused by Hurricane Sandy. By assessing coastal change impacts through research and by developing tools that enhance our science capabilities, support coastal stakeholders, and facilitate effective decision making, we continue to build a greater understanding of the processes at work across our Nation’s complex coastal environment—from wetlands, estuaries, barrier islands, and nearshore marine areas to infrastructure and human communities. This improved understanding will increase our resilience as we prepare for future short-term, extreme events as well as long-term coastal change.

  12. Incorporation of Glucose under Anoxic Conditions by Bacterioplankton from Coastal North Sea Surface Waters

    PubMed Central

    Alonso, Cecilia; Pernthaler, Jakob

    2005-01-01

    It has been hypothesized that the potential for anaerobic metabolism might be a common feature of bacteria in coastal marine waters (L. Riemann and F. Azam, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 68: 5554-5562, 2002). Therefore, we investigated whether different phylogenetic groups of heterotrophic picoplankton from the coastal North Sea were able to take up a simple carbon source under anoxic conditions. Oxic and anoxic incubations (4 h) or enrichments (24 h) of seawater with radiolabeled glucose were performed in July and August 2003. Bacteria with incorporated substrate were identified by using a novel protocol in which we combined fluorescence in situ hybridization and microautoradiography of cells on membrane filters. Incorporation of glucose under oxic and anoxic conditions was found in α-Proteobacteria, γ-Proteobacteria, and the Cytophaga-Flavobacterium cluster of the Bacteroidetes at both times, but not in marine Euryarchaeota. In July, the majority of cells belonging to the α-proteobacterial Roseobacter clade showed tracer incorporation both in oxic incubations and in oxic and anoxic enrichments. In August, only a minority of the Roseobacter cells, but most bacteria affiliated with Vibrio spp., were able to incorporate the tracer under either condition. A preference for glucose uptake under anoxic conditions was observed for bacteria related to Alteromonas and the Pseudoalteromonas-Colwellia group. These genera are commonly considered to be strictly aerobic, but facultatively fermentative strains have been described. Our findings suggest that the ability to incorporate substrates anaerobically is widespread in pelagic marine bacteria belonging to different phylogenetic groups. Such bacteria may be abundant in fully aerated coastal marine surface waters. PMID:15811993

  13. 75 FR 43145 - Evaluation of State Coastal Management Programs and National Estuarine Research Reserves

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-07-23

    ..., 2010, at 6:30 p.m. at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center at Presque Isle, Room 112, 301 Peninsula Drive, Erie, Pennsylvania. ADDRESSES: Copies of the States' most recent performance reports, as well as OCRM's... North Inlet/Winyah Bay (South Carolina) National Estuarine Research Reserve and the Pennsylvania Coastal...

  14. 77 FR 8219 - Coastal Zone Management Program: Illinois

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-02-14

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Coastal Zone Management Program: Illinois AGENCY: Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM), National Oceanic and... of Decision (ROD) for Federal Approval of the Illinois Coastal Management Program (ICMP). SUMMARY...

  15. 76 FR 80342 - Coastal Zone Management Program: Illinois

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-12-23

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Coastal Zone Management Program: Illinois AGENCY: Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM), National Oceanic and... Environmental Impact Statement. SUMMARY: NOAA's Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM) announces...

  16. 50 CFR 84.21 - How do I apply for a National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... Wetlands Conservation Grant? 84.21 Section 84.21 Wildlife and Fisheries UNITED STATES FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR (CONTINUED) FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE-WILDLIFE SPORT FISH RESTORATION PROGRAM NATIONAL COASTAL WETLANDS CONSERVATION GRANT PROGRAM Applying for Grants § 84.21 How do I apply...

  17. Estimating Chlorophyll Conditions in Southern New England Coastal Waters from Hyperspectral Aircraft Remote Sensing

    EPA Science Inventory

    Chlorophyll a (chl a) is commonly measured in water quality monitoring programs for coastal and freshwater systems. The concentration of chl a, when evaluated with other condition indicators such as water clarity and dissolved oxygen concentrations, provides information on the en...

  18. Louisiana coastal ecosystem

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    ,

    2000-01-01

    Louisiana's coast and its degradation and restoration are major environmental issues being studied at the National Wetlands Research Center. Coastal ecosystems are vulnerable because of the tremendous amount of human activity that takes place along the coast. Information on ecological processes is essential to guide the development along the coast as well as to protect and restore wildlife habitat.Louisiana has about 40% of coastal wetlands in the lower 48 states; they support fish, waterfowl, and fur-bearing animals as well as unique cultures like that of the Acadians. The fish and wildlife resources of Louisiana's coast produce over $1 billion each year in revenues.But Louisiana has the highest coastal loss rate because of natural and human causes. Over the past three decades, Louisiana has lost as much as 35-40 mi2 (90-104 km2) of coastal wetlands a year.The National Wetlands Research Center is qualified to assess and monitor this ecosystem because of its proximity to the study area, a staff chosen for their expertise in the system, and a number of established partnerships with others who study the areas. The Center is often the lead group in partnerships with universities, other federal agencies, and private entities who study this ecosystem.Most of the Center's research and technology development performed for coastal wetlands are done at the Lafayette headquarters; some work is performed at the National Wetlands Research Center's project office in Baton Rouge, LA.

  19. CONDITION OF ESTUARIES OF CALIFORNIA FOR 1999: A STATISTICAL SUMMARY

    EPA Science Inventory

    As a part of the National Coastal Assessment (NCA), the Western Pilot Study under the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP) initiated a five year Coastal component in 1999. The objectives of the program were: to assess the condition of estuarine resources of Was...

  20. 50 CFR Appendix I to Part 37 - Legal Description of the Coastal Plain, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 9 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Legal Description of the Coastal Plain, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska I Appendix I to Part 37 Wildlife and Fisheries UNITED STATES FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR (CONTINUED) THE NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE SYSTEM...

  1. 50 CFR Appendix I to Part 37 - Legal Description of the Coastal Plain, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 8 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Legal Description of the Coastal Plain, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska I Appendix I to Part 37 Wildlife and Fisheries UNITED STATES FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR (CONTINUED) THE NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE SYSTEM...

  2. 50 CFR Appendix I to Part 37 - Legal Description of the Coastal Plain, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 9 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Legal Description of the Coastal Plain, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska I Appendix I to Part 37 Wildlife and Fisheries UNITED STATES FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR (CONTINUED) THE NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE SYSTEM...

  3. 50 CFR Appendix I to Part 37 - Legal Description of the Coastal Plain, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 9 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Legal Description of the Coastal Plain, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska I Appendix I to Part 37 Wildlife and Fisheries UNITED STATES FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR (CONTINUED) THE NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE SYSTEM...

  4. 50 CFR Appendix I to Part 37 - Legal Description of the Coastal Plain, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 6 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Legal Description of the Coastal Plain, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska I Appendix I to Part 37 Wildlife and Fisheries UNITED STATES FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR (CONTINUED) THE NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE SYSTEM...

  5. Status of the amphipod Diporeia ssp. in coastal waters of the Laurentian Great Lakes

    EPA Science Inventory

    Diporeia has historically been the dominant benthic macroinvertebrate in deeper waters of the Laurentian Great Lakes, and its abundance has been proposed as an indicator of ecological condition. In 2010, the USEPA incorporated the Great Lakes into the National Coastal Condition A...

  6. Nitrous Oxide Production and Fluxes from Coastal Sediments under Varying Environmental Conditions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ziebis, W.; Wankel, S. D.; de Beer, D.; Dentinger, J.; Buchwald, C.; Charoenpong, C.

    2014-12-01

    Although coastal zones represent important contributors to the increasing levels of atmospheric nitrous oxide (N2O), it is still unclear which role benthic processes play and whether marine sediments represent sinks or sources for N2O, since interactions among closely associated microbial groups lead to a high degree of variability. In addition, coastal areas are extremely dynamic regions, often exposed to increased nutrient loading and conditions of depleted oxygen. We investigated benthic N2O fluxes and how environmental conditions affect N2O production in different sediments at 2 different geographical locations (German Wadden Sea, a California coastal lagoon). At each location, a total of 32 sediment cores were taken in areas that differed in sediment type, organic content and pore-water nutrient concentrations, as well as in bioturbation activity. Parallel cores were incubated under in-situ conditions, low oxygen and increased nitrate levels for 10 days. Zones of N2O production and consumption were identified in intact cores by N2O microprofiles at the beginning and end of the experiments. In a collaborative effort to determine the dominant sources of N2O, samples were taken throughout the course of the experiments for the determination of the isotopic composition of N2O (as well as nitrate, nitrite and ammonium). Our results indicate that both, nitrate addition and low oxygen conditions in the overlying water, caused an increase of subsurface N2O production in most sediments, with a high variability between different sediment types. N2O production in the sediments was accompanied by N2O consumption, reducing the fluxes to the water column. In general, organic rich sediments showed the strongest response to environmental changes with increased production and efflux of N2O into the overlying water. Bioturbation activity added to the complexity of N2O dynamics by an increase in nitrification-denitrification processes, as well as enhanced pore-water transport

  7. National patterns in wetland water quality from the 2001 NWCA

    EPA Science Inventory

    Water quality (WQ) is central to understanding ecological condition of lakes, streams, and coastal waters but less often assessed in wetlands. The utility of national-scale wetland WQ data was examined in the 2011 National Wetland Condition Assessment, which covered 48 USA state...

  8. Natural Hazards and Research Needs in Coastal and Ocean Engineering, Summary and Recommendations to the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research,

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1984-11-01

    1,746 N. RAL HAZARDS AND RESEARCH NEEDS IN COASTAL AND OCEAN I ENEERING SUMMA..W NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION WA ;NG ON OC 1NAVE F AL NOV 84 FG02 N N...and Research Needs in Coastal and Ocean Engineering Summary and Recommendations to the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research A T...Recommendations to the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research by the Ad Hoc Committee for the Civil and Environmental Engineering

  9. EAARL Coastal Topography - Fire Island National Seashore 2007

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Nayegandhi, Amar; Brock, John C.; Wright, C. Wayne; Stevens, Sara; Yates, Xan; Bonisteel, Jamie M.

    2008-01-01

    These remotely sensed, geographically referenced elevation measurements of Lidar-derived first surface (FS) and bare earth (BE) topography were produced as a collaborative effort between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Florida Integrated Science Center (FISC), St. Petersburg, FL; the National Park Service (NPS), Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network, Kingston, RI; and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Wallops Flight Facility, VA. This project provides highly detailed and accurate datasets of Fire Island National Seashore in New York, acquired on April 29-30 and May 15-16, 2007. The datasets are made available for use as a management tool to research scientists and natural resource managers. An innovative airborne Lidar instrument originally developed at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, and known as the Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar (EAARL) was used during data acquisition. The EAARL system is a raster-scanning, waveform-resolving, green-wavelength (532-nanometer) Lidar designed to map near-shore bathymetry, topography, and vegetation structure simultaneously. The EAARL sensor suite includes the raster-scanning, water-penetrating full-waveform adaptive Lidar, a down-looking red-green-blue (RGB) digital camera, a high-resolution multi-spectral color infrared (CIR) camera, two precision dual-frequency kinematic carrier-phase GPS receivers and an integrated miniature digital inertial measurement unit, which provide for submeter georeferencing of each laser sample. The nominal EAARL platform is a twin-engine Cessna 310 aircraft, but the instrument may be deployed on a range of light aircraft. A single pilot, a Lidar operator, and a data analyst constitute the crew for most survey operations. This sensor has the potential to make significant contributions in measuring sub-aerial and submarine coastal topography within cross-environmental surveys. Elevation measurements were collected over the survey area using the EAARL system

  10. Coastal Hazards: Hurricanes, Tsunamis, Coastal Erosion.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vandas, Steve

    1998-01-01

    Details an ocean-based lesson and provides background information on the designation of 1998 as the "Year of the Ocean" by the United Nations. Contains activities on the poster insert that can help raise student awareness of coastal-zone hazards. (DDR)

  11. Coastal and Riverine Flood Forecast Model powered by ADCIRC

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Khalid, A.; Ferreira, C.

    2017-12-01

    Coastal flooding is becoming a major threat to increased population in the coastal areas. To protect coastal communities from tropical storms & hurricane damages, early warning systems are being developed. These systems have the capability of real time flood forecasting to identify hazardous coastal areas and aid coastal communities in rescue operations. State of the art hydrodynamic models forced by atmospheric forcing have given modelers the ability to forecast storm surge, water levels and currents. This helps to identify the areas threatened by intense storms. Study on Chesapeake Bay area has gained national importance because of its combined riverine and coastal phenomenon, which leads to greater uncertainty in flood predictions. This study presents an automated flood forecast system developed by following Advanced Circulation (ADCIRC) Surge Guidance System (ASGS) guidelines and tailored to take in riverine and coastal boundary forcing, thus includes all the hydrodynamic processes to forecast total water in the Potomac River. As studies on tidal and riverine flow interaction are very scarce in number, our forecast system would be a scientific tool to examine such area and fill the gaps with precise prediction for Potomac River. Real-time observations from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and field measurements have been used as model boundary feeding. The model performance has been validated by using major historical riverine and coastal flooding events. Hydrodynamic model ADCIRC produced promising predictions for flood inundation areas. As better forecasts can be achieved by using coupled models, this system is developed to take boundary conditions from Global WaveWatchIII for the research purposes. Wave and swell propagation will be fed through Global WavewatchIII model to take into account the effects of swells and currents. This automated forecast system is currently undergoing rigorous testing to include any missing parameters which

  12. Map of National Aquatic Resource Surveys Sampling Locations

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    This map displays all of the lakes, rivers and streams, wetlands, and coastal waters sampled by the National Aquatic Resource Surveys, a collaborative EPA program that assesses the condition of the nation's waters using statistical designs.

  13. Ecological Condition of Coastal Ocean Waters Along the U.S. Mid-Atlantic Bight: 2006

    EPA Science Inventory

    This report presents the results of an assessment of ecological condition in coastal-ocean waters of the U.S. mid-Atlantic Bight (MAB), along the U.S. continental shelf from Cape Cod, MA and Nantucket Shoals to the northeast to Cape Hatteras to the south, based on sampling conduc...

  14. Seismic hazard in the South Carolina coastal plain: 2002 update of the USGS national seismic hazard maps

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Cramer, C.H.; Mays, T.W.; ,

    2005-01-01

    The damaging 1886 moment magnitude ???7 Charleston, South Carolina earthquake is indicative of the moderately likely earthquake activity along this portion of the Atlantic Coast. A recurrence of such an earthquake today would have serious consequences for the nation. The national seismic hazard maps produced by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) provide a picture of the levels of seismic hazard across the nation based on the best and most current scientific information. The USGS national maps were updated in 2002 and will become part of the International Codes in 2006. In the past decade, improvements have occurred in the scientific understanding of the nature and character of earthquake activity and expected ground motions in the central and eastern U.S. The paper summarizes the new knowledge of expected earthquake locations, magnitudes, recurrence, and ground-motion decay with distance. New estimates of peak ground acceleration and 0.2 s and 1.0 s spectral acceleration are compared with those displayed in the 1996 national maps. The 2002 maps show increased seismic hazard in much of the coastal plain of South Carolina, but a decrease in long period (1 s and greater) hazard by up to 20% at distances of over 50 km from the Charleston earthquake zone. Although the national maps do not account for the effects of local or regional sediments, deep coastal-plain sediments can significally alter expected ground shaking, particularly at long period motions where it can be 100% higher than the national maps.

  15. EPA'S COASTAL 2000 MONITORING PROGRAM IN THE NORTHEAST U.S.: CONSISTENCY IN METHODS AND QUALITY ASSURANCE

    EPA Science Inventory

    As part of EPA's national Coastal 2000 effort to estimate the ecological condition of our Nation's estuarine resources, sampling of the estuaries of the northeast United States (Delaware to Maine) began in the summer of 2000. Samples and data were collected to determine water qua...

  16. A Multi-Hazard Vulnerability Assessment of Coastal Landmarks along Cape Hatteras National Seashore

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Flynn, M. J.

    2015-12-01

    Cape Hatteras National Seashore is located along the Outer Banks, a narrow string of barrier islands in eastern North Carolina. The seashore was established to preserve cultural and natural resources of national significance, yet these islands have shoreline rates of change that are predominately erosional, frequently experience storm surge inundation driven by tropical and extra-tropical storm events, and are highly vulnerable to sea level rise. The National Park Service staff are concerned about the vulnerability of historic structures located within the park, and recognized the utility of a coastal hazard risk assessment to assist park managers with long-term planning. They formed a cooperative agreement with researchers at East Carolina University to conduct the assessment, which primarily used GIS to evaluate the susceptibility of 27 historical structures to coastal erosion, storm surge, and sea-level rise. The Digital Shoreline Analysis System was used to calculate a linear regression rate of shoreline movement based on historical shorelines. Those rates were used to simulate the future position of the shoreline along transects. The SLOSH model output was down scaled to a DEM generated from the 2014 NC QL2 LiDAR collection to determine the extent and depth of inundation that would occur from storm events. Sea level rise was modeled for various scenarios referenced to existing MHHW, and also added to each SLOSH model output to determine the effect of a storm event under those sea level rise scenarios. Risk maps were developed to include not only areal coverage for existing structures and districts, but also identify potential areas of relocation or retreat in the long-term. In addition to evaluating vulnerability, timelines for potential impacts provided scenarios for National Park Service staff to research adaption and mitigation strategies.

  17. Reference conditions for old-growth pine forests in the Upper West Gulf Coastal Plain

    Treesearch

    Don C. Bragg

    2002-01-01

    Ecosystem restoration has become an important component of forest management. especially on public lands. However, determination of manageable reference conditions has lagged behind the interest. This paper presents a case study from pine-dominated forests in the Upper West Gulf Coastal Plain (UWGCP), with special emphasis on southern Arkansas. Decades of forest...

  18. CONDITION OF ESTUARIES OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES FOR 1999: A STATISTICAL SUMMARY

    EPA Science Inventory

    As a part of the National Coastal Assessment, the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP) initiated a five-year Western Coastal component in 1999. The objectives of the program were: to assess the condition of estuarine resources of Washington, Oregon and Californ...

  19. 76 FR 57022 - Coastal Zone Management Program: Illinois

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-09-15

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration Coastal Zone Management Program: Illinois AGENCY: Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM), National Oceanic and... Resource Management. The DEIS assesses the environmental impacts associated with approval of the Illinois...

  20. Best Practices in Marine and Coastal Science Education: Lessons Learned from a National Estuarine Research Reserve.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McDonnell, Janice D.

    The Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve (JC NERR) program has successfully capitalized on human fascination with the ocean by using the marine environment to develop interest and capability in science. The Institute of Marine & Coastal Sciences, as the managing agency of the JC NERR, makes its faculty, staff resources, and…

  1. Policies for Reducing Coastal Risk on the East and Gulf Coasts

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Glickson, D.; Johnson, S.

    2014-12-01

    Hurricane- and coastal storm-related economic losses have increased substantially over the past century, largely due to expanding population and development in susceptible coastal areas. Concurrent with this growth, the federal government has assumed an increasing proportion of the financial responsibility associated with U.S. coastal storms, which may discourage state and local governments from taking appropriate actions to reduce risk and enhance resilience. Strategies to manage coastal storm risks fall into two categories: reducing the probability of flooding or wave impact (such as seawalls, storm surge barriers, beach nourishment, dune building, restoration/expansion of oyster reefs, salt marshes, and mangroves) and reducing the number or vulnerability of people or structures (such as relocation, land-use planning, and elevating or floodproofing buildings). Over the past century, most coastal risk management programs have emphasized coastal armoring, while doing little to decrease development in harm's way. This National Research Council report calls for the development of a national vision for managing coastal risks that includes a long-term view, regional solutions, and recognition of all benefits. A national coastal risk assessment is needed to identify high priority areas. Benefit-cost analysis provides a reasonable framework to evaluate national investments in coastal risk reduction, if constrained by other important environmental, social, and life-safety factors. Extensive collaboration and additional policy changes will be necessary to move from a nation that is primarily reactive to coastal disasters to one that invests wisely in coastal risk reduction and builds resilience among coastal communities.

  2. Regional assessment of sediment contamination from marshes to the continental shelf: Results of the western component of the US EPA National Coastal Assessment

    EPA Science Inventory

    The US EPA National Coastal Assessment (NCA) program on the U.S. West Coast was designed as a pilot project to explore assessment of new components of coastal resources not previously incorporated in the NCA. The Western Regional component of the NCA program began with a two yea...

  3. National Water Quality Assessment Program; the Santee Basin and coastal drainage, North Carolina and South Carolina

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Hughes, W. Brian

    1994-01-01

    In 1991, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), U.S. Department of the Interior, began a National Water-Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA). The long-term goals of NAWQA are to describe the status of and trends in the quality of a large representative part of the Nation's surface- and ground-water resources and to identify all the major factors that affect the quality of these resources. In addressing these goals, NAWQA produces water-quality information that is useful to policymakers and managers at State, Federal, and local levels.NAWQA emphasis is on regional scale water-quality problems. The program does not diminish the need for smaller scale studies and monitoring designed and conducted by State, Federal, and local agencies. NAWQA, however, provides a large-scale framework for conducting many of these activities and an understanding about regional and national water-quality conditions that cannot be acquired from these other programs and studies.Studies of 60 hydrologic systems that include parts of most major river basins and aquifer systems are the building blocks of the national assessment. The areas of the 60 study units range in size from 1,000 to more than 60,000 square miles (mi2) and represent 60 to 70 percent of the Nation's water use and population served by public water supplies. Twenty investigations were begun in 1991, 20 investigations began in 1994, and 20 are planned to begin in 1997. The assessment activities in the Santee River Basin and Coastal Drainage began in 1994.

  4. Weather Condition dominates the Regional PM2.5 Pollutions in the Eastern Coastal Provinces of China during winter

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cai, Zhe; Jiang, Fei; Chen, Jingming; Jiang, Ziqiang

    2017-04-01

    China has been suffering from severe particulate matter (PM) pollution in recent years. Both pollution area and pollution levels are increasing gradually. The PM pollution episodes not only occur in the traditional developed areas like Yangtze River Delta (YRD) and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region, but also frequently happen in the whole eastern coastal provinces (ECPs) of China. Based on hourly PM2.5 concentrations during December 2013 February 2014 of 55 cities located in the ECPs, we investigated the spatial and temporal variabilities of PM2.5 concentrations and the corresponding meteorological conditions during winter. The results shown that basically the seasonal mean concentrations over the whole ECPs exceeded the China's national standard of 75 μg/m3, and the most polluted area with mean concentrations greater than 150 μg/m3 were located in the southwest of Hebei and the west of Shandong provinces. From December to February, there was a decrease trend for the PM2.5 pollution in most areas, especially in the YRD region, while the PM2.5 concentrations over north of Hebei province increased. The spatial distributions and monthly variations are strongly related to the weather conditions. Overall, severe PM pollution was corresponding to a stable weather condition, i.e., small Sea Level Pressure (SLP) gradient, lower Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) height and weaker wind fields. Statistics shown that the changes of mean PM2.5 concentrations over the ECPs region usually lagged behind the variations of PBL height and wind speeds about 12 18 hours. The variations of weather conditions could explain about 71% (R2) of the overall changes of PM2.5 concentrations in the ECPs region. This study gives a full insight into the PM2.5 pollution in the area of eastern coastal provinces of China during winter, which would be helpful to predict and control the PM2.5 pollution for this area in the future.

  5. Mapping Coastal Flood Zones for the National Flood Insurance Program

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Carlton, D.; Cook, C. L.; Weber, J.

    2004-12-01

    The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) was created by Congress in 1968, and significantly amended in 1973 to reduce loss of life and property caused by flooding, reduce disaster relief costs caused by flooding and make Federally backed flood insurance available to property owners. These goals were to be achieved by requiring building to be built to resist flood damages, guide construction away from flood hazards, and transferring the cost of flood losses from taxpayers to policyholders. Areas subject to flood hazards were defined as those areas that have a probability greater than 1 percent of being inundated in any given year. Currently over 19,000 communities participate in the NFIP, many of them coastal communities subject to flooding from tides, storm surge, waves, or tsunamis. The mapping of coastal hazard areas began in the early 1970's and has been evolving ever since. At first only high tides and storm surge were considered in determining the hazardous areas. Then, after significant wave caused storm damage to structures outside of the mapped hazard areas wave hazards were also considered. For many years FEMA has had Guidelines and Specifications for mapping coastal hazards for the East Coast and the Gulf Coast. In September of 2003 a study was begun to develop similar Guidelines and Specifications for the Pacific Coast. Draft Guidelines and Specifications will be delivered to FEMA by September 30, 2004. During the study tsunamis were identified as a potential source of a 1 percent flood event on the West Coast. To better understand the analytical results, and develop adequate techniques to estimate the magnitude of a tsunami with a 1 percent probability of being equaled or exceeded in any year, a pilot study has begun at Seaside Oregon. Both the onshore velocity and the resulting wave runup are critical functions for FEMA to understand and potentially map. The pilot study is a cooperative venture between NOAA and USGS that is partially funded by both

  6. EAARL coastal topography and imagery-Fire Island National Seashore, New York, 2009

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Vivekanandan, Saisudha; Klipp, E.S.; Nayegandhi, Amar; Bonisteel-Cormier, J.M.; Brock, J.C.; Wright, C.W.; Nagle, D.B.; Fredericks, Xan; Stevens, Sara

    2010-01-01

    These remotely sensed, geographically referenced color-infrared (CIR) imagery and elevation measurements of lidar-derived bare-earth (BE) and first-surface (FS) topography datasets were produced collaboratively by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, St. Petersburg, FL, and the National Park Service (NPS), Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network, Kingston, RI. This project provides highly detailed and accurate datasets of a portion of the Fire Island National Seashore in New York, acquired on July 9 and August 3, 2009. The datasets are made available for use as a management tool to research scientists and natural-resource managers. An innovative airborne lidar instrument originally developed at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, and known as the Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar (EAARL), was used during data acquisition. The EAARL system is a raster-scanning, waveform-resolving, green-wavelength (532-nanometer) lidar designed to map near-shore bathymetry, topography, and vegetation structure simultaneously. The EAARL sensor suite includes the raster-scanning, water-penetrating full-waveform adaptive lidar, a down-looking red-green-blue (RGB) digital camera, a high-resolution multispectral CIR camera, two precision dual-frequency kinematic carrier-phase GPS receivers, and an integrated miniature digital inertial measurement unit, which provide for sub-meter georeferencing of each laser sample. The nominal EAARL platform is a twin-engine Cessna 310 aircraft, but the instrument was deployed on a Pilatus PC-6. A single pilot, a lidar operator, and a data analyst constitute the crew for most survey operations. This sensor has the potential to make significant contributions in measuring sub-aerial and submarine coastal topography within cross-environmental surveys. Elevation measurements were collected over the survey area using the EAARL system, and the resulting data were then processed using the Airborne Lidar

  7. Coastal flood implications of 1.5°C, 2°C and 2.5°C global mean temperature stabilization targets for small island nations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rasmussen, D.; Buchanan, M. K.; Kopp, R. E.; Oppenheimer, M.

    2017-12-01

    Sea-level rise (SLR) is magnifying the frequency and severity of flooding in coastal regions. The rate and amount of global-mean SLR is a function of the trajectory of the global mean surface temperature (GMST). Therefore, temperature stabilization targets (e.g., 1.5°C or 2°C, as from the Paris Agreement) have important implications for regulating coastal flood risk. Quantifying the differences in the impact from SLR between these and other GMST stabilization targets is necessary for assessing the benefits and harms of mitigation goals. Low-lying small island nations are particularly vulnerable to inundation and coastal flooding from SLR because building protective and resilient infrastructure may not be physically or economically feasible. For small island nations, keeping GMST below a specified threshold may be the only option for maintaining habitability. Here, we assess differences in the return levels of coastal floods for small island nations between 1.5°C, 2.0°C, and 2.5°C GMST stabilization. We employ probabilistic, localized SLR projections and long-term hourly tide gauge records to construct estimates of local flood risk. We then estimate the number of small island nations' inhabitants at risk for permanent inundation under different GMST stabilization targets.

  8. 50 CFR 660.513 - Permit conditions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 13 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Permit conditions. 660.513 Section 660.513 Wildlife and Fisheries FISHERY CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (CONTINUED) FISHERIES OFF WEST COAST STATES Coastal Pelagics Fisheries...

  9. Coastal Louisiana Wetlands Restoration Monitoring with Global Fiducials Program (GFP) Imagery

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fisher, G.

    2012-12-01

    Coastal Louisiana has experienced dramatic landscape change over the past century due to human induced changes to the environment as well as an onslaught of major coastal storms. Coastal Louisiana loses on average 25-35 square miles of land per year. The USGS has partnered with the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) - National Marine Fisheries Service to provide cyclical remote sensing data for selected restoration sites along the coast of Louisiana. Three of these sites are actively maintained in the GFP archive - Atchafalaya River Delta, East Timbalier Island, and Pecan Island. These three sites coincide with NOAA restoration sites that have been monitored since early 2000. The GFP has provided a consistent set of remote sensing data that has greatly benefited the long-term monitoring of these restoration sites. Long-term monitoring of these sites includes both pre- and post-hurricane season data collection used to identify landscape change along the coast. The long-term monitoring also has helped to identify areas of success in the restoration projects, as well as areas that have continued to decline in spite of restoration efforts. These three sites are significant to the program because they provide a variety of coastal landscape types: an open water barrier island environment at East Timbalier Island; coastal wetlands at Pecan Island, which have experienced subsidence of the marsh and convergence to an open water environment; and a deltaic marsh environment at Atchafalaya River Delta. Long-term monitoring of these sites has provided a wealth of knowledge about the changes occurring, as well as a valuable tool for reliable shoreline measurements. Continued monitoring is necessary to accurately assess the condition of these areas as environmental conditions continue to shape the landscape.

  10. The National Wetland Condition Assessment

    EPA Science Inventory

    The first National Wetland Condition Assessment (NWCA) was conducted in 2011 by the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). Vegetation, algae, soil, water chemistry,and hydrologic data were collected at each of 1138 sites across the contiguous US. Ecological condition was ass...

  11. 32 CFR 643.33 - Policy-Coastal zone management.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 32 National Defense 4 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Policy-Coastal zone management. 643.33 Section... PROPERTY REAL ESTATE Policy § 643.33 Policy—Coastal zone management. (a) The Coastal Zone Management Act of... affecting the coastal zone of a state, to conduct or support those activities in a manner which is, to the...

  12. 32 CFR 643.33 - Policy-Coastal zone management.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 32 National Defense 4 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Policy-Coastal zone management. 643.33 Section... PROPERTY REAL ESTATE Policy § 643.33 Policy—Coastal zone management. (a) The Coastal Zone Management Act of... affecting the coastal zone of a state, to conduct or support those activities in a manner which is, to the...

  13. National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program, Long Island-New Jersey (LINJ) Coastal Drainages Study Unit : Scope of the Long Island-New Jersey Coastal Drainages Study-Unit investigation

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Ayers, Mark A.

    1994-01-01

    Scope of the Long Island-New Jersey Coastal Drainages Study-Unit InvestigationIn 1991, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began a National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program to document the status of and trends in quality of a large representative part of the Nation's water resources and to provide a sound scientific understanding of the primary natural and human factors that affect the quality of these resources. The program is designed to produce long-term, consistent water-quality information that will be useful to policymakers and managers at national, State, and local levels.Investigations of 60 hydrologic systems (study units), which include parts of most major river basins and aquifer systems in the United States, are the building blocks of NAWQA. A framework has been established to ensure nationwide consistency in the approach to each study--in field and laboratory methods, in water-quality measurements, and in the supporting data requirements. Twenty studies were started in 1991, 20 more have begun in 1994, and 20 are scheduled to begin in 1997.A major design feature of the program that will facilitate integration of water-quality information at national, regional, and local scales is coordination between the individual study-unit teams and the national synthesis effort at all stages of the investigations. Thus, results that relate to various topics addressed in the study-unit investigations will be integrated smoothly into NAWQA's national synthesis component. Teams have been developed to address the following topics of national importance: pesticides, nutrients, and volatile organic compounds. These teams are investigating the specific issues by means of comparative studies of a large set of hydrologic systems distributed over a wide range of environmental settings found in the 60 study-units.The information below summarizes the goals and scope of the NAWQA Program and the Long Island-New Jersey Coastal Drainages study, which began in 1994.

  14. EAARL Coastal Topography-Assateague Island National Seashore, 2008: Bare Earth

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Bonisteel, Jamie M.; Nayegandhi, Amar; Brock, John C.; Wright, C. Wayne; Stevens, Sara; Yates, Xan; Klipp, Emily S.

    2009-01-01

    These remotely sensed, geographically referenced elevation measurements of lidar-derived bare-earth (BE) topography were produced as a collaborative effort between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Florida Integrated Science Center (FISC), St. Petersburg, FL; the National Park Service (NPS), Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network, Kingston, RI; and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Wallops Flight Facility, VA. This project provides highly detailed and accurate datasets of the Assateague Island National Seashore in Maryland and Virginia, acquired March 24-25, 2008. The datasets are made available for use as a management tool to research scientists and natural-resource managers. An innovative airborne lidar instrument originally developed at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, and known as the Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar (EAARL) was used during data acquisition. The EAARL system is a raster-scanning, waveform-resolving, green-wavelength (532-nanometer) lidar designed to map near-shore bathymetry, topography, and vegetation structure simultaneously. The EAARL sensor suite includes the raster-scanning, water-penetrating full-waveform adaptive lidar, a down-looking red-green-blue (RGB) digital camera, a high-resolution multi-spectral color infrared (CIR) camera, two precision dual-frequency kinematic carrier-phase GPS receivers, and an integrated miniature digital inertial measurement unit, which provide for sub-meter georeferencing of each laser sample. The nominal EAARL platform is a twin-engine Cessna 310 aircraft, but the instrument may be deployed on a range of light aircraft. A single pilot, a lidar operator, and a data analyst constitute the crew for most survey operations. This sensor has the potential to make significant contributions in measuring sub-aerial and submarine coastal topography within cross-environmental surveys. Elevation measurements were collected over the survey area using the EAARL system, and the

  15. EAARL Coastal Topography-Assateague Island National Seashore, 2008: First Surface

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Bonisteel, Jamie M.; Nayegandhi, Amar; Brock, John C.; Wright, C. Wayne; Stevens, Sara; Yates, Xan; Klipp, Emily S.

    2009-01-01

    These remotely sensed, geographically referenced elevation measurements of lidar-derived first-surface (FS) topography were produced as a collaborative effort between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Florida Integrated Science Center (FISC), St. Petersburg, FL; the National Park Service (NPS), Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network, Kingston, RI; and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Wallops Flight Facility, VA. This project provides highly detailed and accurate datasets of the Assateague Island National Seashore in Maryland and Virginia, acquired March 24-25, 2008. The datasets are made available for use as a management tool to research scientists and natural-resource managers. An innovative airborne lidar instrument originally developed at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, and known as the Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar (EAARL), was used during data acquisition. The EAARL system is a raster-scanning, waveform-resolving, green-wavelength (532-nanometer) lidar designed to map near-shore bathymetry, topography, and vegetation structure simultaneously. The EAARL sensor suite includes the raster-scanning, water-penetrating full-waveform adaptive lidar, a down-looking red-green-blue (RGB) digital camera, a high-resolution multi-spectral color infrared (CIR) camera, two precision dual-frequency kinematic carrier-phase GPS receivers, and an integrated miniature digital inertial measurement unit, which provide for sub-meter georeferencing of each laser sample. The nominal EAARL platform is a twin-engine Cessna 310 aircraft, but the instrument may be deployed on a range of light aircraft. A single pilot, a lidar operator, and a data analyst constitute the crew for most survey operations. This sensor has the potential to make significant contributions in measuring sub-aerial and submarine coastal topography within cross-environmental surveys. Elevation measurements were collected over the survey area using the EAARL system, and the

  16. Extended Shared Socioeconomic Pathways for Coastal Impact Assessment: Spatial Coastal Population Scenarios

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Merkens, Jan-Ludolf; Reimann, Lena; Hinkel, Jochen; Vafeidis, Athanasios T.

    2016-04-01

    This work extends the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) by developing spatial projections of global coastal population distribution for the five basic SSPs. Based on a series of coastal migration drivers, which were identified from existing literature, we develop coastal narratives for the five basic SSPs (SSP1-5). These narratives account for differences in coastal versus inland population development in urban and rural areas. To spatially distribute population we use the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) national population and urbanisation projections and employ country-specific growth rates which differ for coastal and inland as well as for urban and rural regions. These rates are derived from spatial analysis of historical population data. We then adjust these rates for each SSP based on the coastal narratives. The resulting global population grids depict the projected distribution of coastal population for each SSP, until the end of the 21st century, at a spatial resolution of 30 arc seconds. These grids exhibit a three- to four-fold increase in coastal population compared to the basic SSPs. Across all SSPs, except for SSP3, coastal population peaks by the middle of the 21st century and declines afterwards. In SSP3 the coastal population grows continuously until 2100. Compared to the base year 2000 the coastal population increases considerably in all SSPs. The extended SSPs are intended to be utilised in Impact, Adaptation and Vulnerability (IAV) assessments as they allow for improved analysis of exposure to sea-level rise and coastal flooding under different physical and socioeconomic scenarios.

  17. Potential Oil Production from Coastal Plain of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Updated Assessment

    EIA Publications

    2000-01-01

    The Energy Information Administration (EIA) received a letter (dated March 10, 2000) from Senator Frank H. Murkowski as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources requesting an EIA Service Report with plausible scenarios for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) supply development consistent with the most recent U.S. Geological Survey resource assessments. This service report is prepared in response to the request of Senator Murkowski. It focuses on the ANWR coastal plain, a region currently restricted from exploration and development, and updates EIA's 1987 ANWR assessment.

  18. Hurricane Sandy science plan: coastal impact assessments

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Stronko, Jakob M.

    2013-01-01

    Hurricane Sandy devastated some of the most heavily populated eastern coastal areas of the Nation. With a storm surge peaking at more than 19 feet, the powerful landscape-altering destruction of Hurricane Sandy is a stark reminder of why the Nation must become more resilient to coastal hazards. In response to this natural disaster, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) received a total of $41.2 million in supplemental appropriations from the Department of the Interior (DOI) to support response, recovery, and rebuilding efforts. These funds support a science plan that will provide critical scientific information necessary to inform management decisions for recovery of coastal communities, and aid in preparation for future natural hazards. This science plan is designed to coordinate continuing USGS activities with stakeholders and other agencies to improve data collection and analysis that will guide recovery and restoration efforts. The science plan is split into five distinct themes: coastal topography and bathymetry, impacts to coastal beaches and barriers, impacts of storm surge, including disturbed estuarine and bay hydrology, impacts on environmental quality and persisting contaminant exposures, impacts to coastal ecosystems, habitats, and fish and wildlife. This fact sheet focuses assessing impacts to coastal beaches and barriers.

  19. Ecological consequences of changing hydrological conditions in wetland forests of coastal Louisiana

    Treesearch

    Richard F. Keim; Jim L. Chambers; Melinda S. Hughes; J. Andrew Nyman; Craig A. Miller; Blake J. Amos; William H. Conner; John W. Day; Stephen P. Faulkner; Emile S. Gardiner; Sammy L. King; Kenneth W. McLeod; Gary P. Shaffer

    2006-01-01

    Large-scale and localized alterations of processes affecting deltaic coastal wetlands have caused the complete loss of some coastal wetland forests and reduced the productivity and vigor of many areas in coastal Louisiana. This loss and degradation threatens ecosystem functions and the services they provide. This paper summarizes ecological relationships controlled by...

  20. Hurricane Ike: Observations and Analysis of Coastal Change

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Doran, Kara S.; Plant, Nathaniel G.; Stockdon, Hilary F.; Sallenger, Asbury H.; Serafin, Katherine A.

    2009-01-01

    Understanding storm-induced coastal change and forecasting these changes require knowledge of the physical processes associated with the storm and the geomorphology of the impacted coastline. The primary physical processes of interest are the wind field, storm surge, and wave climate. Not only does wind cause direct damage to structures along the coast, but it is ultimately responsible for much of the energy that is transferred to the ocean and expressed as storm surge, mean currents, and large waves. Waves and currents are the processes most responsible for moving sediments in the coastal zone during extreme storm events. Storm surge, the rise in water level due to the wind, barometric pressure, and other factors, allows both waves and currents to attack parts of the coast not normally exposed to those processes. Coastal geomorphology, including shapes of the shoreline, beaches, and dunes, is equally important to the coastal change observed during extreme storm events. Relevant geomorphic variables include sand dune elevation, beach width, shoreline position, sediment grain size, and foreshore beach slope. These variables, in addition to hydrodynamic processes, can be used to predict coastal vulnerability to storms The U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) National Assessment of Coastal Change Hazards Project (http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes), strives to provide hazard information to those interested in the Nation's coastlines, including residents of coastal areas, government agencies responsible for coastal management, and coastal researchers. As part of the National Assessment, observations were collected to measure coastal changes associated with Hurricane Ike, which made landfall near Galveston, Texas, on September 13, 2008. Methods of observation included aerial photography and airborne topographic surveys. This report documents these data-collection efforts and presents qualitative and quantitative descriptions of hurricane-induced changes to the shoreline

  1. An Integrated Set of Observations to Link Conditions of Great Lakes Nearshore Waters to their Coastal Watersheds

    EPA Science Inventory

    We combine three elements for a comprehensive characterization that links nearshore conditions with coastal watershed disturbance metrics. The three elements are: 1) a shore-parallel, high-resolution nearshore survey using continuous in situ towed sensors; 2) a spatially-balanc...

  2. Coastal terrorism: using tabletop discussions to enhance coastal community infrastructure through relationship building.

    PubMed

    Richter, Jane; Livet, Melanie; Stewart, Jill; Feigley, Charles E; Scott, Geoff; Richter, Donna L

    2005-11-01

    The unique vulnerability of the nation's ports to terrorist attacks and other major disasters requires development of specialized training approaches that integrate and connect critical stakeholders. In 2003, the University of South Carolina Center for Public Health Preparedness developed and held its first Coastal Terrorism workshop in conjunction with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Key federal, regional, state, and coastal agency leaders were invited to the 2-day event to explore, in a no-risk environment, the crucial role that public health agencies would play in a covert biological agent incident aboard a cruise ship. The incident began as a possible outbreak of a Norwalk-like viral agent; however, as the scenario unfolded, evidence of a terrorist plot emerged. This immediately shifted the scenario from a public health-dominated incident to one directed by law enforcement. Communication and coordination issues surfaced illustrating potential conflicts between disciplines and jurisdictions in terms of roles and responsibilities of responding agencies. The goals of the workshop were to facilitate communication and interagency networking among coastal stakeholders while assessing their training and research needs and increasing their familiarity with resources and protocols regarding a bioterrorist coastal event. Positive systems changes were observed.

  3. Community Participation Of Coastal Area On Management Of National Park, Karimunjawa Island

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wibowo, Bambang A.; Aditomo, Aryo B.; Prihantoko, Kukuh E.

    2018-02-01

    Karimunjawa island located in Jepara Regacy, Central Java has potential marine and fishing resources. Since 1998, this area has been selected as conservation for its natural resources. National park of Karimunjawa is managed by Balai Taman Nasional Karimunjawa (Karimunjawa National Park Beuroue). Some activities involved community have been done in order to get effective management. Community participation is an important component for success in coastal area management. The level of community/people awareness anual on natural resource conservation can increate sustainable resource. However, it is necesssary to provide tools in resource utilization for the community, so that their economic life can be secured. This study observe the level of community participation in the effort of Karimunjawa National Park management. Descriptive method and purposive random sampling were used to carry out the study parameters observed in this study include community participation related to level of knowladge and obedience on the rule of area zonation, an its impact to community. The result show that community knowledge was quite high (40%) with obedience (56%) on the rule of area zonation. Impact area zonation rule was less significant to community. The level of community participation to Karimunjawa National Park management was performed will low to medium level.

  4. EAARL coastal topography-Cape Hatteras National Seashore, North Carolina, post-Nor'Ida, 2009: first surface

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Bonisteel-Cormier, J.M.; Nayegandhi, Amar; Brock, J.C.; Wright, C.W.; Nagle, D.B.; Fredericks, Xan; Stevens, Sara

    2010-01-01

    These remotely sensed, geographically referenced elevation measurements of lidar-derived first-surface (FS) topography datasets were produced collaboratively by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, St. Petersburg, FL, and the National Park Service (NPS), Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network, Kingston, RI. This project provides highly detailed and accurate datasets of a portion of the National Park Service Southeast Coast Network's Cape Hatteras National Seashore in North Carolina, acquired post-Nor'Ida (November 2009 nor'easter) on November 27 and 29 and December 1, 2009. The datasets are made available for use as a management tool to research scientists and natural-resource managers. An innovative airborne lidar instrument originally developed at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, and known as the Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar (EAARL), was used during data acquisition. The EAARL system is a raster-scanning, waveform-resolving, green-wavelength (532-nanometer) lidar designed to map near-shore bathymetry, topography, and vegetation structure simultaneously. The EAARL sensor suite includes the raster-scanning, water-penetrating full-waveform adaptive lidar, a down-looking red-green-blue (RGB) digital camera, a high-resolution multispectral color-infrared (CIR) camera, two precision dual-frequency kinematic carrier-phase GPS receivers, and an integrated miniature digital inertial measurement unit, which provide for sub-meter georeferencing of each laser sample. The nominal EAARL platform is a twin-engine aircraft, but the instrument was deployed on a Pilatus PC-6. A single pilot, a lidar operator, and a data analyst constitute the crew for most survey operations. This sensor has the potential to make significant contributions in measuring sub-aerial and submarine coastal topography within cross-environmental surveys. Elevation measurements were collected over the survey area using the EAARL system, and

  5. Household perceptions of coastal hazards and climate change in the Central Philippines.

    PubMed

    Combest-Friedman, Chelsea; Christie, Patrick; Miles, Edward

    2012-12-15

    As a tropical archipelagic nation, the Philippines is particularly susceptible to coastal hazards, which are likely to be exacerbated by climate change. To improve coastal hazard management and adaptation planning, it is imperative that climate information be provided at relevant scales and that decision-makers understand the causes and nature of risk in their constituencies. Focusing on a municipality in the Central Philippines, this study examines local meteorological information and explores household perceptions of climate change and coastal hazard risk. First, meteorological data and local perceptions of changing climate conditions are assessed. Perceived changes in climate include an increase in rainfall and rainfall variability, an increase in intensity and frequency of storm events and sea level rise. Second, factors affecting climate change perceptions and perceived risk from coastal hazards are determined through statistical analysis. Factors tested include social status, economic standing, resource dependency and spatial location. Results indicate that perceived risk to coastal hazards is most affected by households' spatial location and resource dependency, rather than socio-economic conditions. However, important differences exist based on the type of hazard and nature of risk being measured. Resource dependency variables are more significant in determining perceived risk from coastal erosion and sea level rise than flood events. Spatial location is most significant in determining households' perceived risk to their household assets, but not perceived risk to their livelihood. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. EAARL Coastal Topography-Fire Island National Seashore, New York, Post-Nor'Ida, 2009

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Nayegandhi, Amar; Vivekanandan, Saisudha; Brock, J.C.; Wright, C.W.; Nagle, D.B.; Bonisteel-Cormier, J.M.; Fredericks, Xan; Stevens, Sara

    2010-01-01

    These remotely sensed, geographically referenced elevation measurements of lidar-derived bare-earth (BE) and first-surface (FS) topography datasets were produced collaboratively by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, St. Petersburg, FL, and the National Park Service (NPS), Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network, Kingston, RI. This project provides highly detailed and accurate datasets of a portion of the Fire Island National Seashore in New York, acquired post-Nor'Ida (November 2009 nor'easter) on December 4, 2009. The datasets are made available for use as a management tool to research scientists and natural-resource managers. An innovative airborne lidar instrument originally developed at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, and known as the Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar (EAARL), was used during data acquisition. The EAARL system is a raster-scanning, waveform-resolving, green-wavelength (532-nanometer) lidar designed to map near-shore bathymetry, topography, and vegetation structure simultaneously. The EAARL sensor suite includes the raster-scanning, water-penetrating full-waveform adaptive lidar, a down-looking red-green-blue (RGB) digital camera, a high-resolution multispectral color-infrared (CIR) camera, two precision dual-frequency kinematic carrier-phase GPS receivers, and an integrated miniature digital inertial measurement unit, which provide for sub-meter georeferencing of each laser sample. The nominal EAARL platform is a twin-engine aircraft, but the instrument was deployed on a Pilatus PC-6. A single pilot, a lidar operator, and a data analyst constitute the crew for most survey operations. This sensor has the potential to make significant contributions in measuring sub-aerial and submarine coastal topography within cross-environmental surveys. Elevation measurements were collected over the survey area using the EAARL system, and the resulting data were then processed using the Airborne

  7. Hurricane impacts on the coastal environment

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Sallenger, Abby

    1990-01-01

    In terms of insured losses, Hurricane Andrew is the most severe catastrophe in the Nation's history. Prior to the arrival of Andrew, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Louisiana Geological Survey (LGS), acquired an extensive body of information and data on the behavior and long-term erosion of Louisiana barrier islands. As a result, we have a clear understanding of pre-storm conditions in this area; Andrew provided an opportunity to learn in detail the impact of a very large storm on Louisiana coastal environment.

  8. Black and Brown Bear Activity at Selected Coastal Sites in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska: A Preliminary Assessment Using Noninvasive Procedures

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Partridge, Steve; Smith, Tom; Lewis, Tania

    2009-01-01

    A number of efforts in recent years have sought to predict bear activity in various habitats to minimize human disturbance and bear/human conflicts. Alaskan coastal areas provide important foraging areas for bears (Ursus americanus and U. arctos), particularly following den emergence when there may be no snow-free foraging alternatives. Additionally, coastal areas provide important food items for bears throughout the year. Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve (GLBA) in southeastern Alaska has extensive coastal habitats, and the National Park Service (NPS) has been long interested in learning more about the use of these coastal habitats by bears because these same habitats receive extensive human use by park visitors, especially kayaking recreationists. This study provides insight regarding the nature and intensity of bear activity at selected coastal sites within GLBA. We achieved a clearer understanding of bear/habitat relationships within GLBA by analyzing bear activity data collected with remote cameras, bear sign mapping, scat collections, and genetic analysis of bear hair. Although we could not quantify actual levels of bear activity at study sites, agreement among measures of activity (for example, sign counts, DNA analysis, and video record) lends support to our qualitative site assessments. This work suggests that habitat evaluation, bear sign mapping, and periodic scat counts can provide a useful index of bear activity for sites of interest.

  9. USING SPARROW MODEL RESULTS TO ASSIST WITH COASTAL WATER ASSESSMENT

    EPA Science Inventory

    The National Coastal Assessment (NCA) has proposed a national strategy for research and monitoring in support of coastal water assessment that involves three tiers: Problem Characterization (Tier 1), involving probabilistic surveys to document broad-scale response properties; D...

  10. 76 FR 37761 - Fisheries Off West Coast States; Coastal Pelagic Species Fisheries; Amendment 13 to the Coastal...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-06-28

    ...; Amendment 13 to the Coastal Pelagic Species Fishery Management Plan; Annual Catch Limits AGENCY: National... the Coastal Pelagic Species (CPS) Fishery Management Plan (FMP). This proposed rule will implement... in place to set and adjust fishery specifications and management measures and modifies this framework...

  11. The new Euskalmet coastal-maritime warning system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gaztelumendi, Santiago; Egaña, Joseba; Liria, Pedro; Gonzalez, Manuel; Aranda, José Antonio; Anitua, Pedro

    2016-06-01

    This work presents the main characteristics of the Basque Meteorology Agency (Euskalmet) maritime-coastal risk warning system, with special emphasis on the latest updates, including a clear differentiation on specific warning messages addressing sea conditions for navigation purposes in the first 2 nautical miles, and expected coastal impacts. Some details of the warning bulletin for maritime and coastal risk situations are also presented, together with other communication products and strategies used in coastal and maritime severe episodes at the Basque coast. Today, three different aspects are included in the coastal-maritime risk warning system in Basque Country, related to the main potential severe events that affecting coastal activities. - "Galerna" risk relates to a sudden wind reversal that can severely affect coastal navigation and recreational activities. - "Navigation" risk relates to severe sea state conditions for 0-2 miles, affecting different navigation activities. - "Coastal impact" risk relates to adverse wave characteristics and tidal surges that induce flooding events and different impacts in littoral areas.

  12. A comprehensive risk analysis of coastal zones in China

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Guanghui; Liu, Yijun; Wang, Hongbing; Wang, Xueying

    2014-03-01

    Although coastal zones occupy an important position in the world development, they face high risks and vulnerability to natural disasters because of their special locations and their high population density. In order to estimate their capability for crisis-response, various models have been established. However, those studies mainly focused on natural factors or conditions, which could not reflect the social vulnerability and regional disparities of coastal zones. Drawing lessons from the experiences of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), this paper presents a comprehensive assessment strategy based on the mechanism of Risk Matrix Approach (RMA), which includes two aspects that are further composed of five second-class indicators. The first aspect, the probability phase, consists of indicators of economic conditions, social development, and living standards, while the second one, the severity phase, is comprised of geographic exposure and natural disasters. After weighing all of the above indicators by applying the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Delphi Method, the paper uses the comprehensive assessment strategy to analyze the risk indices of 50 coastal cities in China. The analytical results are presented in ESRI ArcGis10.1, which generates six different risk maps covering the aspects of economy, society, life, environment, disasters, and an overall assessment of the five areas. Furthermore, the study also investigates the spatial pattern of these risk maps, with detailed discussion and analysis of different risks in coastal cities.

  13. Monitoring hydrogeochemical interactions in coastal mangroves in Everglades National Park using field spectroscopy and remote sensing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lagomasino, D.; Price, R. M.; Campbell, P. K.

    2011-12-01

    Coastal tropical and subtropical environments, where there are distinct seasonal shifts in precipitation, can be highly susceptible to environmental changes caused by increasing anthropogenic pressure (e.g., urbanization, deforestation) in addition to natural "press and pulse" events, such as sea-level rise, tropical storms, and a changing climate. These man-made and natural perturbations directly affect the quality and quantity of water flowing through the ecosystem, both on the surface and subsurface. Changes in groundwater and surface water interactions will impact ecological communities, including highly vulnerable coastal mangrove communities. Nearly 1,445 km2 of mangroves cover Everglades National Park along the southern and southwestern coast of Florida. Rising sea levels, a predicted drier climate, and increased water demand may accelerate the landward migration of salt water intrusion which poses threats to the ecological communities along this coastal ecotone. This is a growing concern for the region and it is necessary that we understand the present hydrogeologic conditions to better monitor and model the future and inevitable changes to the coastal environment. The purpose of this preliminary study was to test the feasibility of measuring water quality indirectly from the spectral responses of mangrove vegetation on a regional scale. Spectra-derived biophysical indices were used to assess various relationships between the spectral signatures of the 3 main mangrove species (i.e., Avicennia germinans, Rhizophora mangle, and Laguncularia racemosa) and the ionic and nutrient concentrations in the porewater (i.e., 20cm and 100cm depths), surface water, and groundwater of the mangrove ecotone. Water samples from these sources were collected during the dry season, a transitional period, and the wet season at three sites in large, high-biomass mangroves along Shark River and two sites in dwarf, low-biomass, mangroves along Taylor River. Water samples were

  14. USGS St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    2011-01-01

    Extreme storms, sea-level rise, and the health of marine communities are some of the major societal and environmental issues impacting our Nation's marine and coastal realm. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in St. Petersburg, Fla., investigates processes related to these ecosystems and the societal implications of natural hazards and resource sustainability. As one of three centers nationwide conducting research within the USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program, the center is integral towards developing an understanding of physical processes that will contribute to rational decisions regarding the use and stewardship of national coastal and marine environments.

  15. Importance of coastal change variables in determining vulnerability to sea- and lake-level change

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Pendleton, E.A.; Thieler, E.R.; Williams, S.J.

    2010-01-01

    In 2001, the U.S. Geological Survey began conducting scientific assessments of coastal vulnerability to potential future sea- and lake-level changes in 22 National Park Service sea- and lakeshore units. Coastal park units chosen for the assessment included a variety of geological and physical settings along the U.S. Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, Gulf of Alaska, Caribbean, and Great Lakes shorelines. This research is motivated by the need to understand and anticipate coastal changes caused by accelerating sea-level rise, as well as lake-level changes caused by climate change, over the next century. The goal of these assessments is to provide information that can be used to make long-term (decade to century) management decisions. Here we analyze the results of coastal vulnerability assessments for several coastal national park units. Index-based assessments quantify the likelihood that physical changes may occur based on analysis of the following variables: tidal range, ice cover, wave height, coastal slope, historical shoreline change rate, geomorphology, and historical rate of relative sea- or lake-level change. This approach seeks to combine a coastal system's susceptibility to change with its natural ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions, and it provides a measure of the system's potential vulnerability to the effects of sea- or lake-level change. Assessments for 22 park units are combined to evaluate relationships among the variables used to derive the index. Results indicate that Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico parks have the highest vulnerability rankings relative to other park regions. A principal component analysis reveals that 99% of the index variability can be explained by four variables: geomorphology, regional coastal slope, water-level change rate, and mean significant wave height. Tidal range, ice cover, and historical shoreline change are not as important when the index is evaluated at large spatial scales (thousands of kilometers

  16. Native plants for effective coastal wetland restoration

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Howard, Rebecca J.

    2003-01-01

    Plant communities, along with soils and appropriate water regimes, are essential components of healthy wetland systems. In Louisiana, the loss of wetland habitat continues to be an issue of major concern. Wetland loss is caused by several interacting factors, both natural and human-induced (e.g., erosion and saltwater intrusion from the construction of canals and levees). Recent estimates of annual coastal land loss rates of about 62 km2 (24 mi2 ) over the past decade emphasize the magnitude of this problem. In an attempt to slow the rate of loss and perhaps halt the overall trend, resource managers in Louisiana apply various techniques to restore damaged or degraded habitats to functioning wetland systems.Researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Wetlands Research Center (NWRC) have cooperated with the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources in studies that address effective restoration strategies for coastal wetlands. The studies have identified differences in growth that naturally exist in native Louisiana wetland plant species and genetic varieties (i.e., clones) within species. Clones of a species have a distinctive genetic identity, and some clones may also have distinctive growth responses under various environmental conditions (i.e., preferences). Indeed, large areas of coastal marsh are typically populated by several clones of a plant species, each growing in a microenvironment suited to its preferences.These studies will provide information that will assist resource managers in selecting plant species and clones of species with known growth characteristics that can be matched to environmental conditions at potential restoration sites. Before the studies began, a collection of several clones from four plant species native to coastal Louisiana was established. The species collected included saltgrass (Distichlis spicata), common reed (Phragmites australis), giant bulrush (Schoenoplectus californicus), and saltmarsh bulrush (Schoenoplectus

  17. The geographical conditions of intensity of salty waters intrusions to coastal lakes on Polish Southern Baltic coast

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cieslinski, R.

    2009-04-01

    Lakes situated on the coast of the southern Baltic function in different conditions than those in which typically inland reservoirs occur. They are situated in the contact zone of two environments: land and sea. These reservoirs together with their direct catchments form specific hydrographic arrangement, in which the course of physical, chemical and biological processes depends on the fact which of these two environments exerts a stronger influence at a given moment. This is important as the lakes situated in the shore zone of the southern Baltic are not exposed to phenomena caused by constant tides, as it is the case in open seas (Ataie-Ashtiani et al., 1999), but only to extreme hydrometeorological conditions, which lead to the formation of the phenomenon of intrusions of sea waters and of damming the free outflow of potamic waters (Demirel, 2004; Cieśliński, Drwal, 2005). What should also be remembered are the local hydrographic, hydrological and morphometric conditions. As a result of intrusions, in the waters of coastal lakes, apart from inland waters there are also waters of sea origin. The proportions of these genetically distinct waters are variable and differ in individual lakes (Grassi, Netti, 2000; Drwal, Cieśliński, 2007). Despite the difference in the causal factor triggering the phenomenon of salt water intrusions, the effect is usually the same as that observed, for instance, in lakes and lagoons of seas with tides (Ishitobi et al., 1999; De Louw, Oude Essink, 2001) and poorly flushed lagoon (Hsing-Juh et al., 2006) or estuaries (Uncles et al., 2002), though the scale of qualitative changes is greater in the case of open seas than in half-closed and closed seas. The status of the research carried out so far enables proposing a hypothesis that chlorides concentrations, as the best indicators for establishing the occurrence of the phenomenon of intrusions, depend not only on the meteorological factor but in some of the lakes on various

  18. The Coastal Ocean Prediction Systems program: Understanding and managing our coastal ocean

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Eden, H.F.; Mooers, C.N.K.

    1990-06-01

    The goal of COPS is to couple a program of regular observations to numerical models, through techniques of data assimilation, in order to provide a predictive capability for the US coastal ocean including the Great Lakes, estuaries, and the entire Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The objectives of the program include: determining the predictability of the coastal ocean and the processes that govern the predictability; developing efficient prediction systems for the coastal ocean based on the assimilation of real-time observations into numerical models; and coupling the predictive systems for the physical behavior of the coastal ocean to predictive systems for biological,more » chemical, and geological processes to achieve an interdisciplinary capability. COPS will provide the basis for effective monitoring and prediction of coastal ocean conditions by optimizing the use of increased scientific understanding, improved observations, advanced computer models, and computer graphics to make the best possible estimates of sea level, currents, temperatures, salinities, and other properties of entire coastal regions.« less

  19. Fringing coral reef condition decline: assembling the puzzle of human impact associated to coastal development.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Garza-Perez, J. R.; Lopez-Patoni, A.; Naranjo-Garcia, M. J.

    2014-12-01

    Coral cover at Akumal fringing coral reef decreased 50% in a 13 yr. period, while the adjacent coastal zone increased its human-modified surface (associated to urban-tourist development) in 192%. In the same period, the number of local residents only increased 20% (1088 to1362) but the visitors did in 50% from ca. 200,000 to ca. 300,000. In this coastal zone, the phreatic acts as a storage of nutrients and pollutants from sources related to human activity, thus having a chronic run-off towards the reef, with acute episodes during the rainy season, specially during the anomalous rainy season of 2013. Using videotransects for monitoring the benthic reef components, changes were detected: from 2000 to 2013 the algae cover increased 166%, the reef condition and the reef structure indexes decreased in 50%, and coral diseases incidence increased 25% after a spike increment of 150% in 2010. The role of anthropogenic-stress indicators (population, modified land area, nutrients) was explored along reef condition indicators (reef structure and diversity indexes, topographic complexity, benthic cover and coral diseases incidence) via spatial analysis and multivariate statistics. Spatial patterns of the change in reef condition derived from high-resolution satellite imagery also provided insight for the stressors analysis and their relationships along the study period. Stress indicators (land-modified area and population) are correlated to decreases in coral cover and in reef structure. Direct stressors as sedimentation, nutrients and pollutants seem to be related to the decrease in overall reef condition, although time-series data is lacking; the contextual interpretation of their effects, paired with benthic condition characteristics suggest a strong relationship between these stressors and the decrease in the condition of the reef.

  20. Sea Level Rise National Coastal Property Model

    EPA Science Inventory

    The impact of sea level rise on coastal properties depends critically on the human response to the threat, which in turn depends on several factors, including the immediacy of the risk, the magnitude of property value at risk, options for adapting to the threat and the cost of th...

  1. CONDITION OF ESTUARIES AND BAYS OF HAWAII FOR 2002: A STATISTICAL SUMMARY

    EPA Science Inventory

    The National Coastal Assessment (NCA) of US EPA conducted the first probabilistic assessment of the condition of estuarine resources of the main islands of Hawaii in 2002. The study provided condition estimates for both the estuaries and bays of the Hawaiian Island chain, as wel...

  2. Coastal mapping handbook

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    ,; ,; Ellis, Melvin Y.

    1978-01-01

    Passage of the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 focused attention on the Nation's coastal land and water areas. As plans for more effective management of the coastal zone evolved, it soon became apparent that improved maps and charts of these areas were needed. This handbook was prepared with the requirements of the entire coastal community in mind, giving greatest attention to the needs of coastal zone managers and planners at the State and local levels. Its principal objective is to provide general information and guidance; it is neither a textbook nor a technical manual, but rather a primer on coastal mapping. This handbook should help planners and managers of coastal programs to determine their mapping requirements, select the best maps and charts for their particular needs, and to deal effectively with personnel who gather data and prepare maps. The sections on "Sources of Assistance and Advice" and "Product and Data Sources" should be especially useful to all involved in mapping the coastal zone. Brief summaries of the mapping efforts of several State coastal zone management programs are included. "Future outlook" discusses anticipated progress and changes in mapping procedures and techniques. Illustrations are inserted, where appropriate, to illustrate the products and equipment discussed. Because of printing restrictions, the colors in map illustrations may vary from those in the original publication. The appendixes include substantial material which also should be of interest. In addition a glossary and an index are included to provide easy and quick access to the terms and concepts used in the text. For those interested in more technical detail than is provided in this handbook, the "Selected references" will be useful. Also, the publications of the professional societies listed in appendix 4 will provide technical information in detail.

  3. Hurricane Gustav: Observations and Analysis of Coastal Change

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Doran, Kara S.; Stockdon, Hilary F.; Plant, Nathaniel G.; Sallenger, Asbury H.; Guy, Kristy K.; Serafin, Katherine A.

    2009-01-01

    Understanding storm-induced coastal change and forecasting these changes require knowledge of the physical processes associated with a storm and the geomorphology of the impacted coastline. The primary physical processes of interest are the wind field, storm surge, currents, and wave field. Not only does wind cause direct damage to structures along the coast, but it is ultimately responsible for much of the energy that is transferred to the ocean and expressed as storm surge, mean currents, and surface waves. Waves and currents are the processes most responsible for moving sediments in the coastal zone during extreme storm events. Storm surge, which is the rise in water level due to the wind, barometric pressure, and other factors, allows both waves and currents to attack parts of the coast not normally exposed to these processes. Coastal geomorphology, including shapes of the shoreline, beaches, and dunes, is also a significant aspect of the coastal change observed during extreme storms. Relevant geomorphic variables include sand dune elevation, beach width, shoreline position, sediment grain size, and foreshore beach slope. These variables, in addition to hydrodynamic processes, can be used to predict coastal vulnerability to storms. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Assessment of Coastal Change Hazards project (http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes) strives to provide hazard information to those concerned about the Nation's coastlines, including residents of coastal areas, government agencies responsible for coastal management, and coastal researchers. As part of the National Assessment, observations were collected to measure morphological changes associated with Hurricane Gustav, which made landfall near Cocodrie, Louisiana, on September 1, 2008. Methods of observation included oblique aerial photography, airborne topographic surveys, and ground-based topographic surveys. This report documents these data-collection efforts and presents qualitative and

  4. Greenland coastal air temperatures linked to Baffin Bay and Greenland Sea ice conditions during autumn through regional blocking patterns

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ballinger, Thomas J.; Hanna, Edward; Hall, Richard J.; Miller, Jeffrey; Ribergaard, Mads H.; Høyer, Jacob L.

    2018-01-01

    Variations in sea ice freeze onset and regional sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in Baffin Bay and Greenland Sea are linked to autumn surface air temperatures (SATs) around coastal Greenland through 500 hPa blocking patterns, 1979-2014. We find strong, statistically significant correlations between Baffin Bay freeze onset and SSTs and SATs across the western and southernmost coastal areas, while weaker and fewer significant correlations are found between eastern SATs, SSTs, and freeze periods observed in the neighboring Greenland Sea. Autumn Greenland Blocking Index values and the incidence of meridional circulation patterns have increased over the modern sea ice monitoring era. Increased anticyclonic blocking patterns promote poleward transport of warm air from lower latitudes and local warm air advection onshore from ocean-atmosphere sensible heat exchange through ice-free or thin ice-covered seas bordering the coastal stations. Temperature composites by years of extreme late freeze conditions, occurring since 2006 in Baffin Bay, reveal positive monthly SAT departures that often exceed 1 standard deviation from the 1981-2010 climate normal over coastal areas that exhibit a similar spatial pattern as the peak correlations.

  5. Sanctuaries | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

    Science.gov Websites

    coastal and marine places that NOAA's National Ocean Service works to protect. Focus_Area_sanctuaries.jpg NOAA Discover the coastal and marine places that NOAA's National Ocean Service works to protect. LATEST national marine sanctuaries, about $8 billion annually is generated in local coastal and ocean dependent

  6. Coastal sand dune ecosystem services in metropolitan suburbs: effects on the sake brewery environment induced by changing social conditions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kaneko, Korehisa; Matsushima, Hajime

    2017-12-01

    Chiba Prefecture, Japan, lies very near Tokyo, the capital city of Japan. It borders the sea on three sides and is banded by coastal dunes. Several sake breweries are located near these dunes. Although there are records of sake brewing along the coast of Tokyo Bay since 1925, sake breweries have completely disappeared in several areas. We believe that sake brewing in these areas benefited from the ecosystem services afforded them by their proximity to the coastal ecosystem. We investigated potential environmental factors (e.g., landscape, soil, and groundwater), as well as conditions that could have driven sake brewers away from the coastal area. Many of the sake breweries that no longer exist were located on coastal dunes (i.e., sand, sandbanks, and natural levees) and obtained their water from a freshwater layer located 3-10 m below the surface. We speculate that these sake breweries benefited from using natural ingredients found in the coastal zone. We also investigated the following factors that may have negatively impacted the breweries, driving them out of business: (1) bankruptcies and reconstruction difficulties that followed the destructive 1923 Great Kanto earthquake, (2) industrial wartime adjustments during World War II (1939-1945), (3) development of coastal industries during the period from 1960 to 1975, and (4) increasing choices for other alcoholic drinks (e.g., beer, wine, and whiskey) from the 1960s to the present.[Figure not available: see fulltext.

  7. Appilications of National Wetland Condition Assessment Data ...

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    The first National Wetland Condition Assessment (NWCA) was conducted in 2011 by the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and its federal and state partners, using a survey design allowing extrapolation of results to national and regional scales. Vegetation, algae, soil, water chemistry, and hydrologic data were collected at each of 1138 locations across the contiguous US. Ecological condition was assessed in relation to a disturbance gradient anchored by least (reference) and most disturbed sites and identified using chemical, physical, and biological disturbance indices based on site-level data. A vegetation multimetric index (VMMI) was used as the indicator of condition. Potential stressors to condition were incorporated into indices of hydrologic alteration, physical alteration and a soil heavy metals, and a nonnative plant indicator. The indices were used to quantify national and regional stressor extent, and their associated relative and attributable risk. All 1138 sites sampled were placed along a quantitatively defined disturbance gradient customized by the ecoregions used in NWCA reporting. The characteristics of the 277 sites at the end of the gradient identified as least disturbed were considered reference condition. The pool of reference sites will be increased with future assessments using the definition of reference set in 2011 and can serve as a benchmark for management decisions and restoration. Approximately 48±6% of the national wetland

  8. Decision-making in Coastal Management and a Collaborative Governance Framework

    EPA Science Inventory

    Over half of the US population lives in coastal watersheds, creating a regional pressure for coastal ecosystems to provide a broad spectrum of services while continuing to support healthy communities and economies. The National Ocean Policy, issued in 2010, and Coastal and Marin...

  9. Development of a Multimetric Indicator of Pelagic Zooplankton Assemblage Condition for the 2012 National Lakes Assessment

    EPA Science Inventory

    We used zooplankton data collected for the 2012 National Lakes Assessment (NLA) to develop multimetric indices (MMIs) for five aggregated ecoregions of the conterminous USA (Coastal Plains, Eastern Highlands, Plains, Upper Midwest, and Western Mountains and Xeric [“West&rsq...

  10. EAARL Coastal Topography-Cape Hatteras National Seashore, North Carolina, Post-Nor'Ida, 2009: Bare Earth

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Bonisteel-Cormier, J.M.; Nayegandhi, Amar; Fredericks, Xan; Brock, J.C.; Wright, C.W.; Nagle, D.B.; Stevens, Sara

    2011-01-01

    These remotely sensed, geographically referenced elevation measurements of lidar-derived bare-earth (BE) topography datasets were produced collaboratively by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, St. Petersburg, FL, and the National Park Service (NPS), Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network, Kingston, RI. This project provides highly detailed and accurate datasets of a portion of the National Park Service Southeast Coast Network's Cape Hatteras National Seashore in North Carolina, acquired post-Nor'Ida (November 2009 nor'easter) on November 27 and 29 and December 1, 2009. The datasets are made available for use as a management tool to research scientists and natural-resource managers. An innovative airborne lidar instrument originally developed at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, and known as the Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar (EAARL), was used during data acquisition. The EAARL system is a raster-scanning, waveform-resolving, green-wavelength (532-nanometer) lidar designed to map near-shore bathymetry, topography, and vegetation structure simultaneously. The EAARL sensor suite includes the raster-scanning, water-penetrating full-waveform adaptive lidar, a down-looking red-green-blue (RGB) digital camera, a high-resolution multispectral color-infrared (CIR) camera, two precision dual-frequency kinematic carrier-phase GPS receivers, and an integrated miniature digital inertial measurement unit, which provide for sub-meter georeferencing of each laser sample. The nominal EAARL platform is a twin-engine aircraft, but the instrument was deployed on a Pilatus PC-6. A single pilot, a lidar operator, and a data analyst constitute the crew for most survey operations. This sensor has the potential to make significant contributions in measuring sub-aerial and submarine coastal topography within cross-environmental surveys. Elevation measurements were collected over the survey area using the EAARL system, and the

  11. Geospatial characteristics of Florida's coastal and offshore environments: Coastal habitats, artificial reefs, wrecks, dumping grounds, harbor obstructions and offshore sand resources

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Demopoulos, Amanda W.J.; Foster, Ann M.; Jones, Michal L.; Gualtieri, Daniel J.

    2011-01-01

    The Geospatial Characteristics GeoPDF of Florida's Coastal and Offshore Environments is a comprehensive collection of geospatial data describing the political boundaries and natural resources of Florida. This interactive map provides spatial information on bathymetry, sand resources, coastal habitats, artificial reefs, shipwrecks, dumping grounds, and harbor obstructions. The map should be useful to coastal resource managers and others interested in marine habitats and submerged obstructions of Florida's coastal region. In particular, as oil and gas explorations continue to expand, the map may be used to explore information regarding sensitive areas and resources in the State of Florida. Users of this geospatial database will have access to synthesized information in a variety of scientific disciplines concerning Florida's coastal zone. This powerful tool provides a one-stop assembly of data that can be tailored to fit the needs of many natural resource managers. The map was originally developed to assist the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEMRE) and coastal resources managers with planning beach restoration projects. The BOEMRE uses a systematic approach in planning the development of submerged lands of the Continental Shelf seaward of Florida's territorial waters. Such development could affect the environment. BOEMRE is required to ascertain the existing physical, biological, and socioeconomic conditions of the submerged lands and estimate the impact of developing these lands. Data sources included the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, BOEMRE, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Florida Geographic Data Library, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida Natural Areas Inventory, and the State of Florida, Bureau of Archeological Research. Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) compliant metadata are provided as attached xml files for all geographic information system (GIS) layers.

  12. Information Needs Assessment for Coastal and Marine Management and Policy: Ecosystem Services Under Changing Climatic, Land Use, and Demographic Conditions.

    PubMed

    Goldsmith, Kaitlin A; Granek, Elise F; Lubitow, Amy

    2015-12-01

    Changing climatic, demographic, and land use conditions are projected to alter the provisioning of ecosystem services in estuarine, coastal, and nearshore marine ecosystems, necessitating mitigation and adaptation policies and management. The current paradigm of research efforts occurring in parallel to, rather than in collaboration with, decision makers will be insufficient for the rapid responses required to adapt to and mitigate for projected changing conditions. Here, we suggest a different paradigm: one where research begins by engaging decision makers in the identification of priority data needs (biophysical, economic, and social). This paper uses synthesized interview data to provide insight into the varied demands for scientific research as described by decision makers working on coastal issues in Oregon, USA. The findings highlight the need to recognize (1) the differing framing of ecosystem services by decision makers versus scientists; and (2) the differing data priorities relevant to inland versus coastal decision makers. The findings further serve to highlight the need for decision makers, scientists, and funders to engage in increased communication. This research is an important first step in advancing efforts toward evidence-based decision making in Oregon and provides a template for further research across the US.

  13. 50 CFR 84.40 - What conditions must I follow to accept Federal grant money?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ..., DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR (CONTINUED) FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE-WILDLIFE SPORT FISH RESTORATION PROGRAM NATIONAL COASTAL WETLANDS CONSERVATION GRANT PROGRAM Conditions on Acceptance/Use of Federal Money § 84.40 What...

  14. 50 CFR 84.40 - What conditions must I follow to accept Federal grant money?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ..., DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR (CONTINUED) FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE-WILDLIFE SPORT FISH RESTORATION PROGRAM NATIONAL COASTAL WETLANDS CONSERVATION GRANT PROGRAM Conditions on Acceptance/Use of Federal Money § 84.40 What...

  15. A prospective approach to coastal geography from satellite. [technological forecasting

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Munday, J. C., Jr.

    1981-01-01

    A forecasting protocol termed the "prospective approach' was used to examine probable futures relative to coastal applications of satellite data. Significant variables include the energy situation, the national economy, national Earth satellite programs, and coastal zone research, commercial activity, and regulatory activity. Alternative scenarios for the period until 1986 are presented. Possible response by state/local remote sensing centers include operational applications for users, input to geo-base information systems (GIS), development of decision-making algorithms using GIS data, and long term research programs for coastal management using merged satellite and traditional data.

  16. National Assessment of Shoreline Change: Part 1, Historical Shoreline Changes and Associated Coastal Land Loss Along the U.S. Gulf of Mexico

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Morton, Robert A.; Miller, Tara L.; Moore, Laura J.

    2004-01-01

    EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Beach erosion is a chronic problem along most open-ocean shores of the United States. As coastal populations continue to grow and community infrastructures are threatened by erosion, there is increased demand for accurate information regarding past and present trends and rates of shoreline movement. There is also a need for a comprehensive analysis of shoreline movement that is consistent from one coastal region to another. To meet these national needs, the U.S. Geological Survey is conducting an analysis of historical shoreline changes along open-ocean sandy shores of the conterminous United States and parts of Hawaii and Alaska. One purpose of this work is to develop standard repeatable methods for mapping and analyzing shoreline movement so that periodic updates regarding coastal erosion and land loss can be made nationally that are systematic and internally consistent. This report on states bordering the Gulf of Mexico (Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas) represents the first in a series that will eventually include the Atlantic Coast, Pacific Coast, and parts of Hawaii and Alaska. The report summarizes the methods of analysis, interprets the results, provides explanations regarding the historical and present trends and rates of change, and describes how different coastal communities are responding to coastal erosion. Shoreline change evaluations are based on comparing three historical shorelines with a recent shoreline derived from lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) topographic surveys. The historical shorelines generally represent the following periods: 1800s, 1920s-1930s, and 1970s, whereas the lidar shoreline is 1998-2002. Long-term rates of change are calculated using all four shorelines (1800s to lidar shoreline), whereas short-term rates of change are calculated for the most recent period (1970s to lidar shoreline). The historical rates of change presented in this report represent past conditions and therefore are not

  17. THE ART OF COASTAL MONITORING: A FOCUS ON VERSATILITY

    EPA Science Inventory

    Abstract for poster presenation.One important measure of success for a monitoring program is its adaptability to changing assessment objectives. Since 2000, US coastal states and federal agencies, in partnership with EPA's National Coastal Assessment (NCA), have been monitoring ...

  18. Geologic Resource Evaluation of Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park, Hawai'i: Geology and Coastal Landforms

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Richmond, Bruce M.; Gibbs, Ann E.; Cochran, Susan A.

    2008-01-01

    Geologic resource inventories of lands managed by the National Park Service (NPS) are important products for the parks and are designed to provide scientific information to better manage park resources. Park-specific geologic reports are used to identify geologic features and processes that are relevant to park ecosystems, evaluate the impact of human activities on geologic features and processes, identify geologic research and monitoring needs, and enhance opportunities for education and interpretation. These geologic reports are planned to provide a brief geologic history of the park and address specific geologic issues that link the park geology and the resource manager. The Kona coast National Parks of the Island of Hawai'i are intended to preserve the natural beauty of the Kona coast and protect significant ancient structures and artifacts of the native Hawaiians. Pu'ukohola Heiau National Historic Site (PUHE), Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park (KAHO), and Pu'uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park (PUHO) are three Kona parks studied by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Geology Team in cooperation with the National Park Service. This report is one of six related reports designed to provide geologic and benthic-habitat information for the three Kona parks. Each geology and coastal-landform report describes the regional geologic setting of the Hawaiian Islands, gives a general description of the geology of the Kona coast, and presents the geologic setting and issues for one of the parks. The related benthic-habitat mapping reports discuss the marine data and habitat classification scheme, and present results of the mapping program. Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park (KAHO) was established in 1978 in order to preserve and protect traditional native Hawaiian culture and cultural sites. The park is the site of an ancient Hawaiian settlement, occupies 469 ha and is considered a locale of considerable cultural and historical

  19. Wave induced coastal cliff top ground motions and infragravity wave dissipation under high energy wave conditions.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Earlie, C. S.; le Dantec, N.; Young, A.

    2016-12-01

    Coastal cliff erosion is a widespread problem that threatens property and infrastructure globally. The prediction of this risk calls for robust understanding of the processes and mechanisms involved in causing coastal cliff failure. Over the last decade, a number of geomorphological studies have highlighted the importance of the relationship between the offshore wave climate and cliff-toe water levels, and the resultant coastal response in terms of cliff-top ground motion and erosion. Field-based studies of instantaneous cliff response to direct wave impact have shown that wave-induced loading of the foreshore leads to cliff-top ground motions that may have the potential to weaken the integrity of the rocks and prepare them for failure. In order to understand wave-cliff interaction and how beach morphodynamics influences cliff-top ground motion and cliff erosion, two field experiments were carried out simultaneously at two locations in Northern Brittany (France). This three-month long winter field campaign (Jan-Mar 2016) included, for the first time, a comparison of cliff-top ground motion and cliff erosion at sites fronted by different beach morphologies (reflective/dissipative), along with monitoring of hydrodynamic forcing and beach topography. The magnitude of cliff-top displacements at both sites were dependent on tidal stage and free water surface elevation at the cliff toe, with the greatest contributions of cliff-top ground motions found at infragravity frequencies (0.05-0.005 Hz). Vertical displacements at infragravity and incident sea-swell (0.1-0.5 Hz) frequencies were greater at the dissipative site, apart from during spring high tide and energetic wave conditions, where displacements were two times that at the reflective site. Combining these wave-cliff interaction data with beach morphology and nearshore bathymetry will be key to understanding the spatial variability in cliff erosion under a variety of environmental settings and forcing conditions.

  20. WATER QUALITY IN THE NEAR COASTAL WATERS OF THE GULF OF MEXICO AFFECTED BY HURRICANE KATRINA: BEFORE AND AFTER THE STORM

    EPA Science Inventory

    Water quality was assessed following Hurricane Katrina in the affected waters of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Post-landfall water quality was compared to pre-hurricane conditions using indicators assessed by EPA's National Coastal Assessment program and additional indicat...

  1. 32 CFR 644.318 - Compliance with State Coastal Zone Management Programs.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 32 National Defense 4 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Compliance with State Coastal Zone Management... (CONTINUED) REAL PROPERTY REAL ESTATE HANDBOOK Disposal § 644.318 Compliance with State Coastal Zone Management Programs. Subpart H will outline the provisions of the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, as...

  2. 32 CFR 644.318 - Compliance with State Coastal Zone Management Programs.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 32 National Defense 4 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Compliance with State Coastal Zone Management... (CONTINUED) REAL PROPERTY REAL ESTATE HANDBOOK Disposal § 644.318 Compliance with State Coastal Zone Management Programs. Subpart H will outline the provisions of the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, as...

  3. Physiological Ecology and Ecohydrology of Coastal Forested Wetlands

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Krauss, Ken W.

    2007-01-01

    The form, function, and productivity of wetland communities are influenced strongly by the hydrologic regime of an area. Wetland ecosystems persist by depending upon surpluses of rainfall, evapotranspiration, soil moisture, and frequency and amplitude of water-level fluctuations. Yet, wetland vegetation can also influence ecosystem water economy through conservative water- and carbon-use strategies at several organizational scales. Scientists have described leaf-level water-use efficiency in coastal mangrove forests as being among the highest of any ecosystem. These forested wetlands occur in intertidal areas and often persist under flooded saline conditions. Are these same strategies used by other types of coastal forested wetlands? Do conservative water-use strategies reflect a consequence of salt balance more than efficiency in water use per se? At what organizational scales do these strategies manifest? These are just a few of the questions being answered by physiological and landscape ecologists at the U.S. Geological Survey National Wetlands Research Center (NWRC).

  4. Metal release from contaminated coastal sediments under changing pH conditions: Implications for metal mobilization in acidified oceans.

    PubMed

    Wang, Zaosheng; Wang, Yushao; Zhao, Peihong; Chen, Liuqin; Yan, Changzhou; Yan, Yijun; Chi, Qiaoqiao

    2015-12-30

    To investigate the impacts and processes of CO2-induced acidification on metal mobilization, laboratory-scale experiments were performed, simulating the scenarios where carbon dioxide was injected into sediment-seawater layers inside non-pressurized chambers. Coastal sediments were sampled from two sites with different contamination levels and subjected to pre-determined pH conditions. Sediment samples and overlying water were collected for metal analysis after 10-days. The results indicated that CO2-induced ocean acidification would provoke increased metal mobilization causing adverse side-effects on water quality. The mobility of metals from sediment to the overlying seawater was correlated with the reduction in pH. Results of sequential extractions of sediments illustrated that exchangeable metal forms were the dominant source of mobile metals. Collectively, our data revealed that high metal concentrations in overlying seawater released from contaminated sediments under acidic conditions may strengthen the existing contamination gradients in Maluan Bay and represent a potential risk to ecosystem health in coastal environments. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Scenario prediction of emerging coastal city using CA modeling under different environmental conditions: a case study of Lingang New City, China.

    PubMed

    Feng, Yongjiu; Liu, Yan

    2016-09-01

    The world's coastal regions are experiencing rapid urbanization coupled with increased risk of ecological damage and storm surge related to global climate and sea level rising. This urban development issue is particularly important in China, where many emerging coastal cities are being developed. Lingang New City, southeast of Shanghai, is an excellent example of a coastal city that is increasingly vulnerable to environmental change. Sustainable urban development requires planning that classifies and allocates coastal lands using objective procedures that incorporate changing environmental conditions. In this paper, we applied cellular automata (CA) modeling based on self-adaptive genetic algorithm (SAGA) to predict future scenarios and explore sustainable urban development options for Lingang. The CA model was calibrated using the 2005 initial status, 2015 final status, and a set of spatial variables. We implemented specific ecological and environmental conditions as spatial constraints for the model and predicted four 2030 scenarios: (a) an urban planning-oriented Plan Scenario; (b) an ecosystem protection-oriented Eco Scenario; (c) a storm surge-affected Storm Scenario; and (d) a scenario incorporating both ecosystem protection and the effects of storm surge, called the Ecostorm Scenario. The Plan Scenario has been taken as the baseline, with the Lingang urban area increasing from 45.8 km(2) in 2015 to 66.8 km(2) in 2030, accounting for 23.9 % of the entire study area. The simulated urban land size of the Plan Scenario in 2030 was taken as the target to accommodate the projected population increase in this city, which was then applied in the remaining three development scenarios. We used CA modeling to reallocate the urban cells to other unconstrained areas in response to changing spatial constraints. Our predictions should be helpful not only in assessing and adjusting the urban planning schemes for Lingang but also for evaluating urban planning in coastal

  6. National Wetland Condition Assessment 2011: A Collaborative Survey of the Nation's Wetlands

    EPA Science Inventory

    The National Wetland Condition Assessment 2011: A Collaborative Survey presents the results of an unprecedented assessment of the nation’s wetlands. This report is part of the National Aquatic Resource Surveys, a series of statistically based surveys designed to provide the publi...

  7. Development of a coastal drought index using salinity data

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Conrads, Paul; Darby, Lisa S.

    2017-01-01

    A critical aspect of the uniqueness of coastal drought is the effects on the salinity dynamics of creeks, rivers, and estuaries. The location of the freshwater–saltwater interface along the coast is an important factor in the ecological and socioeconomic dynamics of coastal communities. Salinity is a critical response variable that integrates hydrologic and coastal dynamics including sea level, tides, winds, precipitation, streamflow, and tropical storms. The position of the interface determines the composition of freshwater and saltwater aquatic communities as well as the freshwater availability for water intakes. Many definitions of drought have been proposed, with most describing a decline in precipitation having negative impacts on the water supply. Indices have been developed incorporating data such as rainfall, streamflow, soil moisture, and groundwater levels. These water-availability drought indices were developed for upland areas and may not be ideal for characterizing coastal drought. The availability of real-time and historical salinity datasets provides an opportunity for the development of a salinity-based coastal drought index. An approach similar to the standardized precipitation index (SPI) was modified and applied to salinity data obtained from sites in South Carolina and Georgia. Using the SPI approach, the index becomes a coastal salinity index (CSI) that characterizes coastal salinity conditions with respect to drought periods of higher-saline conditions and wet periods of higher-freshwater conditions. Evaluation of the CSI indicates that it provides additional coastal response information as compared to the SPI and the Palmer hydrologic drought index, and the CSI can be used for different estuary types and for comparison of conditions along coastlines.

  8. Using Bi-Seasonal WorldView-2 Multi-Spectral Data and Supervised Random Forest Classification to Map Coastal Plant Communities in Everglades National Park.

    PubMed

    Wendelberger, Kristie S; Gann, Daniel; Richards, Jennifer H

    2018-03-09

    Coastal plant communities are being transformed or lost because of sea level rise (SLR) and land-use change. In conjunction with SLR, the Florida Everglades ecosystem has undergone large-scale drainage and restoration, altering coastal vegetation throughout south Florida. To understand how coastal plant communities are changing over time, accurate mapping techniques are needed that can define plant communities at a fine-enough resolution to detect fine-scale changes. We explored using bi-seasonal versus single-season WorldView-2 satellite data to map three mangrove and four adjacent plant communities, including the buttonwood/glycophyte community that harbors the federally-endangered plant Chromolaena frustrata . Bi-seasonal data were more effective than single-season to differentiate all communities of interest. Bi-seasonal data combined with Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) elevation data were used to map coastal plant communities of a coastal stretch within Everglades National Park (ENP). Overall map accuracy was 86%. Black and red mangroves were the dominant communities and covered 50% of the study site. All the remaining communities had ≤10% cover, including the buttonwood/glycophyte community. ENP harbors 21 rare coastal species threatened by SLR. The spatially explicit, quantitative data provided by our map provides a fine-scale baseline for monitoring future change in these species' habitats. Our results also offer a method to monitor vegetation change in other threatened habitats.

  9. Using Bi-Seasonal WorldView-2 Multi-Spectral Data and Supervised Random Forest Classification to Map Coastal Plant Communities in Everglades National Park

    PubMed Central

    Richards, Jennifer H.

    2018-01-01

    Coastal plant communities are being transformed or lost because of sea level rise (SLR) and land-use change. In conjunction with SLR, the Florida Everglades ecosystem has undergone large-scale drainage and restoration, altering coastal vegetation throughout south Florida. To understand how coastal plant communities are changing over time, accurate mapping techniques are needed that can define plant communities at a fine-enough resolution to detect fine-scale changes. We explored using bi-seasonal versus single-season WorldView-2 satellite data to map three mangrove and four adjacent plant communities, including the buttonwood/glycophyte community that harbors the federally-endangered plant Chromolaena frustrata. Bi-seasonal data were more effective than single-season to differentiate all communities of interest. Bi-seasonal data combined with Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) elevation data were used to map coastal plant communities of a coastal stretch within Everglades National Park (ENP). Overall map accuracy was 86%. Black and red mangroves were the dominant communities and covered 50% of the study site. All the remaining communities had ≤10% cover, including the buttonwood/glycophyte community. ENP harbors 21 rare coastal species threatened by SLR. The spatially explicit, quantitative data provided by our map provides a fine-scale baseline for monitoring future change in these species’ habitats. Our results also offer a method to monitor vegetation change in other threatened habitats. PMID:29522476

  10. Simulating coastal to offshore interactions around the South Florida coastal seas and implications on management issues

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kang, H.; Kourafalou, V. H.; Hogan, P. J.; Smedstad, O.

    2008-12-01

    The South Florida coastal seas include shelf areas and shallow water bodies around ecologically fragile environments and Marine Protected Areas, such as Florida Bay, the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (around the largest coral reef system of the continental U.S.) and the Dry Tortugas Ecological Reserve. Man- made changes in the hydrology of the Everglades have caused dramatic degradation of the coastal ecosystem through discharge in Florida Bay. New management scenarios are under way to restore historical flows. The environmental impacts of the management propositions are examined with an inter-disciplinary, multi-nested modeling system. The HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) has been employed for the Regional Model for South Florida Coastal Seas (SoFLA-HYCOM, 1/25 degree resolution) and for the embedded, high resolution coastal Florida Keys model (FKEYS- HYCOM, 1/100 degree). Boundary conditions are extracted from GODAE products: the large scale North Atlantic model (ATL-HYCOM, 1/12 degree) and the intermediate scale Gulf of Mexico model (GOM-HYCOM, 1/25 degree). The study targets the impacts of large scale oceanic features on the coastal dynamics. Eddies that travel along the Loop Current/Florida Current front are known to be an important mechanism for the interaction of nearshore and offshore flows. The high resolution FKEYS simulations reveal both mescoscale and sub- mesoscale eddy passages during a targeted 2-year simulation period (2004-2005), forced with high resolution/high frequency atmospheric forcing. Eddies influence sea level changes in the vicinity of Florida Bay with possible implications on current and future flushing patterns. They also enable upwelling of cooler, nutrient-rich waters in the vicinity of the Reef Tract and they influence transport and recruitment pathways for coral fish larvae, as they carry waters of different properties (such as river-borne low-salinity/nutrient-rich waters from as far as the Mississippi River) and

  11. Coastal Hazard due to Tropical Cyclones in Mexico

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Silva-Casarin, R.; Mendoza-Baldwin, E.; Marino-Tapia, I.; Enriquez, C.; Ruiz, G.; Escalante-MAncera, E.; Ruíz-Rentería, F.

    2013-05-01

    The Mexican coast is hit every year by at least 3 cyclones and it is affected for nearly 59 hours a year on average; this induces undesirable consequences, such as coastal erosion and flooding. To evaluate the hazard to which the coastal zone is exposes, a historical characterization of atmospheric conditions (surface winds and pressure conditions of the storms), waves (wave heights and their associated wave periods) and flooding levels due to tropical storms for more than 60 years is presented. The atmospheric and wave conditions were evaluated using a modification of the original parametric Hydromet-Rankin Vortex Model by Bretschneider (1990) and Holland (1980) as presented by Silva, et al. (2002). The flooding levels caused by hurricanes were estimated using a two-dimensional, vertically averaged finite volume model to evaluate the storm surge, Posada et al. (2008). The cyclone model was compared to the data series of 29 cyclones recorded by buoys of the National Data Buoy Center-NOAA and some data recorded in shallow waters near Cancun, Mexico and the flooding model was compared with observed data from Cancun, Mexico; both models gave good results. For the extreme analyses of wind, wave heights and maximum flooding levels on the Mexican coasts, maps of the scale and location parameters used in the Weibull cumulative distribution function and numerical results for different return periods are provided. The historical occurrence of tropical storms is also revised as some studies indicate that the average intensity of tropical cyclones is increasing; no definite trends pointing to an increase in storm frequency or intensity were found. What was in fact found is that although there are more cyclones in the Pacific Ocean and these persist longer, the intensity of the cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean is greater affecting. In any case, the strong necessity of avoiding storm induced coastal damage (erosion and flooding) is reflected in numerous works, such as this one

  12. Modelling coastal processes and morphological changes of the UK east coast in support of coastal decision-making

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Xiaorong; Leonardi, Nicoletta; Brown, Jennifer; Plater, Andy

    2017-04-01

    The coastline of Eastern England is home to about one quarter of the UK's coastal habitats, including intertidal salt marshes, tidal flats and sand dunes. These geomorphic features are of great importance to the local wildlife, global biodiversity, marine environment and human society and economy. Due to sea-level rise and the occurrence of extreme weather conditions, the coastline of Eastern England is under high risk of erosion and recession, which could lead to tidal inundation of sites such as the RSPB Minsmere Reserve and power generation infrastructure at Sizewell. This research responds to the need for sustainable shoreline management plans of the UK east coast through sensitivity studies at the Dunwich-Sizewell area, Suffolk, UK. Particular interest is on the long-term morphodynamic response of the study area to possible environmental variations associated with global climate change. Key coastal processes, i.e. current, waves and sediment transport, and morphological evolution are studied using a process-based numerical model under the following scenarios: current mean sea level + calm wave conditions, current mean sea level + storms, sea level rise + calm wave conditions, and sea level rise + storms, all with a 'do nothing' management plan which allows the coastal environment to exist and respond dynamically. As a further aspect of this research, rules will be generalized for reduced-complexity, system-based modelling. Alternative management plans, including 'managed realignment' and 'advance the line', are also investigated in this research under the same environmental forcing scenarios, for the purposes of protection of infrastructure of national importance and conservation of wetland habitats. Both 'hard' and 'soft' engineering options, such as groynes and beach nourishment respectively, are considered. A more ecohydrological option which utilizes aquatic plant communities for wave energy dissipation and sediment trapping is also studied. The last

  13. Coastal America Program going forward

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bush, Susan

    Coastal America, a new multiagency initiative developed by the Bush administration to address coastal resource problems, seems to be ignoring the fact that Congress did not fund it for FY92. Although $23 million was requested by Bush for four agencies for FY92, Congress zeroed the funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Department of the Interior. The appropriations bill that covers the Environmental Protection Agency has not been voted on by its joint conference committee. Until they are federally funded, Coastal America will use money from the agencies that has already been authorized in specific areas, such as dredging for the Corps of Engineers. They will also rely on state and private support.

  14. National assessment of hurricane-induced coastal erosion hazards--Gulf of Mexico

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Stockdon, Hilary F.; Doran, Kara S.; Thompson, David M.; Sopkin, Kristin L.; Plant, Nathaniel G.; Sallenger, Asbury H.

    2012-01-01

    Sandy beaches provide a natural barrier between the ocean and inland communities, ecosystems, and resources. However, these dynamic environments move and change in response to winds, waves, and currents. During a hurricane, these changes can be large and sometimes catastrophic. High waves and storm surge act together to erode beaches and inundate low-lying lands, putting inland communities at risk. A decade of USGS research on storm-driven coastal change hazards has provided the data and modeling capabilities to identify areas of our coastline that are likely to experience extreme and potentially hazardous erosion during a hurricane. This report defines hurricane-induced coastal erosion hazards for sandy beaches along the U.S. Gulf of Mexico coastline. The analysis is based on a storm-impact scaling model that uses observations of beach morphology combined with sophisticated hydrodynamic models to predict how the coast will respond to the direct landfall of category 1-5 hurricanes. Hurricane-induced water levels, due to both surge and waves, are compared to beach and dune elevations to determine the probabilities of three types of coastal change: collision (dune erosion), overwash, and inundation. As new beach morphology observations and storm predictions become available, this analysis will be updated to describe how coastal vulnerability to storms will vary in the future.

  15. Influence of seasonal variations in sea level on the salinity regime of a coastal groundwater-fed wetland.

    PubMed

    Wood, Cameron; Harrington, Glenn A

    2015-01-01

    Seasonal variations in sea level are often neglected in studies of coastal aquifers; however, they may have important controls on processes such as submarine groundwater discharge, sea water intrusion, and groundwater discharge to coastal springs and wetlands. We investigated seasonal variations in salinity in a groundwater-fed coastal wetland (the RAMSAR listed Piccaninnie Ponds in South Australia) and found that salinity peaked during winter, coincident with seasonal sea level peaks. Closer examination of salinity variations revealed a relationship between changes in sea level and changes in salinity, indicating that sea level-driven movement of the fresh water-sea water interface influences the salinity of discharging groundwater in the wetland. Moreover, the seasonal control of sea level on wetland salinity seems to override the influence of seasonal recharge. A two-dimensional variable density model helped validate this conceptual model of coastal groundwater discharge by showing that fluctuations in groundwater salinity in a coastal aquifer can be driven by a seasonal coastal boundary condition in spite of seasonal recharge/discharge dynamics. Because seasonal variations in sea level and coastal wetlands are ubiquitous throughout the world, these findings have important implications for monitoring and management of coastal groundwater-dependent ecosystems. © 2014, National Ground Water Association.

  16. IMOS National Reference Stations: a continental-wide physical, chemical and biological coastal observing system.

    PubMed

    Lynch, Tim P; Morello, Elisabetta B; Evans, Karen; Richardson, Anthony J; Rochester, Wayne; Steinberg, Craig R; Roughan, Moninya; Thompson, Peter; Middleton, John F; Feng, Ming; Sherrington, Robert; Brando, Vittorio; Tilbrook, Bronte; Ridgway, Ken; Allen, Simon; Doherty, Peter; Hill, Katherine; Moltmann, Tim C

    2014-01-01

    Sustained observations allow for the tracking of change in oceanography and ecosystems, however, these are rare, particularly for the Southern Hemisphere. To address this in part, the Australian Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) implemented a network of nine National Reference Stations (NRS). The network builds on one long-term location, where monthly water sampling has been sustained since the 1940s and two others that commenced in the 1950s. In-situ continuously moored sensors and an enhanced monthly water sampling regime now collect more than 50 data streams. Building on sampling for temperature, salinity and nutrients, the network now observes dissolved oxygen, carbon, turbidity, currents, chlorophyll a and both phytoplankton and zooplankton. Additional parameters for studies of ocean acidification and bio-optics are collected at a sub-set of sites and all data is made freely and publically available. Our preliminary results demonstrate increased utility to observe extreme events, such as marine heat waves and coastal flooding; rare events, such as plankton blooms; and have, for the first time, allowed for consistent continental scale sampling and analysis of coastal zooplankton and phytoplankton communities. Independent water sampling allows for cross validation of the deployed sensors for quality control of data that now continuously tracks daily, seasonal and annual variation. The NRS will provide multi-decadal time series, against which more spatially replicated short-term studies can be referenced, models and remote sensing products validated, and improvements made to our understanding of how large-scale, long-term change and variability in the global ocean are affecting Australia's coastal seas and ecosystems. The NRS network provides an example of how a continental scaled observing systems can be developed to collect observations that integrate across physics, chemistry and biology.

  17. IMOS National Reference Stations: A Continental-Wide Physical, Chemical and Biological Coastal Observing System

    PubMed Central

    Lynch, Tim P.; Morello, Elisabetta B.; Evans, Karen; Richardson, Anthony J.; Rochester, Wayne; Steinberg, Craig R.; Roughan, Moninya; Thompson, Peter; Middleton, John F.; Feng, Ming; Sherrington, Robert; Brando, Vittorio; Tilbrook, Bronte; Ridgway, Ken; Allen, Simon; Doherty, Peter; Hill, Katherine; Moltmann, Tim C.

    2014-01-01

    Sustained observations allow for the tracking of change in oceanography and ecosystems, however, these are rare, particularly for the Southern Hemisphere. To address this in part, the Australian Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) implemented a network of nine National Reference Stations (NRS). The network builds on one long-term location, where monthly water sampling has been sustained since the 1940s and two others that commenced in the 1950s. In-situ continuously moored sensors and an enhanced monthly water sampling regime now collect more than 50 data streams. Building on sampling for temperature, salinity and nutrients, the network now observes dissolved oxygen, carbon, turbidity, currents, chlorophyll a and both phytoplankton and zooplankton. Additional parameters for studies of ocean acidification and bio-optics are collected at a sub-set of sites and all data is made freely and publically available. Our preliminary results demonstrate increased utility to observe extreme events, such as marine heat waves and coastal flooding; rare events, such as plankton blooms; and have, for the first time, allowed for consistent continental scale sampling and analysis of coastal zooplankton and phytoplankton communities. Independent water sampling allows for cross validation of the deployed sensors for quality control of data that now continuously tracks daily, seasonal and annual variation. The NRS will provide multi-decadal time series, against which more spatially replicated short-term studies can be referenced, models and remote sensing products validated, and improvements made to our understanding of how large-scale, long-term change and variability in the global ocean are affecting Australia's coastal seas and ecosystems. The NRS network provides an example of how a continental scaled observing systems can be developed to collect observations that integrate across physics, chemistry and biology. PMID:25517905

  18. CHARACTERIZATION AND PREDICTION OF NUTRIENTS AND PESTICIDES IN BASE FLOW CONDITIONS OF FIRST ORDER STREAMS IN THE MID-ATLANTIC COASTAL PLAIN-A COLLABORATIVE EFFORT

    EPA Science Inventory

    The Landscape Indicators for Pesticides Study in Mid-Atlantic Coastal Streams (LIPS-MACS) is a collaborative research effort between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Research and Development and the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water Quality Assessment Pr...

  19. Mercury in tropical and subtropical coastal environments

    PubMed Central

    Costa, Monica F.; Landing, William M.; Kehrig, Helena A.; Barletta, Mário; Holmes, Christopher D.; Barrocas, Paulo R. G.; Evers, David C.; Buck, David G.; Vasconcellos, Ana Claudia; Hacon, Sandra S.; Moreira, Josino C.; Malm, Olaf

    2012-01-01

    Anthropogenic activities influence the biogeochemical cycles of mercury, both qualitatively and quantitatively, on a global scale from sources to sinks. Anthropogenic processes that alter the temporal and spatial patterns of sources and cycling processes are changing the impacts of mercury contamination on aquatic biota and humans. Human exposure to mercury is dominated by the consumption of fish and products from aquaculture operations. The risk to society and to ecosystems from mercury contamination is growing, and it is important to monitor these expanding risks. However, the extent and manner to which anthropogenic activities will alter mercury sources and biogeochemical cycling in tropical and sub-tropical coastal environments is poorly understood. Factors as (1) lack of reliable local/regional data; (2) rapidly changing environmental conditions; (3) governmental priorities and; (4) technical actions from supra-national institutions, are some of the obstacles to overcome in mercury cycling research and policy formulation. In the tropics and sub-tropics, research on mercury in the environment is moving from an exploratory “inventory” phase towards more process-oriented studies. Addressing biodiversity conservation and human health issues related to mercury contamination of river basins and tropical coastal environments are an integral part of paragraph 221 paragraph of the United Nations document “The Future We Want” issued in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012. PMID:22901765

  20. Final Scientific/Technical Report: National Institute for Climatic Change Research Coastal Center

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Tornqvist, Torbjorn; Chambers, Jeffrey

    It is widely recognized that coastal environments are under particular threat due to changes associated with climate change. Accelerated sea-level rise, in some regions augmented by land subsidence, plus the possibility of a changing storm climate, renders low-lying coastal landscapes and their ecosystems vulnerable to future change. This is a pressing problem, because these ecosystems commonly rank as some of the most valuable on the planet. The objective of the NICCR Coastal Center was to support basic research that aims at reducing uncertainty about ecosystem changes during the next century, carried out along the U.S. coastlines. The NICCR Coastal Centermore » has funded 20 projects nationwide (carried out at 27 institutions) that addressed numerous aspects of the problems outlined above. The research has led to a variety of new insights, a significant number of which published in elite scientific journals. It is anticipated that the dissemination of this work in the scientific literature will continue for several more years, given that a number of projects have only recently reached their end date. In addition, NICCR funds have been used to support research at Tulane University. The lion’s share of these funds has been invested in the development of unique facilities for experimental research in coastal ecosystems. This aspect of the work could have a lasting impact in the future.« less

  1. Coastal zone - Terra (and aqua) incognita - Integrated Coastal Zone Management in the Black Sea

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kosyan, R. D.; Velikova, V. N.

    2016-02-01

    In the Black Sea coastal states (Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russian Federation, Turkey, and Ukraine), Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) has no properly established legal and institutional framework. The term "coastal zone" is undefined in national (reportedly with the exception of Bulgaria) and regional legislative documents. The interface between science and policy within ICZM remains poorly developed. Policies for streamlining efforts have been ill-managed and decisions taken in functional zoning and the balanced use and protection of coastal zones have often been shown to be incorrect. The observed proliferation of consultative committees and councils has not been much helpful, public participation has been widely neglected. Illegal practices are in place, and coastal developments continue being largely unsustainable. These problems are often explained by the low awareness of ICZM benefits, and hence, a shortage of political good will, but also by the lack of appropriate Black Sea scientific research, which would ensure a fundamental knowledge-base. There are hundreds of organizations involved in collection of data and information of relevance for ICZM, although there is a distinct lack of coordination. Consequently, there is a substantial overlap of activities, whilst important scientific and policy questions remain unanswered. We review the status of ICZM or mismanagement (ICZmisM) in the Black Sea region, building links between environmental problems and policy measures in response, and providing appropriate examples. Recommendations are put forward with regard to major gaps in ICZM at levels of its theoretical development and practical implementation within the region. The review is intended to remind of major disastrous consequences of present complacency and laissez-faire in the management of the Black Sea. This paper calls for urgent implementation of ICZM in the Black Sea at national and regional levels.

  2. Interagency Coastal Wetlands Workgroup: Statement of purpose and goals

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    ,

    2017-01-01

    Purpose The Interagency Coastal Wetlands Workgroup (ICWWG) helps to address coastal wetland loss by bringing together seven federal agencies with programs and authorities that support protection and management of coastal wetlands. Background Wetlands in coastal watersheds of the U.S. were lost at an average rate of 80,000 acres per year between 2004 and 2009. This is an increase from 59,000 acres per year between 1998 and 2004 as documented by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in their reports on the Status and Trends of Wetlands in the Coastal Watersheds. The ICWWG was formed in 2009 in response to these loss trends. Coastal wetlands include saltwater and freshwater wetlands located within coastal watersheds — specifically USGS 8-digit watersheds which drain into the Atlantic, Pacific, or Gulf of Mexico.

  3. Oceans & Coasts | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

    Science.gov Websites

    NOAA's National Ocean Service is positioning America's coastal communities for the future Focus_Area_oceanscoasts1.jpg NOAA NOAA's National Ocean Service is positioning America's coastal communities for the future them. Almost 40 percent of the country's population lives in coastal shoreline counties. These counties

  4. Coastal wetlands: The present and future role of remote sensing

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Carter, V.

    1977-01-01

    During the past decade, there has been a rapid expansion of remote sensing research and technology development related to coastal wetlands. As a result of this research, all of the 23 coastal states have ongoing or completed wetland inventories, most utilizing aerial photographs as the data source for producing a variety of map products with varying scales, formats, classification systems and intended uses. The U.S. Geological Survey is increasing emphasis on map production and revision for the coastal zone. The new U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Wetland Inventory is intended to provide a standardized method for comparison of wetlands on a national basis - it too will use available aerial photographs as a basic data source. At present, satellite data is not used for operational mapping of coastal wetlands because of resolution and geometric constraints. In the future, however, satellite data may provide an accurate reliable and economical source to update wetland inventories and to monitor or evaluate coastal wetlands. The technological improvements accompanying the development and launch of Landsat C and D and the space shuttle promise to make satellite digital data a more powerful tool to supply information for future management decisions for coastal wetlands.

  5. 77 FR 62494 - Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Evaluations of Coastal Zone Management Act...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-10-15

    ... Collection; Comment Request; Evaluations of Coastal Zone Management Act Programs--State Coastal Management... request is for a new information collection. The Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, as amended (CZMA; 16 U.S.C. 1451 et seq.) requires that state coastal management programs and national estuarine research...

  6. National Assessment Of Shoreline Change: Part 2, Historical Shoreline Changes And Associated Coastal Land Loss Along The U.S. Southeast Atlantic Coast

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Morton, Robert A.; Miller, Tara L.

    2005-01-01

    EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Beach erosion is a chronic problem along most open-ocean shores of the United States. As coastal populations continue to grow and community infrastructures are threatened by erosion, there is increased demand for accurate information regarding past and present trends and rates of shoreline movement. There is also a need for a comprehensive analysis of shoreline movement that is consistent from one coastal region to another. To meet these national needs, the U.S. Geological Survey is conducting an analysis of historical shoreline changes along open-ocean sandy shores of the conterminous United States and parts of Hawaii and Alaska. One purpose of this work is to develop standard repeatable methods for mapping and analyzing shoreline movement so that periodic updates regarding coastal erosion and land loss can be made nationally that are systematic and internally consistent. This report on states comprising the Southeast Atlantic Coast (east Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina) represents the second in a series that already includes the Gulf of Mexico and will eventually include the Northeast Atlantic Coast, Pacific Coast, and parts of Hawaii and Alaska. The report summarizes the methods of analysis, interprets the results, provides explanations regarding the historical and present trends and rates of change, and describes how different coastal communities are responding to coastal erosion. Shoreline change evaluations are based on comparing three historical shorelines with a recent shoreline derived from lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) topographic surveys. The historical shorelines generally represent the following periods: 1800s, 1920s-1930s, and 1970s, whereas the lidar shoreline is 1998-2002. Long-term rates of change are calculated using four shorelines (1800s to lidar shoreline), whereas short-term rates of change are calculated for the most recent period (1970s to lidar shoreline). The historical rates of change presented in

  7. EAARL Coastal Topography and Imagery-Assateague Island National Seashore, Maryland and Virginia, Post-Nor'Ida, 2009

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Bonisteel-Cormier, J.M.; Nayegandhi, Amar; Brock, J.C.; Wright, C.W.; Nagle, D.B.; Klipp, E.S.; Vivekanandan, Saisudha; Fredericks, Xan; Stevens, Sara

    2010-01-01

    These remotely sensed, geographically referenced color-infrared (CIR) imagery and elevation measurements of lidar-derived bare-earth (BE) and first-surface (FS) topography datasets were produced collaboratively by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, St. Petersburg, FL, and the National Park Service (NPS), Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network, Kingston, RI. This project provides highly detailed and accurate datasets of a portion of the Assateague Island National Seashore in Maryland and Virginia, acquired post-Nor'Ida (November 2009 nor'easter) on November 28 and 30, 2009. The datasets are made available for use as a management tool to research scientists and natural-resource managers. An innovative airborne lidar instrument originally developed at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, and known as the Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar(EAARL), was used during data acquisition. The EAARL system is a raster-scanning, waveform-resolving, green-wavelength (532-nanometer) lidar designed to map near-shore bathymetry, topography, and vegetation structure simultaneously. The EAARL sensor suite includes the raster-scanning, water-penetrating full-waveform adaptive lidar, a down-looking red-green-blue (RGB) digital camera, a high-resolution multispectral color-infrared (CIR) camera, two precision dual-frequency kinematic carrier-phase GPS receivers, and an integrated miniature digital inertial measurement unit, which provide for sub-meter georeferencing of each laser sample. The nominal EAARL platform is a twin-engine aircraft, but the instrument was deployed on a Pilatus PC-6. A single pilot, a lidar operator, and a data analyst constitute the crew for most survey operations. This sensor has the potential to make significant contributions in measuring sub-aerial and submarine coastal topography within cross-environmental surveys. Elevation measurements were collected over the survey area using the EAARL system, and

  8. EAARL Coastal Topography-Sandy Hook Unit, Gateway National Recreation Area, New Jersey, Post-Nor'Ida, 2009

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Nayegandhi, Amar; Vivekanandan, Saisudha; Brock, J.C.; Wright, C.W.; Bonisteel-Cormier, J.M.; Nagle, D.B.; Klipp, E.S.; Stevens, Sara

    2010-01-01

    These remotely sensed, geographically referenced elevation measurements of lidar-derived bare-earth (BE) and first-surface (FS) topography datasets were produced collaboratively by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, St. Petersburg, FL, and the National Park Service (NPS), Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network, Kingston, RI. This project provides highly detailed and accurate datasets of a portion of the Sandy Hook Unit of Gateway National Recreation Area in New Jersey, acquired post-Nor'Ida (November 2009 nor'easter) on December 4, 2009. The datasets are made available for use as a management tool to research scientists and natural-resource managers. An innovative airborne lidar instrument originally developed at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, and known as the Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar (EAARL), was used during data acquisition. The EAARL system is a raster-scanning, waveform-resolving, green-wavelength (532-nanometer) lidar designed to map near-shore bathymetry, topography, and vegetation structure simultaneously. The EAARL sensor suite includes the raster-scanning, water-penetrating full-waveform adaptive lidar, a down-looking red-green-blue (RGB) digital camera, a high-resolution multispectral color infrared (CIR) camera, two precision dual-frequency kinematic carrier-phase GPS receivers, and an integrated miniature digital inertial measurement unit, which provide for sub-meter georeferencing of each laser sample. The nominal EAARL platform is a twin-engine aircraft, but the instrument was deployed on a Pilatus PC-6. A single pilot, a lidar operator, and a data analyst constitute the crew for most survey operations. This sensor has the potential to make significant contributions in measuring sub-aerial and submarine coastal topography within cross-environmental surveys. Elevation measurements were collected over the survey area using the EAARL system, and the resulting data were then

  9. Hurricane Isaac: observations and analysis of coastal change

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Guy, Kristy K.; Stockdon, Hilary F.; Plant, Nathaniel G.; Doran, Kara S.; Morgan, Karen L.M.

    2013-01-01

    Understanding storm-induced coastal change and forecasting these changes require knowledge of the physical processes associated with a storm and the geomorphology of the impacted coastline. The primary physical process of interest is sediment transport that is driven by waves, currents, and storm surge associated with storms. Storm surge, which is the rise in water level due to the wind, barometric pressure, and other factors, allows both waves and currents to impact parts of the coast not normally exposed to these processes. Coastal geomorphology reflects the coastal changes associated with extreme-storm processes. Relevant geomorphic variables that are observable before and after storms include sand dune elevation, beach width, shoreline position, sediment grain size, and foreshore beach slope. These variables, in addition to hydrodynamic processes, can be used to quantify coastal change and are used to predict coastal vulnerability to storms (Stockdon and others, 2007). The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Assessment of Coastal Change Hazards (NACCH) project (http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/national-assessment/) provides hazard information to those concerned about the Nation’s coastlines, including residents of coastal areas, government agencies responsible for coastal management, and coastal researchers. Extreme-storm research is a component of the NACCH project (http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes/) that includes development of predictive understanding, vulnerability assessments using models, and updated observations in response to specific storm events. In particular, observations were made to determine morphological changes associated with Hurricane Isaac, which made landfall in the United States first at Southwest Pass, at the mouth of the Mississippi River, at 0000 August 29, 2012 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) and again, 8 hours later, west of Port Fourchon, Louisiana (Berg, 2013). Methods of observation included oblique aerial photography

  10. CLASSIFICATION FRAMEWORK FOR COASTAL SYSTEMS

    EPA Science Inventory

    U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Classification Framework for Coastal Systems. EPA/600/R-04/061. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Atlantic Ecology Division, Narragansett, RI, Gulf Ecology Division, Gulf Bree...

  11. Using water quality to assess ecological condition in the St. Marys River and Huron-Erie Corridor

    EPA Science Inventory

    The St. Marys River and Huron-Erie-Corridor were assessed by EPA for the first time in 2014-2016 as part of the National Coastal Condition Assessment (NCCA). NCCA uses a probabilistic survey design to allow unbiased assessment of ecological condition across the entire Great Lakes...

  12. Methodological Quality of National Guidelines for Pediatric Inpatient Conditions

    PubMed Central

    Hester, Gabrielle; Nelson, Katherine; Mahant, Sanjay; Eresuma, Emily; Keren, Ron; Srivastava, Rajendu

    2014-01-01

    Background Guidelines help inform standardization of care for quality improvement (QI). The Pediatric Research in Inpatient Settings (PRIS) network published a prioritization list of inpatient conditions with high prevalence, cost, and variation in resource utilization across children’s hospitals. The methodological quality of guidelines for priority conditions is unknown. Objective To rate the methodological quality of national guidelines for 20 priority pediatric inpatient conditions. Design We searched sources including PubMed for national guidelines published 2002–2012. Guidelines specific to one organism, test or treatment, or institution were excluded. Guidelines were rated by two raters using a validated tool (AGREE II) with an overall rating on a 7-point scale (7–highest). Inter-rater reliability was measured with a weighted kappa coefficient. Results 17 guidelines met inclusion criteria for 13 conditions, 7 conditions yielded no relevant national guidelines. The highest methodological quality guidelines were for asthma, tonsillectomy, and bronchiolitis (mean overall rating 7, 6.5 and 6.5 respectively); the lowest were for sickle cell disease (2 guidelines) and dental caries (mean overall rating 4, 3.5, and 3 respectively). The overall weighted kappa was 0.83 (95% confidence interval 0.78–0.87). Conclusions We identified a group of moderate to high methodological quality national guidelines for priority pediatric inpatient conditions. Hospitals should consider these guidelines to inform QI initiatives. PMID:24677729

  13. Concepts and theoretical specifications of a Coastal Vulnerability Dynamic Simulator (COVUDS): A multi-agent system for simulating coastal vulnerability towards management of coastal ecosystem services

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Orencio, P. M.; Endo, A.; Taniguchi, M.

    2014-12-01

    Disaster-causing natural hazards such as floods, erosions, earthquakes or slope failures were particularly observed to be concentrated in certain geographical regions. In the Asia-pacific region, coastal ecosystems were suffering because of perennial threats driven by chronic fluctuations in climate variability (e.g., typhoons, ENSO), or by dynamically occurring events (e.g., earthquakes, tsunamis). Among the many people that were found prone to such a risky condition were the ones inhabiting near the coastal areas. Characteristically, aside from being located at the forefront of these events, the coastal communities have impacted the resource by the kind of behavioral patterns they exhibited, such as overdependence and overexploitation to achieve their wellbeing. In this paper, we introduce the development of an approach to an assessment of the coupled human- environment using a multi- agent simulation (MAS) model known as Coastal Vulnerability Dynamic Simulator (COVUDS). The COVUDS comprised a human- environmental platform consisting multi- agents with corresponding spatial- based dynamic and static variables. These variables were used to present multiple hypothetical future situations that contribute to the purpose of supporting a more rational management of the coastal ecosystem and their environmental equities. Initially, we present the theoretical and conceptual components that would lead to the development of the COVUDS. These consisted of the human population engaged in behavioral patterns affecting the conditions of coastal ecosystem services; the system of the biophysical environment and changes in patches brought by global environment and local behavioral variations; the policy factors that were important for choosing area- specific interventions; and the decision- making mechanism that integrates the first three components. To guide a future scenario-based application that will be undertaken in a coastal area in the Philippines, the components of the

  14. Shorebird abundance and distribution on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Brown, S.; Bart, J.; Lanctot, Richard B.; Johnson, J.A.; Kendall, S.; Payer, D.; Johnson, J.

    2007-01-01

    The coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge hosts seven species of migratory shorebirds listed as highly imperiled or high priority by the U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan and five species listed as Birds of Conservation Concern by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. During the first comprehensive shorebird survey of the 674 000 ha "1002 Area" on the coastal plain, we recorded 14 species of breeding shorebirds at 197 rapidly surveyed plots during June 2002 and 2004. We also estimated detection ratios with a double counting technique, using data collected at 37 intensively studied plots located on the North Slope of Alaska and northern Canada. We stratified the study area by major habitat types, including wetlands, moist areas, uplands, and riparian areas, using previously classified Landsat imagery. We developed population estimates with confidence limits by species, and estimated the total number of shorebirds in the study area to be 230 000 (95% CI: 104 000-363 000), which exceeds the biological criterion for classification as both a Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network Site of International Importance (100 000 birds) and a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance (20 000 birds), even when conservatively estimated. Species richness and the density of many species were highest in wetland or riparian habitats, which are clustered along the coast. ?? The Cooper Ornithological Society 2007.

  15. LINKS to NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MARINE FORECAST OFFICES

    Science.gov Websites

    Coastal Flooding Tsunamis 406 EPIRB's National Weather Service Marine Forecasts LINKS to NATIONAL WEATHER Marine Forecasts in text form ) Coastal NWS Forecast Offices have regionally focused marine webpages which are overflowing with information such as coastal forecasts, predicted tides, and buoy observations

  16. Physical condition and maintenance of mosquito bed nets in Kwale County, coastal Kenya

    PubMed Central

    2013-01-01

    Background Despite the extensive ownership and use of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) over the last decade, the effective lifespan of these nets, especially their physical integrity, under true operational conditions is not well-understood. Usefulness of nets declines primarily due to physical damage or loss of insecticidal activity. Methods A community based cross-sectional survey was used to determine the physical condition and to identify predictors of poor physical condition for bed nets owned by individuals from communities in Kwale County, coastal Kenya. A proportionate hole index (pHI) was used as a standard measure, and the cut-offs for an ‘effective net’ (offer substantial protection against mosquito bites) and ‘ineffective nets’ (offer little or no protection against mosquito bites) were determined (pHI ≤88 (about ≤500 cm2 of holes surface area) and pHI of >88 (≥500 cm2 of holes surface area), respectively). Results The vast majority (78%) of the surveyed nets had some holes. The median pHI was 92 (range: 1–2,980). Overall, half of the nets were categorized as ‘effective nets’ or ‘serviceable nets’. Physical deterioration of nets was associated with higher use and washing frequency. Young children and older children were found to use ineffective bed nets significantly more often than infants, while the physical integrity of nets owned by pregnant women was similar to those owned by infants. Estuarine environment inhabitants owned nets with the worst physical condition, while nets owned by the coastal slope inhabitants were in fairly good physical condition. The results suggest that bed nets are optimally utilized when they are new and physically intact. Thereafter, bed net utilization decreases gradually with increasing physical deterioration, with most net owners withdrawing physically damaged nets from routine use. This withdrawal commonly happens following 1.5 years of use, making bed net use the most important predictor of

  17. Adaptation and application of multivariate AMBI (M-AMBI) in US coastal waters.

    PubMed

    Pelletier, Marguerite C; Gillett, David J; Hamilton, Anna; Grayson, Treda; Hansen, Virginia; Leppo, Erik W; Weisberg, Stephan B; Borja, Angel

    2018-06-01

    The multivariate AMBI (M-AMBI) is an extension of the AZTI Marine Biotic Index (AMBI) that has been used extensively in Europe, but not in the United States. In a previous study, we adapted AMBI for use in US coastal waters (US AMBI), but saw biases in salinity and score distribution when compared to locally calibrated indices. In this study we modified M-AMBI for US waters and compared its performance to that of US AMBI. Index performance was evaluated in three ways: 1) concordance with local indices presently being used as management tools in three geographic regions of US coastal waters, 2) classification accuracy for sites defined a priori as good or bad and 3) insensitivity to natural environmental gradients. US M-AMBI was highly correlated with all three local indices and removed the compression in response seen in moderately disturbed sites with US AMBI. US M-AMBI and US AMBI did a similar job correctly classifying sites as good or bad in local validation datasets (83 to 100% accuracy vs. 84 to 95%, respectively). US M-AMBI also removed the salinity bias of US AMBI so that lower salinity sites were not more likely to be incorrectly classified as impaired. The US M-AMBI appears to be an acceptable index for comparing condition across broad-scales such as estuarine and coastal waters surveyed by the US EPA's National Coastal Condition Assessment, and may be applicable to areas of the US coast that do not have a locally derived benthic index.

  18. DEVELOPMENT OF THE COASTAL INTENSIVE SITE NETWORK (CISNET)

    EPA Science Inventory

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have joined in partnership to establish pilot sites for the development of a network known as the Coastal Intensive Sit...

  19. Coastal Change on Gulf Islands National Seashore during Hurricane Gustav: West Ship, East Ship, Horn, and Petit Bois Islands

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Stockdon, Hilary F.; Doran, Kara S.; Serafin, Katherine A.

    2010-01-01

    INTRODUCTION Hurricane Gustav made landfall on September 1, 2008, near Cocodrie, Louisiana, as a category 2 storm, with maximum sustained winds near 170 km/hr. Hurricane-force winds, with speeds in excess of 119 km/hr, extended along 270 km of the Louisiana coastline, from Marsh Island to the central barrier islands. Tropical-storm-force winds (speeds > 63 km/hr) were felt across the coasts of Mississippi and Alabama. Within this area of high wind and associated storm surge and waves lie the Mississippi barrier islands of West Ship, East Ship, Horn, and Petit Bois, part of the National Park Service (NPS) Gulf Islands National Seashore (GUIS). These east-west trending islands form a barrier between the Mississippi Sound to the north and the Gulf of Mexico to the south. The islands are generally less than 1 km wide with dune elevations ranging generally between 2 and 3 m, but reaching 6 m on Horn Island. The interaction of waves and currents with the low, sandy beaches forces a range of dynamic responses, such as dune erosion, overwash deposition, spit elongation, and island breaching. The passage of strong hurricanes (such as Camille in 1969 and Katrina in 2005), combined with a background signal of long-term shoreline retreat, has caused significant coastal changes on the Mississippi barrier islands, presenting management challenges for State and Federal officials, including NPS resource managers. At the request of the NPS, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has processed, analyzed, and interpreted pre- and post-Hurricane-Gustav lidar topographic data for West Ship, East Ship, Horn, and Petit Bois. These data and analyses can be used to better assess the storm vulnerability of portions of GUIS by characterizing the magnitude and spatial variability of hurricane-induced coastal changes, such as shoreline retreat, dune erosion, and beach volume change. This information will provide park managers with a greater understanding of the long-term evolution of these islands

  20. Spatial variability of coastal wetland resilience to sea-level rise using Bayesian inference

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hardy, T.; Wu, W.

    2017-12-01

    The coastal wetlands in the Northern Gulf of Mexico (NGOM) account for 40% of coastal wetland area in the United States and provide various ecosystem services to the region and broader areas. Increasing rates of relative sea-level rise (RSLR), and reduced sediment input have increased coastal wetland loss in the NGOM, accounting for 80% of coastal wetland loss in the nation. Traditional models for predicting the impact of RSLR on coastal wetlands in the NGOM have focused on coastal erosion driven by geophysical variables only, and/or at small spatial extents. Here we developed a model in Bayesian inference to make probabilistic prediction of wetland loss in the entire NGOM as a function of vegetation productivity and geophysical attributes. We also studied how restoration efforts help maintain the area of coastal wetlands. Vegetation productivity contributes organic matter to wetland sedimentation and was approximated using the remotely sensed normalized difference moisture index (NDMI). The geophysical variables include RSLR, tidal range, river discharge, coastal slope, and wave height. We found a significantly positive relation between wetland loss and RSLR, which varied significantly at different river discharge regimes. There also existed a significantly negative relation between wetland loss and NDMI, indicating that in-situ vegetation productivity contributed to wetland resilience to RSLR. This relation did not vary significantly between river discharge regimes. The spatial relation revealed three areas of high RSLR but relatively low wetland loss; these areas were associated with wetland restoration projects in coastal Louisiana. Two projects were breakwater projects, where hard materials were placed off-shore to reduce wave action and promote sedimentation. And one project was a vegetation planting project used to promote sedimentation and wetland stabilization. We further developed an interactive web tool that allows stakeholders to develop similar wetland

  1. MANAGING COASTAL DATA

    EPA Science Inventory

    To answer broad-scale questions on environmental conditions, the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP) and its partners have collected estuarine and coastal data from hundreds of stations along the coasts of the continental United States. Types of data include w...

  2. Evaluating Vegetation in the National Wetland Condition Assessment

    EPA Science Inventory

    Vegetation is a key biotic indicator of wetland ecological condition and forms a critical element of the USEPA 2011 National Wetland Condition Assessment. Data describing plant species composition and abundance, vegetation structure, and ground surface characteristics were colle...

  3. Microbial Enzyme Activities of Wetland Soils as Indicators of Nutrient Condition: A Test in Wetlands of Gulf of Mexico Coastal Watershed

    EPA Science Inventory

    Microbial enzyme activities measured from wetland soils are being tested as indicators of wetland nutrient function and human disturbance. This is part of an assessment of condition of wetlands being conducted by the U.S. EPA Gulf Ecology Division in coastal watersheds along the...

  4. Intensified coastal development behind nourished beaches

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Armstrong, Scott; Lazarus, Eli; Limber, Patrick; Goldstein, Evan; Thorpe, Curtis; Ballinger, Rhoda

    2016-04-01

    Population density, housing development, and property values in coastal counties along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf Coasts continue to rise despite increasing hazard from storm impacts. Since the 1970s, beach nourishment, which involves importing sand to deliberately widen an eroding beach, has been the main strategy in the U.S. for protecting coastal properties from erosion and flooding hazards. Paradoxically, investment in hazard protection may intensify development. Here, we examine the housing stock of all existing shorefront single-family homes in Florida - a microcosm of U.S. coastal hazards and development - to quantitatively compare development in nourishing and non-nourishing towns. We find that nourishing towns now account for more than half of Florida's coastline, and that houses in nourishing towns are larger and more numerous. Even as the mean size of single-family homes nationwide has grown steadily since 1970, Florida's shorefront stock has exceeded the national average by 34%, and in nourishing towns by 45%. This emergent disparity between nourishing and non-nourishing towns in Florida demonstrates a pattern of intensifying coastal risk, and is likely representative of a dominant trend in coastal development more generally. These data lend empirical support to the hypothesis that US coastal development and hazard mitigation through beach nourishment have become dynamically coupled.

  5. Critical Aspects of the Coastal Drought Index: Length of Salinity Data Record and Ecological Response Data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Conrads, P. A.; Tufford, D. L.; Darby, L. S.

    2015-12-01

    The phenomenon of coastal drought has a different dynamic from upland droughts that are typically characterized by agricultural, hydrologic, meteorological, and(or) socio-economic impacts. Because of the uniqueness of drought impacts on coastal ecosystems, a coastal drought index (CDI) that uses existing salinity datasets for sites in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida was developed using an approach similar to the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI). CDIs characterizing the 1- to 24-month salinity conditions were developed and the evaluation of the CDI indicates that the index can be used for different estuary types (for example, brackish, olioghaline, or mesohaline), for regional comparison between estuaries, and as an index for wet conditions (high freshwater inflow) in addition to drought conditions. Unlike the SPI where long-term precipitation datasets of 50 to 100 years are available for computing the index, there are a limited number of salinity data sets of greater than 10 or 15 years for computing the CDI. To evaluate the length of salinity record necessary to compute the CDI, a 29-year dataset was resampled into 5-, 10-, 15-, and 20-year interval datasets. Comparison of the CDI for the different periods of record show that the range of salinity conditions in the 10-, 15-, and 20-year datasets were similar and results were a close approximation to the CDI computed by using the full period of record. The CDI computed with the 5-year dataset had the largest differences with the CDI computed with the 29-year dataset but did provide useful information on coastal drought and freshwater conditions. An ongoing National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) drought early warning project in the Carolinas is developing ecological linkages to the CDI and evaluating the effectiveness of the CDI as a prediction tool for adaptation planning for future droughts. However, identifying potential coastal drought response datasets is a challenge. Coastal drought

  6. Multidsciplinary Approaches to Coastal Adaptation - Aplying Machine Learning Techniques to assess coastal risk in Latin America and The Caribbean

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Calil, J.

    2016-12-01

    The global population, currently at 7.3 billion, is increasing by nearly 230,000 people every day. As the world's population grows to an estimated 11.2 billion by 2100, the number of people living in low elevation areas, exposed to coastal hazards, is continuing to increase. In 2013, 22 million people were displaced by extreme weather events, with 37 events displacing at least 100,000 people each. Losses from natural disasters and disaster risk are determined by a complex interaction between physical hazards and the vulnerability of a society or social-ecological system, and its exposure to such hazards. Impacts from coastal hazards depend on the number of people, value of assets, and presence of critical resources in harm's way. Moreover, coastal risks are amplified by challenging socioeconomic dynamics, including ill-advised urban development, income inequality, and poverty level. Our results demonstrate that in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), more than half a million people live in areas where coastal hazards, exposure (of people, assets and ecosystems), and poverty converge, creating the ideal conditions for a perfect storm. In order to identify the population at greatest risk to coastal hazards in LAC, and in response to a growing demand for multidisciplinary coastal adaptation approaches, this study employs a combination of machine learning clustering techniques (K-Means and Self Organizing Maps), and a spatial index, to assess coastal risks on a comparative scale. Data for more than 13,000 coastal locations in LAC were collected and allocated into three categories: (1) Coastal Hazards (including storm surge, wave energy and El Niño); (2) Geographic Exposure (including population, agriculture, and ecosystems); and (3) Vulnerability (including income inequality, infant mortality rate and malnutrition). This study identified hotspots of coastal vulnerability, the key drivers of coastal risk at each geographic location. Our results provide important

  7. The spatiotemporal inhomogeneity of pollutant concentrations and its dependence on regional weather conditions in a coastal city of China.

    PubMed

    Zhou, Baohua; Yu, Lejiang; Zhong, Shiyuan; Bian, Xindi

    2018-04-02

    Hourly data for sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), nitrogen oxides (NO x ), and inhalable particulate matter (PM 10 ) over a 33-month period from a network of air quality monitoring stations across Qingdao, a major coastal city in eastern China, along with surface and upper-air meteorological data, are used to characterize the spatiotemporal variability of these pollutants in the region and the role of meteorological conditions play in pollution episodes. Large differences in the concentrations of all three pollutants are found between densely populated or industrial areas and suburban commercial or residential or coastal tourist areas, but the differences are relatively small between older and newer parts of the residential-commercial areas and between old and newly developed industrial areas. Wavelet analyses revealed a strong seasonal cycle for all three pollutants, introseasonal variability with a periodicity depending on pollutant and location, and diurnal and a semi-diurnal variability with season-dependent amplitude and phase. Low wind speed is found to be the leading factor for pollution buildup in the region. These results may prove useful for urban planning and development and implementation of effective air pollution control strategies for other coastal regions with economic development similar to Qingdao.

  8. National Assessment of Shoreline Change Part 3: Historical Shoreline Change and Associated Coastal Land Loss Along Sandy Shorelines of the California Coast

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Hapke, Cheryl J.; Reid, David; Richmond, Bruce M.; Ruggiero, Peter; List, Jeff

    2006-01-01

    Beach erosion is a chronic problem along many open-ocean shores of the United States. As coastal populations continue to grow and community infrastructures are threatened by erosion, there is increased demand for accurate information regarding past and present trends and rates of shoreline movement. There is also a need for a comprehensive analysis of shoreline movement that is consistent from one coastal region to another. To meet these national needs, the U.S. Geological Survey is conducting an analysis of historical shoreline changes along open-ocean sandy shores of the conterminous United States and parts of Hawaii and Alaska. One purpose of this work is to develop standard repeatable methods for mapping and analyzing shoreline movement so that periodic updates regarding coastal erosion and land loss can be made nationally that are systematic and internally consistent. In the case of this study, the shoreline being measured is the boundary between the ocean water surface and the sandy beach. This report on the California Coast represents the first of two reports on long-term sandy shoreline change for the western U.S., the second of which will include the coast of the Pacific NW, including Oregon and Washington. A report for the Gulf of Mexico shoreline was completed in 2004 and is available at: http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2004/1043/. This report summarizes the methods of analysis, interprets the results, provides explanations regarding long-term and short-term trends and rates of change, and describes how different coastal communities are responding to coastal erosion. Shoreline change evaluations are based on comparing three historical shorelines digitized from maps, with a recent shoreline derived from lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) topographic surveys. The historical shorelines generally represent the following periods: 1800s, 1920s-1930s, and 1950s-1970s, whereas the lidar shoreline is from 1998-2002. Long-term rates of change are calculated using all

  9. On the use of wave parameterizations and a storm impact scaling model in National Weather Service Coastal Flood and decision support operations

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Mignone, Anthony; Stockdon, H.; Willis, M.; Cannon, J.W.; Thompson, R.

    2012-01-01

    National Weather Service (NWS) Weather Forecast Offices (WFO) are responsible for issuing coastal flood watches, warnings, advisories, and local statements to alert decision makers and the general public when rising water levels may lead to coastal impacts such as inundation, erosion, and wave battery. Both extratropical and tropical cyclones can generate the prerequisite rise in water level to set the stage for a coastal impact event. Forecasters use a variety of tools including computer model guidance and local studies to help predict the potential severity of coastal flooding. However, a key missing component has been the incorporation of the effects of waves in the prediction of total water level and the associated coastal impacts. Several recent studies have demonstrated the importance of incorporating wave action into the NWS coastal flood program. To follow up on these studies, this paper looks at the potential of applying recently developed empirical parameterizations of wave setup, swash, and runup to the NWS forecast process. Additionally, the wave parameterizations are incorporated into a storm impact scaling model that compares extreme water levels to beach elevation data to determine the mode of coastal change at predetermined “hotspots” of interest. Specifically, the storm impact model compares the approximate storm-induced still water level, which includes contributions from tides, storm surge, and wave setup, to dune crest elevation to determine inundation potential. The model also compares the combined effects of tides, storm surge, and the 2 % exceedance level for vertical wave runup (including both wave setup and swash) to dune toe and crest elevations to determine if erosion and/or ocean overwash may occur. The wave parameterizations and storm impact model are applied to two cases in 2009 that led to significant coastal impacts and unique forecast challenges in North Carolina: the extratropical “Nor'Ida” event during 11-14 November and

  10. Development of a Coastal Drought Index Using Salinity Data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Conrads, P. A.; Darby, L. S.

    2014-12-01

    The freshwater-saltwater interface in surface-water bodies along the coast is an important factor in the ecological and socio-economic dynamics of coastal communities. It influences community composition in freshwater and saltwater ecosystems, determines fisheries spawning habitat, and controls freshwater availability for municipal and industrial water intakes. These dynamics may be affected by coastal drought through changes in Vibrio bacteria impacts on shellfish harvesting and occurrence of wound infection, fish kills, harmful algal blooms, hypoxia, and beach closures. There are many definitions of drought, with most describing a decline in precipitation having negative impacts on water supply and agriculture. Four general types of drought are recognized: hydrological, agricultural, meteorological, and socio-economic. Indices have been developed for these drought types incorporating data such as rainfall, streamflow, soil moisture, groundwater levels, and snow pack. These indices were developed for upland areas and may not be appropriate for characterizing drought in coastal areas. Because of the uniqueness of drought impacts on coastal ecosystems, a need exists to develop a coastal drought index. The availability of real-time and historical salinity datasets provides an opportunity to develop a salinity-based coastal drought index. The challenge of characterizing salinity dynamics in response to drought is excluding responses attributable to occasional saltwater intrusion events. Our approach to develop a coastal drought index modified the Standardized Precipitation Index and applied it to sites in South Carolina and Georgia, USA. Coastal drought indices characterizing 1-, 3-, 6-, 9-, and12-month drought conditions were developed. Evaluation of the coastal drought index indicates that it can be used for different estuary types, for comparison between estuaries, and as an index for wet conditions (high freshwater inflow) in addition to drought conditions.

  11. 15 CFR 930.151 - Interstate coastal effect.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ...) NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE OCEAN AND COASTAL RESOURCE... resulting from the incremental impact of the federal action when added to other past, present, and...

  12. 15 CFR 930.151 - Interstate coastal effect.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ...) NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE OCEAN AND COASTAL RESOURCE... resulting from the incremental impact of the federal action when added to other past, present, and...

  13. Impacts of climate change on coastal flood risk in England and Wales: 2030-2100.

    PubMed

    Hall, Jim W; Sayers, Paul B; Walkden, Mike J A; Panzeri, Mike

    2006-04-15

    Coastal flood risk is a function of the probability of coastal flooding and the consequential damage. Scenarios of potential changes in coastal flood risk due to changes in climate, society and the economy over the twenty-first century have been analysed using a national-scale quantified flood risk analysis methodology. If it is assumed that there will be no adaptation to increasing coastal flood risk, the expected annual damage in England and Wales due to coastal flooding is predicted to increase from the current 0.5 billion pounds to between 1.0 pound and 13.5 billion pounds, depending on the scenario of climate and socio-economic change. The proportion of national flood risk that is attributable to coastal flooding is projected to increase from roughly 50% to between 60 and 70%. Scenarios of adaptation to increasing risk, by construction of coastal dikes or retreat from coastal floodplains, are analysed. These adaptations are shown to be able to reduce coastal flood risk to between 0.2 pounds and 0.8 billion pounds. The capital cost of the associated coastal engineering works is estimated to be between 12 pounds and 40 billion pounds. Non-structural measures to reduce risk can make a major contribution to reducing the cost and environmental impact of engineering measures.

  14. Geospatial characteristics of Florida's coastal and offshore environments: Distribution of important habitats for coastal and offshore biological resources and offshore sand resources

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Demopoulos, Amanda W.J.; Foster, Ann M.; Jones, Michal L.; Gualtieri, Daniel J.

    2011-01-01

    The Geospatial Characteristics GeoPDF of Florida's Coastal and Offshore Environments is a comprehensive collection of geospatial data describing the political boundaries and natural resources of Florida. This interactive map provides spatial information on bathymetry, sand resources, and locations of important habitats (for example, Essential Fish Habitats (EFH), nesting areas, strandings) for marine invertebrates, fish, reptiles, birds, and marine mammals. The map should be useful to coastal resource managers and others interested in marine habitats and submerged obstructions of Florida's coastal region. In particular, as oil and gas explorations continue to expand, the map can be used to explore information regarding sensitive areas and resources in the State of Florida. Users of this geospatial database will have access to synthesized information in a variety of scientific disciplines concerning Florida's coastal zone. This powerful tool provides a one-stop assembly of data that can be tailored to fit the needs of many natural resource managers. The map was originally developed to assist the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEMRE) and coastal resources managers with planning beach restoration projects. The BOEMRE uses a systematic approach in planning the development of submerged lands of the Continental Shelf seaward of Florida's territorial waters. Such development could affect the environment. BOEMRE is required to ascertain the existing physical, biological, and socioeconomic conditions of the submerged lands and estimate the impact of developing these lands. Data sources included the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, BOEMRE, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Florida Geographic Data Library, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida Natural Areas Inventory, and the State of Florida, Bureau of Archeological Research. Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) compliant metadata are

  15. Atmospheric conditions during the spring and fall transitions in the coastal ocean off western United States

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Strub, P. Ted; James, Corinne

    1988-01-01

    Atmospheric events which force the spring and fall oceanic transitions in the coastal ocean off the west coast of North America were examined by analyzing the records of adjusted sea level (ASL), coastal wind stress, sea level atmospheric pressure (SLP), and 500-mbar heights for the years 1971-1975 and 1980-1983. The records cover periods of 91 days, centered on the dates of the spring and fall transitions as determined from coastal ASL data. It was found that the dominant mode of the ASL and coastal wind stress are similar around the times of both the spring and fall transitions, and that the time series for these modes are highly correlated with one another. Principal estimator patterns show the spatial patterns of SLP which force the ASL and coastal wind stress during the transitions.

  16. COASTAL INVERTEBRATES AND FISHES: HOW WILL THEY BE AFFECTED BY CHANGING ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS- INCORPORATING CLIMATE SCENARIOS INTO THE COASTAL BIODIVERSITY RISK ANALYSIS TOOL (CBRAT)

    EPA Science Inventory

    The Coastal Biodiversity Risk Analysis Tool (CBRAT) is a public website that functions as an ecoinformatics platform to synthesize biogeographical distributions, abundances, life history attributes, and environmental tolerances for near-coastal invertebrates and fishes on a broad...

  17. Analysis of trends in climate, streamflow, and stream temperature in north coastal California

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Madej, Mary Ann; Medley, C. Nicholas; Patterson, Glenn; Parker, Melanie J.

    2011-01-01

    As part of a broader project analyzing trends in climate, streamflow, vegetation, salmon, and ocean conditions in northern California national park units, we compiled average monthly air temperature and precipitation data from 73 climate stations, streamflow data from 21 river gaging stations, and limited stream temperature data from salmon-bearing rivers in north coastal California. Many climate stations show a statistically significant increase in both average maximum and average minimum air temperature in early fall and midwinter during the last century. Concurrently, average September precipitation has decreased. In many coastal rivers, summer low flow has decreased and summer stream temperatures have increased, which affects summer rearing habitat for salmonids. Nevertheless, because vegetative cover has also changed during this time period, we cannot ascribe streamflow changes to climate change without first assessing water budgets. Although shifts in the timing of the centroid of runoff have been documented in snowmelt-dominated watersheds in the western United States, this was not the case in lower elevation coastal rivers analyzed in this study.

  18. The Condition of STEM 2014. National

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    ACT, Inc., 2014

    2014-01-01

    ACT has been a leader in measuring college and career readiness trends since 1959. Each August, they release "The Condition of College & Career Readiness" (www.act.org/newsroom/data/2014), their annual report on the progress of the ACT-tested graduating class relative to college readiness. Nationally, 57% of the 2014 graduating class…

  19. Southern Alaska Coastal Relief Model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lim, E.; Eakins, B.; Wigley, R.

    2009-12-01

    The National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC), an office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), in conjunction with the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado at Boulder, has developed a 24 arc-second integrated bathymetric-topographic digital elevation model of Southern Alaska. This Coastal Relief Model (CRM) was generated from diverse digital datasets that were obtained from NGDC, the United States Geological Survey, and other U.S. and international agencies. The CRM spans 170° to 230° E and 48.5° to 66.5° N, including the Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea, Aleutian Islands, and Alaska’s largest communities: Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau. The CRM provides a framework for enabling scientists to refine tsunami propagation and ocean circulation modeling through increased resolution of geomorphologic features. It may also be useful for benthic habitat research, weather forecasting, and environmental stewardship. Shaded-relief image of the Southern Alaska Coastal Relief Model.

  20. Effects of future climate conditions on streamflow dynamics in coastal southern California watersheds

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Feng, D.; Zhao, Y.; Raoufi, R.; Beighley, E.; Melack, J.

    2017-12-01

    The Santa Barbara Coastal - Long Term Ecological Research Project is focused on investigating the relative importance of land and ocean processes in structuring giant kelp forest ecosystems. Understanding how current and future climate conditions influence terrestrial export of water is a central theme for the project. In this study, the Hillslope River Routing (HRR) model is forced with past measurement-based (1950 to 2005) and future model-based (2006 to 2100) precipitation and temperature to estimate daily streamflow dynamics. The study region is roughly 800 km2 with 179 watersheds ranging from 0.1 to 123 km2. The model-based forcings are downscaled to a spatial resolution of 6 km by 6 km. The Priestley and Taylor method is used to estimate potential evapotranspiration based on the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations limited climate data approximations and land surface conditions (albedo, leaf area index, land cover) measured from NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra and Aqua satellites. The HRR model is calibrated for the period 1984 to 2013 using USGS streamflow. Median changes in downscaled precipitation projections from 10 models and two emission scenarios (RCP 4.5 and 8.5) combined with significance testing, suggest that the distribution of precipitation throughout the rainy season will change: decrease at the beginning of the rainy season (Oct-Dec), increase during peak season (Jan-Mar) and decrease at the end (Apr-Jun). Annually, results suggest a slight increase in precipitation. The decrease of rainfall in spring and fall and increase in winter will lead to a shorter (10-15 days, 8-14%), more intense wet season. Both the magnitude and frequency of large storms (>36 mm/day) are likely to increase. Following the precipitation patterns, streamflow in spring and fall is likely to decrease while winter streamflow and annual peak flows are likely to increase due to increased winter precipitation and

  1. Great Lakes Maps - NOAA's National Weather Service

    Science.gov Websites

    Coastal Forecast System) Waves (GLERL Great Lakes Coastal Forecast System) Ice Cover (GLERL Great Lakes Coastal Forecast System) NOAA's National Weather Service Central Region Headquarters Regional Office 7220

  2. Adapting Coastal State Indicators to end-users: the iCoast Project

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Demarchi, Alessandro; Isotta Cristofori, Elena; Gracia, Vicente; Sairouní, Abdel; García-León, Manuel; Cámaro, Walther; Facello, Anna

    2016-04-01

    The extraordinary development of the built environment and of the population densities in the coastal areas are making coastal communities highly exposed. The sea level rise induced by climate change will worsen this coastal vulnerability scenario and a considerable amount of people are expected to be threatened by coastal flooding in the future. Due to the increasing number of catastrophic events, and the consequent increased number of damages and people affected, over the last decades coastal hazard management has become a fundamental activity in order to improve the resilience of coastal community. In this scenario, iCoast (integrated COastal Alert SysTem) project has been founded to develop a tool able to address coastal risks caused by extreme waves and high sea water levels in European coastal areas. In the framework of iCoast Project, a set of Coastal State Indicators (CSIs) has been developed in order to improve the forecasting and the assessment of coastal risks. CSIs are indeed parameters able to provide end-users with an essential information about coastal hazards and related impacts. Within the iCoast Project, following a comprehensive literature review about existing indicators concerning coastal risks, a list of CSIs have been chosen as parameters that can be derived from the meteorological and the hydrodynamic modules. They include both physical variables used as trigger for meteorological and flood warnings from the majority of the operational National/Regional warning systems and further essential parameters, so called 'storm integrated' coastal-storm indicators, able to describe the physical processes that drive coastal damages, such as erosion, accumulation, flooding, destructions. Nowadays, it is generally acknowledged that communities are not homogenous and hence their different vulnerable groups might need different warnings. Generally, even existing national EWS in developed countries are often ineffective to issue targeted warnings for

  3. A Dynamic Flood Inundation Model Framework to Assess Coastal Flood Risk in a Changing Climate

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bilskie, M. V.; Hagen, S. C.; Passeri, D. L.; Alizad, K.; Medeiros, S. C.; Irish, J. L.

    2015-12-01

    Coastal regions around the world are susceptible to a variety of natural disasters causing extreme inundation. It is anticipated that the vulnerability of coastal cities will increase due to the effects of climate change, and in particular sea level rise (SLR). A novel framework was developed to generate a suite of physics-based storm surge models that include projections of coastal floodplain dynamics under climate change scenarios: shoreline erosion/accretion, dune morphology, salt marsh migration, and population dynamics. First, the storm surge inundation model was extensively validated for present day conditions with respect to astronomic tides and hindcasts of Hurricane Ivan (2004), Dennis (2005), Katrina (2005), and Isaac (2012). The model was then modified to characterize the future outlook of the landscape for four climate change scenarios for the year 2100 (B1, B2, A1B, and A2), and each climate change scenario was linked to a sea level rise of 0.2 m, 0.5 m, 1.2 m, and 2.0 m. The adapted model was then used to simulate hurricane storm surge conditions for each climate scenario using a variety of tropical cyclones as the forcing mechanism. The collection of results shows the intensification of inundation area and the vulnerability of the coast to potential future climate conditions. The methodology developed herein to assess coastal flooding under climate change can be performed across any coastal region worldwide, and results provide awareness of regions vulnerable to extreme flooding in the future. Note: The main theme behind this work is to appear in a future Earth's Future publication. Bilskie, M. V., S. C. Hagen, S. C. Medeiros, and D. L. Passeri (2014), Dynamics of sea level rise and coastal flooding on a changing landscape, Geophysical Research Letters, 41(3), 927-934. Parris, A., et al. (2012), Global Sea Level Rise Scenarios for the United States National Climate AssessmentRep., 37 pp. Passeri, D. L., S. C. Hagen, M. V. Bilskie, and S. C. Medeiros

  4. SEDIMENT TOTAL ORGANIC CARBON: IS THIS A USEFUL INDICATOR OF SEDIMENT CONDITION FOR PACIFIC NORTHWEST ESTUARIES?

    EPA Science Inventory

    Total organic carbon (TOC) content of sediments has been used as an indicator of benthic community condition during multiple cycles of the EPA National Coastal Assessment (NCA). Because percent TOC is generally positively correlated with sediment percent fines, previous analyses...

  5. Environmental Conditions in Northern Gulf of Mexico Estuaries: Before and After the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

    EPA Science Inventory

    When conducting an environmental assessment to determine the ecological effects of the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), baseline environmental data is essential to establish ecosystem condition prior to the incident. EPA’s National Coastal Assessment...

  6. Water Quality in the New England Coastal Basins, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island 1999-2001

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Robinson, Keith W.; Flanagan, Sarah M.; Ayotte, Joseph D.; Campo, Kimberly W.; Chalmers, Ann; Coles, James F.; Cuffney, Thomas F.

    2004-01-01

    This report contains the major findings of a 1999?2001 assessment of water quality in the New England Coastal Basins. It is one of a series of reports by the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program that present major findings in 51 major river basins and aquifer systems across the Nation. In these reports, water quality is discussed in terms of local, State, and regional issues. Conditions in a particular basin or aquifer system are compared to conditions found elsewhere and to selected national benchmarks, such as those for drinking-water quality and the protection of aquatic organisms. This report is intended for individuals working with water-resource issues in Federal, State, or local agencies, universities, public interest groups, or in the private sector. The information will be useful in addressing a number of current issues, such as the effects of agricultural and urban land use on water quality, human health, drinking water, source-water protection, hypoxia and excessive growth of algae and plants, pesticide registration, and monitoring and sampling strategies. This report is also for individuals who wish to know more about the quality of streams and ground water in areas near where they live and how that water quality compares to the quality of water in other areas across the Nation. The water-quality conditions in the New England Coastal Basins summarized in this report are discussed in detail in other reports that can be accessed from http://nh.water.usgs.gov/CurrentProjects/nawqa/nawqaweb.htm. Detailed technical information, data and analyses, collection and analytical methodology, models, graphs, and maps that support the findings presented in this report in addition to reports in this series from other basins can be accessed from the national NAWQA Web site (http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa).

  7. Monitoring Ground-Water Quality in Coastal Ecosystems

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Colman, John A.; Masterson, John P.

    2007-01-01

    INTRODUCTION The Cape Cod National Seashore (CACO) extends along more than 70 km of Atlantic Ocean open-beach coastline and includes three large saltwater bays - Wellfleet Harbor, Nauset Marsh, and Pleasant Bay (fig. 1). CACO encompasses about 18,000 ha of uplands, lakes, wetlands, and tidal lands (Godfrey and others, 1999) including most habitats typical of the sandy coast in National seashores and parks extending southward from Massachusetts to Florida. In 1995, CACO was selected by the National Park Service (NPS) as a prototype park typifying the Atlantic and Gulf Coast biogeographic region for long-term coastal ecosystem monitoring. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is currently (2007) assisting the NPS in the development of protocols for a Long-Term Coastal Ecosystem Monitoring Program at the CACO in Massachusetts. The overall purpose of the monitoring program is to characterize both natural and human-induced change in the biological resources of the CACO, over a time scale of decades, in the context of a changing global ecosystem.

  8. The Condition of STEM 2015. National

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    ACT, Inc., 2015

    2015-01-01

    ACT has been a leader in measuring college and career readiness trends since 1959. Each August, ACT releases The Condition of College & Career Readiness (www.act.org/newsroom/data/2015), an annual report on the progress of the ACT-tested graduating class relative to college readiness. Nationally, a record 59% of the 2015 graduating class took…

  9. COASTAL WETLANDS INDICATOR STUDY: EMAP-ESTUARIES LOUISIANIAN PROVINCE - 1991

    EPA Science Inventory

    This document describes the rationale, objectives, approach, and strategy for testing biological indicators of ecological condition in coastal wetlands. This coastal wetlands program is part of the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP) administered by the Environ...

  10. ASSESSING THE CONDITION OF THE COASTAL RESOURCES OF PUERTO RICO

    EPA Science Inventory

    Forty seven stations located in the coastal estuaries of Puerto Rico were sampled during the summer of 2000 using a probabilistic design. Fourteen estuaries were classified as "large" at 4.19 km2, 25 "medium" at 3.46 km2, and 8 "small" at 0.55 km2. Samples were successfully coll...

  11. Coastal storm monitoring in Virginia

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Wicklein, Shaun M.; Bennett, Mark

    2014-01-01

    Coastal communities in Virginia are prone to flooding, particularly during hurricanes, nor’easters, and other coastal low-pressure systems. These weather systems affect public safety, personal and public property, and valuable infrastructure, such as transportation, water and sewer, and electric-supply networks. Local emergency managers, utility operators, and the public are tasked with making difficult decisions regarding evacuations, road closures, and post-storm recovery efforts as a result of coastal flooding. In coastal Virginia these decisions often are made on the basis of anecdotal knowledge from past events or predictions based on data from monitoring sites located far away from the affected area that may not reflect local conditions. Preventing flood hazards, such as hurricane-induced storm surge, from becoming human disasters requires an understanding of the relative risks that flooding poses to specific communities. The risk to life and property can be very high if decisions about evacuations and road closures are made too late or not at all.

  12. 75 FR 16747 - Evaluation of State Coastal Management Programs and National Estuarine Research Reserves

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-04-02

    ... Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM) announces its intent to evaluate the performance of the... CZMA requires continuing review of the performance of states with respect to coastal program... the Secretary of Commerce, and adhered to the terms of financial assistance awards funded under the...

  13. UNDS Phase II Batch One: National Consistency Determination

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    Under the Coastal Zone Management Act, federal actions that are national or regional in scope must issue an accompanying National Consistency Determination, to ensure that the action does not overly conflict with state/territory-level coastal programs.

  14. Condition and biochemical profile of blue mussels (Mytilus edulis L.) cultured at different depths in a cold water coastal environment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gallardi, Daria; Mills, Terry; Donnet, Sebastien; Parrish, Christopher C.; Murray, Harry M.

    2017-08-01

    The growth and health of cultured blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) are affected by environmental conditions. Typically, culture sites are situated in sheltered areas near shore (i.e., < 1 km distance from land, < 20 m depth); however, land runoff, user conflicts and environmental impact in coastal areas are concerns and interest in developing deep water (> 20 m depth) mussel culture has been growing. This study evaluated the effect of culture depth on blue mussels in a cold water coastal environment (Newfoundland, Canada). Culture depth was examined over two years from September 2012 to September 2014; mussels from three shallow water (5 m) and three deep water (15 m) sites were compared for growth and biochemical composition; culture depths were compared for temperature and chlorophyll a. Differences between the two years examined were noted, possibly due to harsh winter conditions in the second year of the experiment. In both years shallow and deep water mussels presented similar condition; in year 2 deep water mussels had a significantly better biochemical profile. Lipid and glycogen analyses showed seasonal variations, but no significant differences between shallow and deep water were noted. Fatty acid profiles showed a significantly higher content of omega-3 s (20:5ω3; EPA) and lower content of bacterial fatty acids in deep water sites in year 2. Everything considered, deep water appeared to provide a more favorable environment for mussel growth than shallow water under harsher weather conditions.

  15. Coastal impacts, adaptation, and vulnerabilities: a technical input to the 2013 National Climate Assessment

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Burkett, Virginia; Davidson, Margaret; Burkett, Virginia; Davidson, Margaret

    2012-01-01

    The coast has long provided communities with a multitude of benefits including an abundance of natural resources that sustain economies, societies, and ecosystems. Coasts provide natural harbors for commerce, trade, and transportation; beaches and shorelines that attract residents and tourists; and wetlands and estuaries that are critical for fisheries and water resources. Coastal ecosystems provide critical functions to cycle and move nutrients, store carbon, detoxify wastes, and purify air and water. These areas also mitigate floods and buffer against coastal storms that bring high winds and salt water inland and erode the shore. Coastal regions are critical in the development, transportation, and processing of oil and natural gas resources and, more recently, are being explored as a source of energy captured from wind and waves. The many benefits and opportunities provided in coastal areas have strengthened our economic reliance on coastal resources. Consequently, the high demands placed on the coastal environment will increase commensurately with human activity. Because 35 U.S. states, commonwealths, and territories have coastlines that border the oceans or Great Lakes, impacts to coastline systems will reverberate through social, economic, and natural systems across the U.S. Impacts on coastal systems are among the most costly and most certain consequences of a warming climate (Nicholls et al., 2007). The warming atmosphere is expected to accelerate sea-level rise as a result of the decline of glaciers and ice sheets and the thermal expansion of sea water. As mean sea level rises, coastal shorelines will retreat and low-lying areas will tend to be inundated more frequently, if not permanently, by the advancing sea. As atmospheric temperature increases and rainfall patterns change, soil moisture and runoff to the coast are likely to be altered. An increase in the intensity of climatic extremes such as storms and heat spells, coupled with other impacts of

  16. Projected Scenarios for Coastal First Nations' Fisheries Catch Potential under Climate Change: Management Challenges and Opportunities.

    PubMed

    Weatherdon, Lauren V; Ota, Yoshitaka; Jones, Miranda C; Close, David A; Cheung, William W L

    2016-01-01

    Studies have demonstrated ways in which climate-related shifts in the distributions and relative abundances of marine species are expected to alter the dynamics and catch potential of global fisheries. While these studies assess impacts on large-scale commercial fisheries, few efforts have been made to quantitatively project impacts on small-scale subsistence and commercial fisheries that are economically, socially and culturally important to many coastal communities. This study uses a dynamic bioclimate envelope model to project scenarios of climate-related changes in the relative abundance, distribution and richness of 98 exploited marine fishes and invertebrates of commercial and cultural importance to First Nations in coastal British Columbia, Canada. Declines in abundance are projected for most of the sampled species under both the lower (Representative Concentration Pathway [RCP] 2.6) and higher (RCP 8.5) emission scenarios (-15.0% to -20.8%, respectively), with poleward range shifts occurring at a median rate of 10.3 to 18.0 km decade(-1) by 2050 relative to 2000. While a cumulative decline in catch potential is projected coastwide (-4.5 to -10.7%), estimates suggest a strong positive correlation between the change in relative catch potential and latitude, with First Nations' territories along the northern and central coasts of British Columbia likely to experience less severe declines than those to the south. Furthermore, a strong negative correlation is projected between latitude and the number of species exhibiting declining abundance. These trends are shown to be robust to alternative species distribution models. This study concludes by discussing corresponding management challenges that are likely to be encountered under climate change, and by highlighting the value of joint-management frameworks and traditional fisheries management approaches that could aid in offsetting impacts and developing site-specific mitigation and adaptation strategies derived

  17. ASSESSING THE CONDITION OF SOUTH CAROLINA'S ESTUARIES: A NEW APPROACH INVOLVING INTEGRATED MEASURES OF CONDITION

    EPA Science Inventory

    The South Carolina Estuarine and Coastal Assessment Program (SCECAP) was initiated in 1999 to assess the condition of the state's coastal habitats using multiple measures of water quality, sediment quality, and biological condition. Sampling has subsequently been expanded to incl...

  18. Investigation of geochemical indicators to evaluate the connection between inland and coastal groundwater systems near Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park, Hawai‘i

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Tillman, Fred D.; Oki, Delwyn S.; Johnson, Adam G.; Barber, Larry B.; Beisner, Kimberly R.

    2014-01-01

    Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park (KAHO) is a coastal sanctuary on the western side of the Island of Hawai‘i that was established in 1978 to preserve, interpret, and perpetuate traditional Native Hawaiian culture and activities. KAHO contains a variety of culturally and ecologically significant water resources and water-related habitat for species that have been declared as threatened or endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, or are candidate threatened or endangered species. These habitats are dependent on coastal unconfined groundwater in a freshwater-lens system. The coastal unconfined-groundwater system is recharged by local infiltration of rainfall but also may receive recharge from an inland groundwater system containing groundwater impounded to high altitudes. The area inland of and near KAHO is being rapidly urbanized and increased groundwater withdrawals from the inland impounded-groundwater system may affect habitat and water quality in KAHO, depending on the extent of connection between the coastal unconfined groundwater and inland impounded-groundwater. An investigation of the geochemistry of surface-water and groundwater samples in and near KAHO was performed to evaluate the presence or absence of a connection between the inland impounded- and coastal unconfined-groundwater systems in the area. Analyses of major ions, selected trace elements, rare-earth elements, and strontium-isotope ratio results from ocean, fishpond, anchialine pool, and groundwater samples were consistent with a linear mixing process between the inland impounded and coastal unconfined-groundwater systems. Stable isotopes of water in many samples from the coastal unconfined-groundwater system require an aggregate recharge altitude that is substantially higher than the boundary between the coastal unconfined and inland impounded systems, a further indication of a hydrologic connection between the two systems. The stable isotope composition of the freshwater

  19. Development of a coastal dune vulnerability index for Mediterranean ecosystems: A useful tool for coastal managers?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ciccarelli, D.; Pinna, M. S.; Alquini, F.; Cogoni, D.; Ruocco, M.; Bacchetta, G.; Sarti, G.; Fenu, G.

    2017-03-01

    Coastal dune ecosystems have been severely degraded as a result of excessive natural resource exploitation, urbanisation, industrial growth, and worldwide tourism. Coastal management often requires the use of vulnerability indices to facilitate the decision-making process. The main objective of this study was to develop a Mediterranean dune vulnerability index (MDVI) for sandy coasts, starting from the existing dune vulnerability index (DVI) proposed by Garcia-Mora et al. (2001) related to the oceanic coasts. Given that the Mediterranean sandy coasts are quite different from the Atlantic coasts, several adjustments and integrations were introduced. Our proposed index is based on the following five main group of factors: geomorphological conditions of the dune systems (GCD), marine influence (MI), aeolian effect (AE), vegetation condition (VC), and human effect (HE), for a total of 51 variables derived (and adapted) from the bibliography or proposed for the first time in this study. For each coastal site, a total vulnerability index, ranging from 0 (very low vulnerability) to 1 (very high vulnerability), was calculated as the unweighted average of the five partial vulnerability indices. Index computation was applied to 23 coastal dune systems of two different contexts in Italy, i.e. peninsular and continental island territories representative of the W-Mediterranean Basin, in order to compare the dune systems with different geomorphology, shoreline dynamics, and human pressure. In particular, our research addressed the following two questions: (1) Which variables are the most critical for the Italian coastal systems? (2) How can the coastal dune vulnerability index be used to develop appropriate strategies of conservation and management for these ecosystems? Cluster analysis and non-metric multidimensional scaling separated the peninsular from the insular sites, both of which were characterised by low to moderate values of vulnerability (0.32 < MDVI < 0.49). The most

  20. Pacific Coastal Ecology Branch: Research Overview

    EPA Science Inventory

    The Pacific Coastal Ecology Branch, Newport, Oregon is part of the Western Ecology Division of the National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory of the U.S. EPA. The Branch conducts research and provides scientific technical support to Headquarters and Regional O...

  1. Pan-European Coastal Erosion and Accretion: translating incomplete data and information for coastal reslience assessments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    van Heteren, Sytze; Moses, Cherith; van der Ven, Tamara

    2017-04-01

    EMODnet has changed the face of the European marine data landscape and is developing tools to connect national data and information resources to make them easily available for multiple users, for multiple purposes. Building on the results of EUROSION, an EU-project completed some ten years ago, EMODnet-Geology has been compiling coastal erosion and sedimentation data and information for all European shorelines. Coverage is being expanded, and data and information are being updated. Challenges faced during this compilation phase are posed by a) differences between parameters used as indicators of shoreline migration, b) restricted access to third-party data, and c) data gaps. There are many indicators of coastal behaviour, with inherent incompatibilities and variations between low-lying sediment and cliffed rock shorelines. Regionally, low data availability and limited access result in poor coverage. With Sentinel data expected to become increasingly available, it is time to invest in automated methods to derive coastal-erosion data from satellite monitoring. Even so, consistency of data and derived information on coastal erosion and accretion does not necessarily translate into usability in pan-European coastal-zone management. Indicators of shoreline change need to be assessed and weighted regionally in light of other parameters in order to be of value in assessing coastal resilience or vulnerability. There is no single way to portray coastal vulnerability for all of Europe in a meaningful way. A common legend, however attractive intuitively, results in data products that work well for one region but show insufficient or excessive detail elsewhere. For decision making, uniform products are often not very helpful. The ability to zoom in on different spatial levels is not a solution either. It is better to compile and visualize vulnerability studies with different legends, and to provide each map with a confidence assessment and other relevant metadata.

  2. 76 FR 46723 - Evaluation of State Coastal Management Programs and National Estuarine Research Reserves

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-08-03

    ... Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM) announces its intent to evaluate the performance..., subpart L. The CZMA requires continuing review of the performance of states with respect to coastal... approved by the Secretary of Commerce, and adhered to the terms of financial assistance awards funded under...

  3. Fragmented coastal boundary layer induced by gap winds

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Caldeira, Rui M. A.; Iglesias, Isabel; Sala, Iria; Vieira, Rui R.; Bastos, Luísa

    2015-04-01

    The oceanic impact of offshore-localized winds in the NW Iberian Peninsula was studied. Satellite and in situ observations showed the formation of plumes protruding offshore from the coast. To study the dynamics of such episodes tee Coupled-Ocean-Atmosphere-Wave- Sediment Transport Modeling System (COAWST) was used to reproduce the coastal conditions of the nortwestern Iberian Peninsula, allowing the concurrent representation of local winds, waves, currents, and rivers runoff. The use of coupled models is of outmost importance in order to accurately study the impact of the local winds on the coastal currents. The NW Iberian Peninsula has prominent capes, promontories and submarine canyons, which produce persistent hydrodynamic features. Thus far, the scientific literature shows that the western Iberian rivers produce a recurrent combined plume often denominated as the Western Iberian Buoyant Plume (WIBP) which increases the stratification of the water column and produces a vertical retention mechanism that keeps the biological material inshore. The WIBP extends northward along the coast (over the inner-shelf), and forms a front with the warmer and more saline surface (offshore) waters. However during episodes of strong offshore winds this coastal boundary layer is broken interrupting the WIBP. Coastal orography allows the formation of down-valley winds that produce coastal jets, promoting the offshore transport of pollutants, larvae and sediments. Acknowledgments: Acknowledgments: Numerical model solutions were calculated at CIIMARs HPC unit, acquired and maintained by FCT pluriannual funds (PesTC/Mar/LA0015/2013), and RAIA (0313-RAIA-1-E) and RAIA.co (0520-RAIACO-1-E) projects. The NICC (POCTI/CTA/49563/2002) project provided databases for this work. Rui Caldeira was supported by funds from the ECORISK project (NORTE-07-0124-FEDER-000054), co-financed by the North Portugal Regional Operational Programme (ON.2 - O Novo Norte), under the National Strategic Reference

  4. Estimating changes in carbon burial on the western US coastal shelf due to anthropogenic influences on river exports

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sauer, M.; Bergamaschi, B. A.; Smith, R. A.; Zhu, Z.; Shih, J.

    2012-12-01

    Flux of nutrients and sediments to the coastal zone varies in response to land-use modification, reservoir construction, management action and population change. It is anticipated that future changes in the flux of these components in response to climate and terrestrial processes will affect carbon (C) burial in the coastal ocean. Coastal oceans store appreciable amounts of C as a result of river inflows: coastal primary production is enhanced by inputs of terrestrially derived nutrients, and C burial is controlled by terrestrial sediment supply. Assessing the capacity and changes to coastal C preservation, therefore, requires estimation of (1) riverine nutrient and sediment delivery to the coastal ocean, and (2) the enhanced C production and sediment deposition in the coastal ocean. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has embarked on a congressionally-mandated nationwide effort to assess the future effects of climate and land use and land cover change (LULC) on C storage. The USGS has developed alternative scenarios for changes in US LULC from 2006 to 2100 based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) climate, economic, and demographic scenarios (Sohl et al 2012). These spatially-detailed scenarios provide inputs to national-scale SPARROW watershed models of total nitrogen, total phosphorus, total organic C (TOC), and suspended sediment (Smith et al 1997; Schwarz et al, 2006). The watershed models, in turn, provide inputs of nutrients, TOC, and sediment to a coupled model of coastal transport, production, and sedimentation. This coastal modelling component includes particulate C sedimentation and burial estimated as functions of bathymetry and pycnocline depth (Armstrong, et al 2002; Dunne et al 2007). River borne fluxes of TOC to US Pacific coastal waters under baseline conditions (1992) were 1.59 TgC/yr. Projected future (2050) fluxes under a regionally-downscaled LULC scenario aligned with the IPCC A2 scenario were similar (1.61TgC/yr). C

  5. 78 FR 77104 - Coastal Nonpoint Pollution Control Program: Intent To Find That Oregon Has Failed To Submit an...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-12-20

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY Coastal Nonpoint Pollution Control Program: Intent To Find That Oregon Has Failed To Submit an Approvable Coastal Nonpoint Pollution Control Program AGENCY: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration...

  6. Spaceborne radar interferometry for coastal DEM construction

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Hong, S.-H.; Lee, C.-W.; Won, J.-S.; Kwoun, Oh-Ig; Lu, Z.

    2005-01-01

    Topographic features in coastal regions including tidal flats change more significantly than landmass, and are characterized by extremely low slopes. High precision DEMs are required to monitor dynamic changes in coastal topography. It is difficult to obtain coherent interferometric SAR pairs especially over tidal flats mainly because of variation of tidal conditions. Here we focus on i) coherence of multi-pass ERS SAR interferometric pairs and ii) DEM construction from ERS-ENVISAT pairs. Coherences of multi-pass ERS interferograms were good enough to construct DEM under favorable tidal conditions. Coherence in sand dominant area was generally higher than that in muddy surface. The coarse grained coastal areas are favorable for multi-pass interferometry. Utilization of ERS-ENVISAT interferometric pairs is taken a growing interest. We carried out investigation using a cross-interferometric pair with a normal baseline of about 1.3 km, a 30 minutes temporal separation and the height sensitivity of about 6 meters. Preliminary results of ERS-ENVISAT interferometry were not successful due to baseline and unfavorable scattering conditions. ?? 2005 IEEE.

  7. Estimating Coastal Digital Elevation Model (DEM) Uncertainty

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Amante, C.; Mesick, S.

    2017-12-01

    Integrated bathymetric-topographic digital elevation models (DEMs) are representations of the Earth's solid surface and are fundamental to the modeling of coastal processes, including tsunami, storm surge, and sea-level rise inundation. Deviations in elevation values from the actual seabed or land surface constitute errors in DEMs, which originate from numerous sources, including: (i) the source elevation measurements (e.g., multibeam sonar, lidar), (ii) the interpolative gridding technique (e.g., spline, kriging) used to estimate elevations in areas unconstrained by source measurements, and (iii) the datum transformation used to convert bathymetric and topographic data to common vertical reference systems. The magnitude and spatial distribution of the errors from these sources are typically unknown, and the lack of knowledge regarding these errors represents the vertical uncertainty in the DEM. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) has developed DEMs for more than 200 coastal communities. This study presents a methodology developed at NOAA NCEI to derive accompanying uncertainty surfaces that estimate DEM errors at the individual cell-level. The development of high-resolution (1/9th arc-second), integrated bathymetric-topographic DEMs along the southwest coast of Florida serves as the case study for deriving uncertainty surfaces. The estimated uncertainty can then be propagated into the modeling of coastal processes that utilize DEMs. Incorporating the uncertainty produces more reliable modeling results, and in turn, better-informed coastal management decisions.

  8. Issues in ecology: Nutrient pollution of coastal rivers, bays, and seas

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Howarth, Robert W.; Anderson, D. B.; Cloern, James E.; Elfring, Chris; Hopkinson, Charles S.; Lapointe, Brian; Maloney, Thomas J.; Marcus, Nancy; McGlathery, Karen; Sharpley, A.N.; Walker, D.

    2000-01-01

    Over the past 40 years, antipollution laws have greatly reduced discharges of toxic substances into our coastal waters. This effort, however, has focused largely on point-source pollution of industrial and municipal effluent. No comparable effort has been made to restrict the input of nitrogen (N) from municipal effluent, nor to control the flows of N and phosphorus (P) that enter waterways from dispersed or nonpoint sources such as agricultural and urban runoff or as airborne pollutants. As a result, inputs of nonpoint pollutants, particularly N, have increased dramatically. Nonpoint pollution from N and P now represents the largest pollution problem facing the vital coastal waters of the United States. Nutrient pollution is the common thread that links an array of problems along the nation’s coastline, including eutrophication, harmful algal blooms, ”dead zones,” fish kills, some shellfish poisonings, loss of seagrass and kelp beds, some coral reef destruction, and even some marine mammal and seabird deaths. More than 60 percent of our coastal rivers and bays in every coastal state of the continental United States are moderately to severely degraded by nutrient pollution. This degradation is particularly severe in the mid Atlantic states, in the southeast, and in the Gulf of Mexico. A recent report from the National Research Council entitled “Clean Coastal Waters: Understanding and Reduc- ing the Effects of Nutrient Pollution” concludes that: Nutrient over-enrichment of coastal ecosystems generally triggers ecological changes that decrease the biologi- cal diversity of bays and estuaries. While moderate N enrichment of some coastal waters may increase fish production, over-enrichment generally degrades the marine food web that supports commercially valuable fish. The marked increase in nutrient pollution of coastal waters has been accompanied by an increase in harmful algal blooms, and in at least some cases, pollution has triggered these blooms. High

  9. Synthetic ultraviolet light filtering chemical contamination of coastal waters of Virgin Islands National Park, St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Bargar, Timothy A.; Alvarez, David; Garrison, Virginia H.

    2015-01-01

    Contamination of surface waters by synthetic ultraviolet light (UV) filtering chemicals is a concern for the Virgin Islands National Park (VINP). Discrete water samples were collected from VINP bays to determine UV filter chemical presence in the coastal waters. Spatial distribution and the potential for partitioning between subsurface waters and the sea surface microlayer (SML) were also examined. The UV filter chemicals 4-methylbenzylidene camphor, benzophenone-3, octinoxate, homosalate, and octocrylene were detected at concentrations up to 6073 ng/L (benzophenone-3). Concentrations for benzophenone-3 and homosalate declined exponentially (r2 = 0.86 to 0.98) with distance from the beach. Limited data indicate that some UV filter chemicals may partition to the SML relative to the subsurface waters. Contamination of VINP coastal waters by UV filter chemicals may be a significant issue, but an improved understanding of the temporal and spatial variability of their concentrations would be necessary to better understand the risk they present.

  10. Shifting paradigms in coastal restoration: Six decades' lessons from China.

    PubMed

    Liu, Zezheng; Cui, Baoshan; He, Qiang

    2016-10-01

    With accelerating degradation of coastal environment worldwide, restoration has been elevated as a global strategy to enhance the functioning and social services of coastal ecosystems. While many developing countries suffer from intense coastal degradation, current understanding of the science and practice of their coastal restorations is extremely limited. Based on analysis of >1000 restoration projects, we provide the first synthesis of China's coastal restorations. We show that China's coastal restoration has recently entered a rapidly developing stage, with an increasing number of restoration projects carried out in multiple types of coastal ecosystems. While long-term, national-level restorations enforced by the government appear promising for some coastal ecosystems, especially mangroves, restorations of many other coastal ecosystems, such as salt marshes, seagrasses and coral reefs, have been much less implemented, likely due to under-appreciation of their ecosystem services values. Furthermore, the planning, techniques, research/assessment, and participation models underlying current restorations remain largely inadequate for restoration to effectively halt rapid coastal degradation. To promote success, we propose a framework where paradigms in current restorations from planning to implementation and assessment are transformed in multiple ways. Our study has broad implications for coastal environmental management policies and practices, and should inform sustainable development of coupled human-ocean systems in many countries. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. A global map of suitability for coastal Vibrio cholerae under current and future climate conditions.

    PubMed

    Escobar, Luis E; Ryan, Sadie J; Stewart-Ibarra, Anna M; Finkelstein, Julia L; King, Christine A; Qiao, Huijie; Polhemus, Mark E

    2015-09-01

    Vibrio cholerae is a globally distributed water-borne pathogen that causes severe diarrheal disease and mortality, with current outbreaks as part of the seventh pandemic. Further understanding of the role of environmental factors in potential pathogen distribution and corresponding V. cholerae disease transmission over time and space is urgently needed to target surveillance of cholera and other climate and water-sensitive diseases. We used an ecological niche model (ENM) to identify environmental variables associated with V. cholerae presence in marine environments, to project a global model of V. cholerae distribution in ocean waters under current and future climate scenarios. We generated an ENM using published reports of V. cholerae in seawater and freely available remotely sensed imagery. Models indicated that factors associated with V. cholerae presence included chlorophyll-a, pH, and sea surface temperature (SST), with chlorophyll-a demonstrating the greatest explanatory power from variables selected for model calibration. We identified specific geographic areas for potential V. cholerae distribution. Coastal Bangladesh, where cholera is endemic, was found to be environmentally similar to coastal areas in Latin America. In a conservative climate change scenario, we observed a predicted increase in areas with environmental conditions suitable for V. cholerae. Findings highlight the potential for vulnerability maps to inform cholera surveillance, early warning systems, and disease prevention and control. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Development of a Reference Coastal Wetland set in Southern New England (USA)

    EPA Science Inventory

    Various measures of plants, soils, and invertebrates were described for a reference set of tidal coastal wetlands in southern New England in order to provide a framework for assessing the condition of other similar wetlands in the region. The condition of the ten coastal wetland...

  13. E-Estuary: Developing a Decision-support System for Coastal Management in the Counterminous Untied States (Coastal Geotools 09)

    EPA Science Inventory

    Ready access to geographic information is needed to support management decisions for estuaries at local, state, regional, and national scales. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) is developing e-Estuary, a decision-support system for coastal management. E-Estuary ...

  14. 77 FR 28854 - Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Coastal Zone Management Program Administration

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-05-16

    ... federally approved coastal management programs; complete information for the Coastal Zone Management Program.... Gwellnar Banks, Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer. [FR Doc. 2012-11777 Filed 5-15... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Proposed Information...

  15. NATIONAL RESULTS FROM THE 2011 NATIONAL WETLAND CONDITION ASSESSMENT (NWCA) SOILS ANALYSIS

    EPA Science Inventory

    In 2011, US Environmental Protection Agency conducted the first National Wetland Condition Assessment (NWCA). Field crews conducted one-day surveys of over 1000 wetlands across the contiguous United States. For every wetland sampled, soils were collected by layer (i.e., horizon)...

  16. Impacts of national surveillance for uncommon conditions in childhood.

    PubMed

    Zurynski, Yvonne A; Peadon, Elizabeth; Bower, Carol; Elliott, Elizabeth J

    2007-11-01

    The Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit (APSU) facilitates the conduct of national collaborative research that is consistent with national health priorities, has potential to impact on public health, and addresses gaps in knowledge. Since 1993 paediatricians and other child health specialists have contributed monthly data on rare childhood conditions to the APSU. Over 40 conditions, including infectious diseases, injuries, vaccine-preventable diseases and genetic disorders have been studied. Information on epidemiology, frequency, diagnosis, management and short-term outcomes of these conditions is collected and provides evidence to support changes to clinical practice, prevention policy and allocation of health resources. In this review we give examples of the value of information gathered through the APSU surveillance system in the last 14 years.

  17. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Western Region: Coastal and Ocean Science

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Kinsinger, Anne E.

    2009-01-01

    USGS Western Region Coastal and Ocean Science is interdisciplinary, collaborative, and integrates expertise from all USGS Disciplines, and ten of its major Science Centers, in Alaska, Hawai'i, California, Washington, and Oregon. The scientific talent, laboratories, and research vessels in the Western Region and across the Nation, strategically position the USGS to address broad geographic and oceanographic research topics. USGS information products inform resource managers and policy makers who must balance conservation mandates with increasing demands for resources that sustain the Nation's economy. This fact sheet describes but a few examples of the breadth of USGS science conducted in coastal, nearshore, and ocean environments along our Nation's West Coast and Pacific Islands.

  18. National Weather Service Marine Forecasts - FAQ

    Science.gov Websites

    ! Boating Safety Beach Hazards Rip Currents Hypothermia Hurricanes Thunderstorms Lightning Coastal Flooding marine coastal areas may be found in Appendix B of the National Ocean Service's Coast Pilot's, volumes 1 Advisory (SCA): An advisory issued by coastal and Great Lakes Weather Forecast Offices (WFO) for areas

  19. Coastal flooding hazard assessment on potentially vulnerable coastal sectors at Varna regional coast

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Eftimova, Petya; Valchev, Nikolay; Andreeva, Nataliya

    2017-04-01

    Storm induced flooding is one of the most significant threats that the coastal communities face. In the light of the climate change it is expected to gain even more importance. Therefore, the adequate assessment of this hazard could increase the capability of mitigation of environmental, social, and economic impacts. The study was accomplished in the frames of the Coastal Risk Assessment Framework (CRAF) developed within the FP7 RISC-KIT Project (Resilience-Increasing Strategies for Coasts - toolkit). The hazard assessment was applied on three potentially vulnerable coastal sectors located at the regional coast of Varna, Bulgarian Black Sea coast. The potential "hotspot" candidates were selected during the initial phase of CRAF which evaluated the coastal risks at regional level. The area of interest comprises different coastal types - from natural beaches and rocky cliffs to man modified environments presented by coastal and port defense structures such as the Varna Port breakwater, groynes, jetties and beaches formed by the presence of coastal structures. The assessment of coastal flooding was done using combination of models -XBeach model and LISFLOOD inundation model applied consecutively. The XBeach model was employed to calculate the hazard intensities at the coast up to the berm crest, while LISFLOOD model was used to calculate the intensity and extent of flooding in the hinterland. At the first stage, 75 extreme storm events were simulated using XBeach model run in "non-hydrostatic" mode to obtain series of flood depth, depth-velocity and overtopping discharges at the predefined coastal cross-shore transects. Extreme value analysis was applied to the calculated hazard parameters series in order to determine their probability distribution functions. This is so called response approach, which is focused on the onshore impact rather than on the deep water boundary conditions. It allows calculation of the hazard extremes probability distribution induced by a

  20. Incorporating Climate Change Effects into Next-Generation Coastal Inundation Decision Support Systems: An Integrated and Community-Based Approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sheng, Y.; Davis, J. R.; Paramygin, V. A.; LaRow, T.; Chassignet, E.; Stefanova, L. B.; Lu, J.; Xie, L.; Montalvo, S.; Liu, J.; Liu, B.

    2012-12-01

    75% of the world population lives within 100 km from the coastline. Coastal communities are subject to increasing coastal inundation risk due to the combined effects of hurricane-induced storm surge, tsunami, climate change, and sea level rise. This study is developing the next generation decision support systems (DSS) for storm surge and coastal inundation by incorporating the climate change impacts on hurricanes and sea level rise (SLR) along the Florida and North Carolina coast. Using a new methodology (instead of the "bath tub" approach) enhanced by the Institute for Sustainable Coastal Environment and Infrastructure (InSCEI) at University of Florida (UF), highly accurate and efficient coastal inundation maps (Base Flood Elevations and Surge Atlas) are being produced for current climate conditions. Atmospheric and climate scientists at Florida State University (FSU) and North Carolina State University (NCSU) are using global (FSU/COAPS) and regional (WRF) atmospheric models to estimate the range in hurricane activities during 2020-2040 and 2080-2100, using projected SSTs from the IPCC CMIP5 climate scenarios as lower boundary conditions. SLR experts at NCSU and FSU are analyzing historical sea level data and conducting numerical modeling to estimate the SLR at the coastal boundaries for the same IPCC scenarios. UF and NCSU are using the hurricane ensembles and the SLR scenarios provided by FSU and NCSU as input to storm surge and inundation models (CH3D-SSMS and CMAEPS, respectively) to produce high resolution inundation maps which include climate change effects. These future-climate coastal inundation maps will be much more accurate than the current ones and greatly improve the stakeholders' ability to mitigate coastal inundation risk throughout the U.S. and the world. These inundation maps for current and future climates will be communicated to a wide spectrum of stakeholders for feedback and further improvement. A national workshop will be held in January

  1. Analysis of Stakeholder-Defined Needs in Northeast U.S. Coastal Communities to Determine Gaps in Research Informing Coastal Resilience Planning

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Molino, G. D.; Kenney, M. A.; Sutton-Grier, A.; Penn, K.

    2017-12-01

    The impacts of climate change on our coastlines are increasing pressure on communities, ecosystems, infrastructure, and state-to-local economies in the northeastern United States (U.S.). As a result of current or imminent risk of acute and chronic hazards, local, state and regional entities have taken steps to identify and address vulnerabilities to climate change. Decisions to increase coastal infrastructure resilience and grey, green, and cultural infrastructure solutions requires physical, natural, and social science that is useful for decision-making and effective science translation mechanisms. Despite the desire to conduct or fund science that meets the needs of communities, there has been no comprehensive analysis to determine stakeholder-defined research needs. To address this gap, this study conducts a stakeholder needs analysis in northeast U.S. coastal communities to determine gaps in information and translation processes supporting coastal resilience planning. Documents were sourced from local, state, and regional organizations in both the public and private sectors, using the northeast region defined by the third National Climate Assessment. Modeled after Dilling et al. (2015), a deductive coding schema was developed that categorized documents using specific search terms such as "Location and condition of infrastructure" and "Proactive planning". A qualitative document analysis was then executed using NVivo to formally identify patterns and themes present in stakeholder surveys, workshop proceedings, and reports. Initial stakeholder priorities centered around incorporation of climate science into planning and decision making regarding vulnerabilities of infrastructure, enhanced emergency planning and response, and communication of key information.

  2. Inland and coastal waters

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mouw, Colleen; Greb, Steven

    2012-09-01

    Workshop for Remote Sensing of Coastal and Inland Waters;Madison, Wisconsin, 20-22 June 2012 Coastal and inland water bodies, which have great value for recreation, food supply, commerce, transportation, and human health, have been experiencing external pressure from direct human activities and climate change. Given their societal and economic value, understanding issues of water quality, water quantity, and the impact of environmental change on the ecological and biogeochemical functioning of these water bodies is of interest to a broad range of communities. Remote sensing offers one of the most spatially and temporally comprehensive tools for observing these waters. While there has been some success with remotely observing these water bodies, many challenges still remain, including algorithm performance, atmospheric correction, the relationships between optical properties and biogeochemical parameters, sufficient spatial and spectral resolution, and a lack of uncertainty estimates over the wide range of environmental conditions encountered across these coastal and inland water bodies.

  3. Working Conditions in the Industrial Nations: What Lies Ahead?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Spyropoulos, Georges

    1984-01-01

    Over the past 15 years, traditional concepts of working conditions and of work have been challenged in industrialized nations. The improvement of working conditions has become a basic issue, affected by the economic situation, technological advances, social climate, labor relations, and individual behavior. (Author/SK)

  4. Assessing hazards along our Nation's coasts

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Hapke, Cheryl J.; Brenner, Owen; Henderson, Rachel E.; Reynolds, B.J.

    2013-01-01

    Coastal areas are essential to the economic, cultural, and environmental health of the Nation, yet by nature coastal areas are constantly changing due to a variety of events and processes. Extreme storms can cause dramatic changes to our shorelines in a matter of hours, while sea-level rise can profoundly alter coastal environments over decades. These changes can have a devastating impact on coastal communities, such as the loss of homes built on retreating sea cliffs or protective dunes eroded by storm waves. Sometimes, however, the changes can be positive, such as new habitat created by storm deposits. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is meeting the need for scientific understanding of how our coasts respond to different hazards with continued assessments of current and future changes along U.S. coastlines. Through the National Assessment of Coastal Change Hazards (NACCH), the USGS carries out the unique task of quantifying coastal change hazards along open-ocean coasts in the United States and its territories. Residents of coastal communities, emergency managers, and other stakeholders can use science-based data, tools, models, and other products to improve planning and enhance resilience.

  5. Reconstructing conditions during dolomite formation on a Carnian coastal sabkha/alluvial plain using 87Sr/86Sr isotopes - Travenanzes Formation, northern Italy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rieder, Maximilian; Wegner, Wencke; Horschinegg, Monika; Preto, Nereo; Breda, Anna; Klötzli, Urs; Peckmann, Jörn; Meister, Patrick

    2016-04-01

    The study of large amounts of dolomite that formed in the Triassic Tethyan realm is hampered by late diagenetic or hydrothermal overprint. These dolomites are difficult to link to past environmental and early diagenetic conditions, and their correlation to models for dolomite formation in modern environments is problematic. Preto et al. (2015) suggested, based on evidence from nano-scale structure analysis by transmission electron microscopy and petrographic observations, that dolomites in the Carnian Travenanzes Formation of the Southern Alps (Dolomites area) represent a preserved primary phase. The Travenanzes Formation was deposited in an extended alluvial plain or coastal sabkha environment subject to a semi-arid climate. Beds and nodules of nearly stoichiometric dolomite are embedded in large amounts of clay, which shielded early formed dolomite from diagenetic fluids. This finding of penecontemporaneous dolomite provides an ideal model case for reconstructing past environmental conditions at the time of dolomite precipitation. While Preto et al. (2015) argued that dolomite formation was mediated by extracellular polymeric substances produced by sulphate-reducing bacteria, it remains unclear whether precipitation occurred from evaporating seawater or mainly from brine derived from evaporating continental groundwater. Both cases exist in modern environments of dolomite formation. In the coastal sabkhas of Abu Dhabi and Qatar, dolomite precipitates from concentrated brine derived from seawater, either through seepage and reflux or through evaporative pumping (the sabkha model). In the coastal ephemeral lakes of the Coorong Lagoon system (South Australia) dolomite precipitation occurs from evaporating groundwater. The goal of this study is to distinguish marine from continental influence during formation of Carnian dolomite using 87Sr/86Sr isotope ratios. Sr isotopes could reveal different origins of ionic solutions for dolomite precipitation, which is not

  6. Legislation Amendment Impact on Coastal Management Pattern: An Edge of Chaos towards Punctuated Equilibrium

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rahmawati, Dian

    2017-07-01

    Management of coastal areas and small islands in Indonesia refers to a set of coordination consists of planning, utilizing, monitoring, and controlling coastal resources that are carried out by every level of the government and many related sectors. An alteration has occurred in National Act about Local Government, Act No. 23/2014, which has the implications in the coastal management territorial zone. The issues started by the shifting of the seaward delineation authorities, it is stated that from 0 - 12 Nautical Miles (nmi) are under provincial government which previously 0 - 4 nmi were under city government, and 4 - 12 nmi were under provincial government. That said, there are no territorial management that is handled by the city/local government, including permit regulation. In hierarchy, provincial government are in upper level than city government. Chaos are happening especially in the context of authorities’ management level, but to reach the main purpose of the National Act there should be an equilibrium point to normalize the situation and get the stakeholders understand the principles and keep engaged in the new form of management. This article aims to assess the impact of the National Act alteration to the sustainability of coastal management. A case study to simplify the model is in the East Java province. Theoretical framework to assess the alteration impact were related to Integrated Coastal Zone Management principles and regulatory review of the coastal zones. The analytical methods used in this article is descriptive comparative to observe the alteration in the pattern of coastal zone management variables. The comparative study was then mapped in a flow diagram to be compared on different management situation. As a result, significant changes were revealed in the pattern of the coastal management factors: (i) Authorities delineation; (ii) Planning documents; (iii) Permit system; (iv) Control; and (iii) Program Accreditation.

  7. Management-focused approach to investigating coastal water-quality drivers and impacts in the Baltic Sea

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vigouroux, G.; Destouni, G.; Chen, Y.; Bring, A.; Jönsson, A.; Cvetkovic, V.

    2017-12-01

    Coastal areas link human-driven conditions on land with open sea conditions, and include crucial and vulnerable ecosystems that provide a variety of ecosystem services. Eutrophication is a common problem that is not least observed in the Baltic Sea, where coastal water quality is influenced both by land-based nutrient loading and by partly eutrophic open sea conditions. Robust and adaptive management of coastal systems is essential and necessitates integration of large scale catchment-coastal-marine systems as well as consideration of anthropogenic drivers and impacts, and climate change. To address this coastal challenge, relevant methodological approaches are required for characterization of coupled land, local coastal, and open sea conditions under an adaptive management framework for water quality. In this paper we present a new general and scalable dynamic characterization approach, developed for and applied to the Baltic Sea and its coastal areas. A simple carbon-based water quality model is implemented, dividing the Baltic Sea into main management basins that are linked to corresponding hydrological catchments on land, as well as to each other though aggregated three-dimensional marine hydrodynamics. Relevant hydrodynamic variables and associated water quality results have been validated on the Baltic Sea scale and show good accordance with available observation data and other modelling approaches. Based on its scalability, this methodology is further used on coastal zone scale to investigate the effects of hydrodynamic, hydro-climatic and nutrient load drivers on water quality and management implications for coastal areas in the Baltic Sea.

  8. Fire Island National Seashore

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Brock, John C.; Wright, C. Wayne; Patterson, Matt; Nayagandhi, Amar; Patterson, Judd

    2007-01-01

    These lidar-derived topographic maps were produced as a collaborative effort between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Geology Program, the National Park Service (NPS), Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network, Inventory and Monitoring Program, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Wallops Flight Facility. The aims of the partnership that created this product are to develop advanced survey techniques for mapping barrier island geomorphology and habitats, and to enable the monitoring of ecological and geological change within National Seashores. This product is based on data from an innovative airborne lidar instrument under development at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, the NASA Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar (EAARL).

  9. Coastal management politics: a view from Capitol Hill

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Kitsos, T.R.

    The Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) of 1972 emerged from the national debate about land use in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Despite public support for environmental protection, enactment of the CZMA was clouded by a gloomy prognosis and by the lack of presidential enthusiasm for the program. The author traces the evolution of political forces that helped to establish and sustain coastal management as a federal function during the program's first decade; identifies the support of coastal state congressmen as the most important single factor in the program's survival; and raises questions about the capacity of legislative effortsmore » to respond to the current budgetary austerity of the Reagan administration. 17 references.« less

  10. Lake Superior Coastal Wetland Fish Assemblages and Habitat Conditions in Relation to Watershed Connectivity and Landcover

    EPA Science Inventory

    The role of the coastal margin and the watershed context in defining the ecology of even very large lakes is increasingly being recognized and examined. Coastal wetlands are both important contributors to the biodiversity and productivity of large lakes and important mediators o...

  11. Modeling Stochastic Boundary Conditions in a Coastal Catchment using a Bayesian Network: An Application to the Houston Ship Channel, Texas

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Couasnon, Anaïs; Sebastian, Antonia; Morales-Nápoles, Oswaldo

    2017-04-01

    Recent research has highlighted the increased risk of compound flooding in the U.S. In coastal catchments, an elevated downstream water level, resulting from high tide and/or storm surge, impedes drainage creating a backwater effect that may exacerbate flooding in the riverine environment. Catchments exposed to tropical cyclone activity along the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coasts are particularly vulnerable. However, conventional flood hazard models focus mainly on precipitation-induced flooding and few studies accurately represent the hazard associated with the interaction between discharge and elevated downstream water levels. This study presents a method to derive stochastic boundary conditions for a coastal watershed. Mean daily discharge and maximum daily residual water levels are used to build a non-parametric Bayesian network (BN) based on copulas. Stochastic boundary conditions for the watershed are extracted from the BN and input into a 1-D process-based hydraulic model to obtain water surface elevations in the main channel of the catchment. The method is applied to a section of the Houston Ship Channel (Buffalo Bayou) in Southeast Texas. Data at six stream gages and two tidal stations are used to build the BN and 100-year joint return period events are modeled. We find that the dependence relationship between the daily residual water level and the mean daily discharge in the catchment can be represented by a Gumbel copula (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient of 0.31) and that they result in higher water levels in the mid- to upstream reaches of the watershed than when modeled independently. This indicates that conventional (deterministic) methods may underestimate the flood hazard associated with compound flooding in the riverine environment and that such interactions should not be neglected in future coastal flood hazard studies.

  12. ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT PROGRAM (EMAP): NATIONAL COASTAL ASSESSMENT, GULF OF MEXICO, AND INDICATOR DEVELOPMENT

    EPA Science Inventory

    The estuaries and coastal waters of the U.S. represent a complex set of ecosystems along the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and Pacific Ocean. These ecosystems are affected by effluents and nutrients entering the coastal waters, as well as global stressors and anthr...

  13. 76 FR 40338 - National Estuarine Research Reserve System

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-07-08

    ... Reserve System AGENCY: Estuarine Reserves Division, Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management.... SUMMARY: The Estuarine Reserves Division, Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, National Ocean... support reserve operations. The objectives described in this plan address the most critical coastal issues...

  14. 75 FR 67950 - Notice of Designation of the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve in Wisconsin

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-11-04

    ... Reserve is available upon request. Federal Domestic Assistance Catalog Number 11.420 (Coastal Zone..., Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, National Ocean Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric... Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve in Wisconsin pursuant to Section 315 of the Coastal...

  15. Arctic Refuge coastal plain terrestrial wildlife research summaries

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Douglas, David C.; Reynolds, Patricia E.; Rhode, E.B.

    2002-01-01

    In 1980, when the U.S. Congress enacted the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), it also mandated a study of the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Section 1002 of ANILCA stated that a comprehensive inventory of fish and wildlife resources would be conducted on 1.5 million acres of the Arctic Refuge coastal plain (1002 Area). Potential petroleum reserves in the 1002 Area were also to be evaluated from surface geological studies and seismic exploration surveys. Results of these studies and recommendations for future management of the Arctic Refuge coastal plain were to be prepared in a report to Congress.In 1987, the Department of the Interior published the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, Coastal Plain Resource Assessment - Report and Recommendations to the Congress of the United States and Final Environmental Impact Statement. This report to Congress identified the potential for oil and gas production (updated* most recently by the U.S. Geological Survey in 2001), described the biological resources, and evaluated the potential adverse effects to fish and wildlife resources. The 1987 report analyzed the potential environmental consequences of five management alternatives for the coastal plain, ranging from wilderness designation to opening the entire area to lease for oil and gas developement. The report's summary recommended opening the 1002 Area to an orderly oil and gas leasing program, but cautioned that adverse effects to some wildlife populations were possible.Congress did not act on this recommendation nor any other alternative for the 1002 Area, and scientists continued studies of key wildlife species and habitats on the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge and surrounding areas. This report contains updated summaries of those scientific investigations of caribou, muskoxen, predators (grizzly bears, wolves, golden eagles), polar bears, snow geese, and their wildlife habitats.Contributions to this report were

  16. Vulnerability of Coastal Crop Land to Climate Change in the Northern Part of Bay of Bengal: Issues, Challenges and Future Prospects

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kamal, A. H. M.

    2015-12-01

    The coastal communities of northeastern part of Bay of Bengal are used to live and survive through facing different types of natural disasters since primitive time. Among the natural disasters, salinity intrusion due to climate change and sea level rise in the coastal agriculture land is the major unpleasant incident now days. Because of that wide area of the coastal agricultural land, coastal forest, drinking water facilities and fresh water availability are in critical condition which may cause 40 million people of 147 coastal districts covering 47201 km area are placed in danger. The nation wide assessment on the detected of coastal soil and water salinity is not conducted since 9 years. The survey on the coastal soil salinity on 1973 and 2000 found that the saline effected land is increased from 0.83 million ha to 1.20 million ha within 27 years. It is assumed that at present the rate of salinity intrusion in the coastal agriculture land will be higher than those of 1973 and 2000. The soil salinity was recorded 18-20 psu after AILA in the south-eastern coast of Bangladesh and increased further 2-4 psu due to low precipitation which causes crop burning. This paper aims to know the salinity intrusion in the coastal soil and water of Bangladesh, which would help to plan and improvement of the sustainable agriculture production. Study revealed that to face any extra stresses on the coastal agriculture land due to climate change requires extensive inventory, awareness activities, mitigation measures, adaptation techniques and extension of indigenous technology.

  17. Towards a more complete SOCCR: Establishing a Coastal Carbon Data Network

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pidgeon, E.; Howard, J.; Tang, J.; Kroeger, K. D.; Windham-Myers, L.

    2015-12-01

    The 2007 State of the Carbon Cycle Report (SOCCR) was highly influential in ensuring components of the carbon cycle were accounted for in national policy and related management. However, while SOCCR detailed the significance of North American coastal wetlands, it was not until recently that leading governments began to fully recognized these ecosystems for their carbon sequestration and storage capacity and hence the significant role coastal ecosystems can play in GHG emission reductions strategies, offset mechanisms, coastal management strategies and climate mitigation policy. The new attention on coastal carbon systems has exposed limitations in terms of data availability and data quality, as well as insufficient knowledge of coastal carbon distributions, characteristics and coastal carbon cycle processes. In addition to restricting scientific progress, lack of comprehensive, comparable, and quality-controlled coastal carbon data is hindering progress towards carbon based conservation and coastal management. To directly address those limitations, we are developing a Global Science and Data Network for Coastal "Blue" Carbon, with support from the Carbon Cycle Interagency Working Group. Goals include: • Improving basic and applied science on carbon and GHG cycling in vegetated coastal ecosystems; • Supporting a coastal carbon and associated GHG data archive for use by the science community, coastal and climate practitioners and other data users; • Building the capacity of coastal carbon stakeholders globally to collect and interpret high quality coastal carbon science and data; • Providing a forum and mechanism to promote exchange and collaboration between scientists and coastal carbon data users globally; and • Outreach activities to ensure the best available data are globally accessible and that science is responsive to the needs of coastal managers and policy-makers.

  18. EMAP/NOAA 2003 SURVEY OF ECOLOGICAL CONDITIONS OF THE WESTERN U.S. CONTINENTAL SHELF, INCLUDING GULF OF FARALLONES NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY

    EPA Science Inventory

    In June of 2003 a partnership between EPA, NOAA, and the western coastal states conducted a joint survey of ecological condition of aquatic resources along the U.S. western continental shelf (30-120 m), using multiple indicators of ecological condition. The study is an element o...

  19. Rationale for a New Generation of Indicators for Coastal Waters

    PubMed Central

    Niemi, Gerald; Wardrop, Denice; Brooks, Robert; Anderson, Susan; Brady, Valerie; Paerl, Hans; Rakocinski, Chet; Brouwer, Marius; Levinson, Barbara; McDonald, Michael

    2004-01-01

    More than half the world’s human population lives within 100 km of the coast, and that number is expected to increase by 25% over the next two decades. Consequently, coastal ecosystems are at serious risk. Larger coastal populations and increasing development have led to increased loading of toxic substances, nutrients and pathogens with subsequent algal blooms, hypoxia, beach closures, and damage to coastal fisheries. Recent climate change has led to the rise in sea level with loss of coastal wetlands and saltwater intrusion into coastal aquifers. Coastal resources have traditionally been monitored on a stressor-by-stressor basis such as for nutrient loading or dissolved oxygen. To fully measure the complexities of coastal systems, we must develop a new set of ecologic indicators that span the realm of biological organization from genetic markers to entire ecosystems and are broadly applicable across geographic regions while integrating stressor types. We briefly review recent developments in ecologic indicators and emphasize the need for improvements in understanding of stress–response relationships, contributions of multiple stressors, assessments over different spatial and temporal scales, and reference conditions. We provide two examples of ecologic indicators that can improve our understanding of these inherent problems: a) the use of photopigments as indicators of the interactive effects of nutrients and hydrology, and b) biological community approaches that use multiple taxa to detect effects on ecosystem structure and function. These indicators are essential to measure the condition of coastal resources, to diagnose stressors, to communicate change to the public, and ultimately to protect human health and the quality of the coastal environment. PMID:15198917

  20. Modeling Coastal Vulnerability through Space and Time.

    PubMed

    Hopper, Thomas; Meixler, Marcia S

    2016-01-01

    Coastal ecosystems experience a wide range of stressors including wave forces, storm surge, sea-level rise, and anthropogenic modification and are thus vulnerable to erosion. Urban coastal ecosystems are especially important due to the large populations these limited ecosystems serve. However, few studies have addressed the issue of urban coastal vulnerability at the landscape scale with spatial data that are finely resolved. The purpose of this study was to model and map coastal vulnerability and the role of natural habitats in reducing vulnerability in Jamaica Bay, New York, in terms of nine coastal vulnerability metrics (relief, wave exposure, geomorphology, natural habitats, exposure, exposure with no habitat, habitat role, erodible shoreline, and surge) under past (1609), current (2015), and future (2080) scenarios using InVEST 3.2.0. We analyzed vulnerability results both spatially and across all time periods, by stakeholder (ownership) and by distance to damage from Hurricane Sandy. We found significant differences in vulnerability metrics between past, current and future scenarios for all nine metrics except relief and wave exposure. The marsh islands in the center of the bay are currently vulnerable. In the future, these islands will likely be inundated, placing additional areas of the shoreline increasingly at risk. Significant differences in vulnerability exist between stakeholders; the Breezy Point Cooperative and Gateway National Recreation Area had the largest erodible shoreline segments. Significant correlations exist for all vulnerability (exposure/surge) and storm damage combinations except for exposure and distance to artificial debris. Coastal protective features, ranging from storm surge barriers and levees to natural features (e.g. wetlands), have been promoted to decrease future flood risk to communities in coastal areas around the world. Our methods of combining coastal vulnerability results with additional data and across multiple time

  1. PILOT STUDY FOR ESTABLISHMENT OF A NETWORK OF COASTAL REFERENCE SITES

    EPA Science Inventory

    The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have joined in partnership for a pilot study for the establishment of a network of reference sites, the Coastal Int...

  2. Hurricane Sandy science plan: coastal topographic and bathymetric data to support hurricane impact assessment and response

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Stronko, Jakob M.

    2013-01-01

    Hurricane Sandy devastated some of the most heavily populated eastern coastal areas of the Nation. With a storm surge peaking at more than 19 feet, the powerful landscape-altering destruction of Hurricane Sandy is a stark reminder of why the Nation must become more resilient to coastal hazards. In response to this natural disaster, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) received a total of $41.2 million in supplemental appropriations from the Department of the Interior (DOI) to support response, recovery, and rebuilding efforts. These funds support a science plan that will provide critical scientific information necessary to inform management decisions for recovery of coastal communities, and aid in preparation for future natural hazards. This science plan is designed to coordinate continuing USGS activities with stakeholders and other agencies to improve data collection and analysis that will guide recovery and restoration efforts. The science plan is split into five distinct themes: • Coastal topography and bathymetry • Impacts to coastal beaches and barriers • Impacts of storm surge, including disturbed estuarine and bay hydrology • Impacts on environmental quality and persisting contaminant exposures • Impacts to coastal ecosystems, habitats, and fish and wildlife This fact sheet focuses on coastal topography and bathymetry. This fact sheet focuses on coastal topography and bathymetry.

  3. Water-Level Conditions in Selected Confined Aquifers of the New Jersey and Delaware Coastal Plain, 2003

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    dePaul, Vincent T.; Rosman, Robert; Lacombe, Pierre J.

    2009-01-01

    The Coastal Plain aquifers of New Jersey provide an important source of water for more than 2 million people. Steadily increasing withdrawals from the late 1800s to the early 1990s resulted in declining water levels and the formation of regional cones of depression. In addition to decreasing water supplies, declining water levels in the confined aquifers have led to reversals in natural hydraulic gradients that have, in some areas, induced the flow of saline water from surface-water bodies and adjacent aquifers to freshwater aquifers. In 1978, the U.S. Geological Survey began mapping the potentiometric surfaces of the major confined aquifers of New Jersey every 5 years in order to provide a regional assessment of ground-water conditions in multiple Coastal Plain aquifers concurrently. In 1988, mapping of selected potentiometric surfaces was extended into Delaware. During the fall of 2003, water levels measured in 967 wells in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, northeastern Delaware, and northwestern Maryland were used estimate the potentiometric surface of the principal confined aquifers in the Coastal Plain of New Jersey and five equivalent aquifers in Delaware. Potentiometric-surface maps and hydrogeologic sections were prepared for the confined Cohansey aquifer of Cape May County, the Rio Grande water-bearing zone, the Atlantic City 800-foot sand, the Vincentown aquifer, and the Englishtown aquifer system in New Jersey, as well as for the Piney Point aquifer, the Wenonah-Mount Laurel aquifer, and the Upper Potomac-Raritan-Magothy, the Middle and undifferentiated Potomac-Raritan-Magothy, and the Lower Potomac-Raritan-Magothy aquifers in New Jersey and their equivalents in Delaware. From 1998 to 2003, water levels in many Coastal Plain aquifers in New Jersey remained stable or had recovered, but in some areas, water levels continued to decline as a result of pumping. In the Cohansey aquifer in Cape May County, water levels near the center of the cone of depression

  4. The role of connectivity and hydrodynamic conditions in the configuration of ichthyoplankton assemblages in coastal lagoons

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pérez-Ruzafa, Angel; Quispe, Jhoni I.; Umgiesser, Georg; Ghezzo, Michol; De Pascalis, Francesca; Marcos, Concepción

    2014-05-01

    Fish assemblages in coastal lagoons are constituted by species with different gilds and life stories including estuarine residents but also a high percentage of marine stragglers and marine migrants. Previous studies showed that different ichthyoplancton assemblages can be identified inside a lagoon, depending on hydrological conditions, but at the same time a high spatial and temporal variability haven observed. The proposed models to explain lagoon assemblages configuration based on probabilities of colonization from the open sea involves an important stochastic component and introduces some randomness that could lead to that high spatial and temporal variability at short and long-term scales. In this work we analyze the relationship between ichthyoplankton assemblages in the Mar Menor lagoon and the adjacent open sea in the framework of the hydrodynamics of the lagoon and connectivity between sampling stations using hydrodynamic models. The results, show a complex interaction between the different factors that lead to a highly variable system with high accumulated richness and diversity of species, and a large proportion of occasional visitors and stragglers suggesting that the mechanisms of competitive lottery can play an important role in the maintenance of communities of coastal lagoons , where environmental variability occurs in a system with strong differences in colonization rates and connectivity, not only with the open sea, but also between locations within the lagoon.

  5. Analysis and Reporting for the 2011 National Wetland Condition Assessment

    EPA Science Inventory

    The USEPA and its partners are in the process of producing the report to the public and publishing the data for the 2011 National Wetland Condition Assessment (NWCA). As with all National Aquatic Resource Surveys (NARS), the NWCA report includes a quantitative description of the ...

  6. Geologic Resource Evaluation of Pu'uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park, Hawai'i: Part I, Geology and Coastal Landforms

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Richmond, Bruce M.; Cochran, Susan A.; Gibbs, Ann E.

    2008-01-01

    Geologic resource inventories of lands managed by the National Park Service (NPS) are important products for the parks and are designed to provide scientific information to better manage park resources. Park-specific geologic reports are used to identify geologic features and processes that are relevant to park ecosystems, evaluate the impact of human activities on geologic features and processes, identify geologic research and monitoring needs, and enhance opportunities for education and interpretation. These geologic reports are planned to provide a brief geologic history of the park and address specific geologic issues forming a link between the park geology and the resource manager. The Kona coast National Parks of the Island of Hawai'i are intended to preserve the natural beauty of the Kona coast and protect significant ancient structures and artifacts of the native Hawaiians. Pu'ukohola Heiau National Historic Site (PUHE), Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park (KAHO), and Pu'uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park (PUHO) are three Kona parks studied by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Geology Team in cooperation with the National Park Service. This report is one of six related reports designed to provide geologic and benthic-habitat information for the three Kona parks. Each geology and coastal-landform report describes the regional geologic setting of the Hawaiian Islands, gives a general description of the geology of the Kona coast, and presents the geologic setting and issues for one of the parks. The related benthic-habitat mapping reports discuss the marine data and habitat classification scheme, and present results of the mapping program. Pu'uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park ('Place of Refuge of Honaunau') is the southernmost of the three National Parks located on the leeward Kona coast of the Island of Hawai'i. It is a relatively small park originally 73 ha (182 acres), and was expanded in 2006 with the acquisition

  7. ASSESSMENT OF THE ECOLOGICAL CONDITION OF THE DELAWARE AND MARYLAND COASTAL BAYS

    EPA Science Inventory

    The coastal bays of Delaware and Maryland are an important ecological and economic resource whose physical characteristics and location make them particularly vulnerable to the effects of pollutants. This project was undertaken as a collaborative effort between state and federal ...

  8. Land-margin ecosystem hydrologic data for the coastal Everglades, Florida, water years 1996-2012

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Anderson, Gordon H.; Smith, Thomas J.; Balentine, Karen M.

    2014-01-01

    Mangrove forests and salt marshes dominate the landscape of the coastal Everglades (Odum and McIvor, 1990). However, the ecological effects from potential sea-level rise and increased water flows from planned freshwater Everglades restoration on these coastal systems are poorly understood. The National Park Service (NPS) proposed the South Florida Global Climate Change Project (SOFL-GCC) in 1990 to evaluate climate change and the effect from rising sea levels on the coastal Everglades, particularly at the marsh/mangrove interface or ecotone (Soukup and others, 1990). A primary objective of SOFL-GCC project was to monitor and synthesize the hydrodynamics of the coastal Everglades from the upstream freshwater marsh to the downstream estuary mangrove. Two related hypotheses were set forward (Nuttle and Cosby, 1993): 1. There exists hydrologic conditions (tide, local rainfall, and upstream water deliveries), which characterize the location of the marsh/mangrove ecotone along the marine and terrestrial hydrologic gradient; and 2. The marsh/mangrove ecotone is sensitive to fluctuations in sea level and freshwater inflow from inland areas. Hydrologic monitoring of the SOFL-GCC network began in 1995 after startup delays from Hurricane Andrew (August 1992) and organizational transfers from the NPS to the National Biological Survey (October 1993) and the merger with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Biological Research Division in 1996 (Smith, 2004). As the SOFL-GCC project progressed, concern by environmental scientists and land managers over how the diversion of water from Everglades National Park would affect the restoration of the greater Everglades ecosystem. Everglades restoration scenarios were based on hydrodynamic models, none of which included the coastal zone (Fennema and others, 1994). Modeling efforts were expanded to include the Everglades coastal zone (Schaffranek and others, 2001) with SOFL-GCC hydrologic data assisting the ecological modeling needs. In 2002

  9. Towards a regional coastal ocean observing system: An initial design for the Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Seim, H. E.; Fletcher, M.; Mooers, C. N. K.; Nelson, J. R.; Weisberg, R. H.

    2009-05-01

    A conceptual design for a southeast United States regional coastal ocean observing system (RCOOS) is built upon a partnership between institutions of the region and among elements of the academic, government and private sectors. This design envisions support of a broad range of applications (e.g., marine operations, natural hazards, and ecosystem-based management) through the routine operation of predictive models that utilize the system observations to ensure their validity. A distributed information management system enables information flow, and a centralized information hub serves to aggregate information regionally and distribute it as needed. A variety of observing assets are needed to satisfy model requirements. An initial distribution of assets is proposed that recognizes the physical structure and forcing in the southeast U.S. coastal ocean. In-situ data collection includes moorings, profilers and gliders to provide 3D, time-dependent sampling, HF radar and surface drifters for synoptic sampling of surface currents, and satellite remote sensing of surface ocean properties. Nested model systems are required to properly represent ocean conditions from the outer edge of the EEZ to the watersheds. An effective RCOOS will depend upon a vital "National Backbone" (federally supported) system of in situ and satellite observations, model products, and data management. This dependence highlights the needs for a clear definition of the National Backbone components and a Concept of Operations (CONOPS) that defines the roles, functions and interactions of regional and federal components of the integrated system. A preliminary CONOPS is offered for the Southeast (SE) RCOOS. Thorough system testing is advocated using a combination of application-specific and process-oriented experiments. Estimates of costs and personnel required as initial components of the SE RCOOS are included. Initial thoughts on the Research and Development program required to support the RCOOS are

  10. Effects Of Spatial Variability In Marshes On Coastal Erosion Under Storm Conditions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lunghino, B.; Suckale, J.; Fringer, O. B.; Maldonado, S.; Ferreira, C.; Marras, S.; Mandel, T.

    2016-12-01

    To quantify the contribution of marshes in protecting coastlines, engineers and planners need to evaluate how variability in marsh characteristics and storm conditions affect erosion in the inundation zone. Previous studies show that spatial patterns in marshes significantly affect flow and sediment transport under normal tidal conditions [1, 2]. This study investigates the effect of spatial variability on floodplain sediment transport under a range of extreme hydrodynamic conditions that occur during storm events. We model the hydrodynamics of storm surge conditions on an idealized coastal floodplain by solving the 2D shallow water equations. We approximate the effect of vegetation on hydrodynamics as a constant drag coefficient. The model calculates suspended sediment transport with the advection-diffusion equation and updates morphology with erosional and depositional fluxes. We conduct numerical experiments in which we vary both the scale of the storm event and the spatial patterns of vegetation and evaluate the impact on erosion and deposition on the floodplain. We find that the alongshore extent of the vegetation is the primary control on the net volume of sediment eroded. Scour occurs in narrow channels between vegetated areas, but this does not significantly alter the net volume of sediment transported. Deposition occurs in vegetated areas under the full range of flow velocities we test. These results suggest that resolving all variability in vegetation is not necessary to quantify net sediment transport volumes at the floodplain scale. Increasing the scale of the storm event does not alter the role of spatial variability. References [1] Meire, D. W., Kondziolka, J. M., and Nepf, H. M. Interaction between neighboring vegetation patches: Impact on flow and deposition. Water Resources Research 50, 5 (2014), 3809-3825. [2] Temmerman, S., Bouma, T., Govers, G., Wang, Z., De Vries, M., and Her- man, P. Impact of vegetation on flow routing and sedimentation

  11. Assessment of Coastal Ecosystem Services for Conservation Strategies in South Korea.

    PubMed

    Chung, Min Gon; Kang, Hojeong; Choi, Sung-Uk

    2015-01-01

    Despite the fact that scientific and political consideration for ecosystem services has dramatically increased over the past decade, few studies have focused on marine and coastal ecosystem services for conservation strategies. We used an ecosystem services approach to assess spatial distributions of habitat risks and four ecosystem services (coastal protection, carbon storage, recreation, and aesthetic quality), and explored the tradeoffs among them in coastal areas of South Korea. Additionally, we analyzed how the social and ecological characteristics in coastal areas interact with conservation and development policies by using this approach. We found strong negative associations between the habitat risks and ecosystem services (aquaculture, carbon storage, recreation, and aesthetic quality) across the coastal counties. Our results showed that the intensity of the habitat risks and the provision of ecosystem services were significantly different between reclamation-dominated and conservation-dominated counties, except for coastal vulnerability. A generalized linear model suggested that reclamation projects were dependent on economic efficiency, whereas demographic pressures and habitat conditions influenced the designation of protected areas at a county level. The ecosystem services approach provided guidelines to achieve both sustainable development and environment conservation. By using the approach, we can select the priority areas for developments while we can minimize the degradation of biodiversity and ecosystem services. As cultural ecosystem services are evenly distributed throughout coastal areas of South Korea, decision makers may employ them to improve the conditions of coastal wetlands outside of protected areas.

  12. Assessment of Coastal Ecosystem Services for Conservation Strategies in South Korea

    PubMed Central

    Chung, Min Gon; Kang, Hojeong; Choi, Sung-Uk

    2015-01-01

    Despite the fact that scientific and political consideration for ecosystem services has dramatically increased over the past decade, few studies have focused on marine and coastal ecosystem services for conservation strategies. We used an ecosystem services approach to assess spatial distributions of habitat risks and four ecosystem services (coastal protection, carbon storage, recreation, and aesthetic quality), and explored the tradeoffs among them in coastal areas of South Korea. Additionally, we analyzed how the social and ecological characteristics in coastal areas interact with conservation and development policies by using this approach. We found strong negative associations between the habitat risks and ecosystem services (aquaculture, carbon storage, recreation, and aesthetic quality) across the coastal counties. Our results showed that the intensity of the habitat risks and the provision of ecosystem services were significantly different between reclamation-dominated and conservation-dominated counties, except for coastal vulnerability. A generalized linear model suggested that reclamation projects were dependent on economic efficiency, whereas demographic pressures and habitat conditions influenced the designation of protected areas at a county level. The ecosystem services approach provided guidelines to achieve both sustainable development and environment conservation. By using the approach, we can select the priority areas for developments while we can minimize the degradation of biodiversity and ecosystem services. As cultural ecosystem services are evenly distributed throughout coastal areas of South Korea, decision makers may employ them to improve the conditions of coastal wetlands outside of protected areas. PMID:26221950

  13. EAARL Coastal Topography and Imagery-Naval Live Oaks Area, Gulf Islands National Seashore, Florida, 2007

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Nagle, David B.; Nayegandhi, Amar; Yates, Xan; Brock, John C.; Wright, C. Wayne; Bonisteel, Jamie M.; Klipp, Emily S.; Segura, Martha

    2010-01-01

    These remotely sensed, geographically referenced color-infrared (CIR) imagery and elevation measurements of lidar-derived bare-earth (BE) topography, first-surface (FS) topography, and canopy-height (CH) datasets were produced collaboratively by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), St. Petersburg Science Center, St. Petersburg, FL; the National Park Service (NPS), Gulf Coast Network, Lafayette, LA; and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Wallops Flight Facility, VA. This project provides highly detailed and accurate datasets of the Naval Live Oaks Area in Florida's Gulf Islands National Seashore, acquired June 30, 2007. The datasets are made available for use as a management tool to research scientists and natural-resource managers. An innovative airborne lidar instrument originally developed at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, and known as the Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar (EAARL), was used during data acquisition. The EAARL system is a raster-scanning, waveform-resolving, green-wavelength (532-nanometer) lidar designed to map near-shore bathymetry, topography, and vegetation structure simultaneously. The EAARL sensor suite includes the raster-scanning, water-penetrating full-waveform adaptive lidar, a down-looking red-green-blue (RGB) digital camera, a high-resolution multispectral CIR camera, two precision dual-frequency kinematic carrier-phase GPS receivers, and an integrated miniature digital inertial measurement unit, which provide for sub-meter georeferencing of each laser sample. The nominal EAARL platform is a twin-engine Cessna 310 aircraft, but the instrument may be deployed on a range of light aircraft. A single pilot, a lidar operator, and a data analyst constitute the crew for most survey operations. This sensor has the potential to make significant contributions in measuring sub-aerial and submarine coastal topography within cross-environmental surveys. Elevation measurements were collected over the survey area

  14. Coastal vulnerability: climate change and natural hazards perspectives

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Romieu, E.; Vinchon, C.

    2009-04-01

    Introduction Studying coastal zones as a territorial concept (Integrated coastal zone management) is an essential issue for managers, as they have to consider many different topics (natural hazards, resources management, tourism, climate change…). The recent approach in terms of "coastal vulnerability" studies (since the 90's) is the main tool used nowadays to help them in evaluating impacts of natural hazards on coastal zones, specially considering climate change. This present communication aims to highlight the difficulties in integrating this concept in risk analysis as it is usually practiced in natural hazards sciences. 1) Coastal vulnerability as a recent issue The concept of coastal vulnerability mainly appears in the International panel on climate change works of 1992 (IPCC. 2001), where it is presented as essential for climate change adaptation. The concept has been defined by a common methodology which proposes the assessment of seven indicators, in regards to a sea level rise of 1m in 2100: people affected, people at risk, capital value at loss, land at loss, wetland at loss, potential adaptation costs, people at risk assuming this adaptation. Many national assessments have been implemented (Nicholls, et al. 1995) and a global assessment was proposed for three indicators (Nicholls, et al. 1999). The DINAS-Coast project reuses this methodology to produce the DIVA-tool for coastal managers (Vafeidis, et al. 2004). Besides, many other methodologies for national or regional coastal vulnerability assessments have been developed (review by (UNFCCC. 2008). The use of aggregated vulnerability indicators (including geomorphology, hydrodynamics, climate change…) is widespread: the USGS coastal vulnerability index is used worldwide and was completed by a social vulnerability index (Boruff, et al. 2005). Those index-based methods propose a vulnerability mapping which visualise indicators of erosion, submersion and/or socio economic sensibility in coastal zones

  15. Ecosystem Services Linking People to Coastal Habitats ...

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    Background/Question/Methods: There is a growing need to incorporate and prioritize ecosystem services/condition information into land-use decision making. While there are a number of place-based studies looking at how land-use decisions affect the availability and delivery of coastal services, many of these methods require data, funding and/or expertise that may be inaccessible to many coastal communities. Using existing classification standards for beneficiaries and coastal habitats, (i.e., Final Ecosystem Goods and Services Classification System (FEGS-CS) and Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS)), a comprehensive literature review was coupled with a “weight of evidence” approach to evaluate linkages between beneficiaries and coastal habitat features most relevant to community needs. An initial search of peer-reviewed journal articles was conducted using JSTOR and ScienceDirect repositories identifying sources that provide evidence for coastal beneficiary:habitat linkages. Potential sources were further refined based on a double-blind review of titles, abstracts, and full-texts, when needed. Articles in the final list were then scored based on habitat/beneficiary specificity and data quality (e.g., indirect evidence from literature reviews was scored lower than direct evidence from case studies with valuation results). Scores were then incorporated into a weight of evidence framework summarizing the support for each benefici

  16. A Robot for Coastal Marine Studies Under Hostile Conditions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Consi, T. R.

    2012-12-01

    Robots have long been used for scientific exploration of extremely remote environments such as planetary surfaces and the deep ocean. In addition to these physically remote places, there are many environments that are transiently remote in the sense that they are inaccessible to humans for a period of time. Coastal marine environments fall into this category. While quite accessible (and enjoyable) during good weather, the coast can become as remote as the moon when it is impacted by severe storms or hurricanes. For near shore and shallow water marine science unmanned underwater ground vehicles (UUGVs) are the robots of choice for reliable access under a variety of conditions. Ground vehicles are inherently amphibious being able to operate in complex coastal environments that can range from the completely dry beach, through the transiently wet swash zone, into the surf zone and beyond. During storms, UUGVs provide stable sensor platforms resistant to waves and currents by virtue of being locked to the substrate. In such situations free-swimming robots would be swept away. Mobility during storms enables a UUGV to orient itself to optimally resist forces that would dislodge fixed, moored platforms. Mobility can also enable a UUGV to either avoid burial, or unbury itself after a storm. Finally, the ability to submerge provides a great advantage over buoys and surface vehicles which would be smashed by heavy wave action. We have developed a prototype UUGV to enable new science in the surf zone and other shallow water environments. Named LMAR for Lake Michigan Amphibious Robot, it is designed to be deployed from the dry beach, enter the water to perform a near-shore survey, and return to the deployment point for recovery. The body of the robot is a heavy flattened box (base dimensions: 1.07 m X 1.10 m X .393 m, dry weight: ~127 kg, displacement: ~ 45 kg) with a low center of gravity for stability and robust construction to withstand waves and currents. It is topped by a

  17. Resource-Based Capability on Development Knowledge Management Capabilities of Coastal Community

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Teniwut, Roberto M. K.; Hasyim, Cawalinya L.; Teniwut, Wellem A.

    2017-10-01

    Building sustainable knowledge management capabilities in the coastal area might face a whole new challenge since there are many intangible factors involved from openness on new knowledge, access and ability to use the latest technology to the various local wisdom that still in place. The aimed of this study was to identify and analyze the resource-based condition of coastal community in this area to have an empirical condition of tangible and intangible infrastructure on developing knowledge management capability coastal community in Southeast Maluku, Indonesia. We used qualitative and quantitative analysis by depth interview and questionnaire for collecting the data with multiple linear regression as our analysis method. The result provided the information on current state of resource-based capability of a coastal community in this Southeast Maluku to build a sustainability model of knowledge management capabilities especially on utilization marine and fisheries resources. The implication of this study can provide an empirical information for government, NGO and research institution to dictate on how they conducted their policy and program on developing coastal community region.

  18. Coastal circulation and water-column properties in the War in the Pacific National Historical Park, Guam: measurements and modeling of waves, currents, temperature, salinity, and turbidity, April-August 2012

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Storlazzi, Curt D.; Cheriton, Olivia M.; Lescinski, Jamie M.R.; Logan, Joshua B.

    2014-01-01

    The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center (PCMSC) initiated an investigation in the National Park Service’s (NPS) War in the Pacific National Historical Park (WAPA) to provide baseline scientific information on coastal circulation and water-column properties along west-central Guam, focusing on WAPA’s Agat Unit, as it relates to the transport and settlement of coral larvae, fish, and other marine organisms. The oceanographic data and numerical circulation modeling results from this study demonstrate that circulation in Agat Bay was strongly driven by winds and waves at longer (>1 day) timescales and by the tides at shorter (<1 day) timescales; near-surface currents in deep water were primarily controlled by the winds, whereas currents on the shallow reef flats were dominated by wave-driven motions. Water-column properties exhibited strong seasonality coupled to the shift from the trade wind to the non-trade wind season. During the dry trade-wind season, waters were cooler and more saline. When the winds shifted to a more variable pattern, waters warmed and became less saline because of a combination of increased thermal insolation from lack of wind forcing and higher rainfall. Turbidity was relatively low in Agat Bay and was similar to levels measured elsewhere along west-central Guam. The numerical circulation modeling results provide insight into the potential paths of buoyant material released from a series of locations along west-central Guam under summer non-trade wind forcing conditions that characterize coral spawning events. This information may be useful in evaluating the potential zones of influence/impact resulting from transport by surface currents of material released from these select locations.

  19. 75 FR 33242 - Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act Provisions; Weakfish Fishery

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-06-11

    ... Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act Provisions; Weakfish Fishery AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce. ACTION: Notice of non-compliance findings. SUMMARY: On May 6, 2010, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission...

  20. Status and interconnections of selected environmental issues in the global coastal zones

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Shi, Hua; Singh, Ashbindu

    2003-01-01

    This study focuses on assessing the state of population distribution, land cover distribution, biodiversity hotspots, and protected areas in global coastal zones. The coastal zone is defined as land within 100 km of the coastline. This study attempts to answer such questions as: how crowded are the coastal zones, what is the pattern of land cover distribution in these areas, how much of these areas are designated as protected areas, what is the state of the biodiversity hotspots, and what are the interconnections between people and coastal environment. This study uses globally consistent and comprehensive geospatial datasets based on remote sensing and other sources. The application of Geographic Information System (GIS) layering methods and consistent datasets has made it possible to identify and quantify selected coastal zones environmental issues and their interconnections. It is expected that such information provide a scientific basis for global coastal zones management and assist in policy formulations at the national and international levels.

  1. Sea Level Rise Induced Arsenic Release from Historically Contaminated Coastal Soils.

    PubMed

    LeMonte, Joshua J; Stuckey, Jason W; Sanchez, Joshua Z; Tappero, Ryan; Rinklebe, Jörg; Sparks, Donald L

    2017-06-06

    Climate change-induced perturbations in the hydrologic regime are expected to impact biogeochemical processes, including contaminant mobility and cycling. Elevated levels of geogenic and anthropogenic arsenic are found along many coasts around the world, most notably in south and southeast Asia but also in the United States, particularly along the Mid-Atlantic coast. The mechanism by and the extent to which arsenic may be released in contaminated coastal soils due to sea level rise are unknown. Here we show a series of data from a coastal arsenic-contaminated soil exposed to sea and river waters in biogeochemical microcosm reactors across field-validated redox conditions. We find that reducing conditions lead to arsenic release from historically contaminated coastal soils through reductive dissolution of arsenic-bearing mineral oxides in both sea and river water inundations, with less arsenic release from seawater scenarios than river water due to inhibition of oxide dissolution. For the first time, we systematically display gradation of solid phase soil-arsenic speciation across defined redox windows from reducing to oxidizing conditions in natural waters by combining biogeochemical microcosm experiments and X-ray absorption spectroscopy. Our results demonstrate the threat of sea level rise stands to impact arsenic release from contaminated coastal soils by changing redox conditions.

  2. Sea Level Rise Induced Arsenic Release from Historically Contaminated Coastal Soils

    DOE PAGES

    LeMonte, Joshua J.; Stuckey, Jason W.; Sanchez, Joshua Z.; ...

    2017-05-04

    Climate change-induced perturbations in the hydrologic regime are expected to impact biogeochemical processes, including contaminant mobility and cycling. Elevated levels of geogenic and anthropogenic arsenic are found along many coasts around the world, most notably in south and southeast Asia but also in the United States, particularly along the Mid-Atlantic coast. The mechanism by and the extent to which arsenic may be released in contaminated coastal soils due to sea level rise are unknown. Here we show a series of data from a coastal arsenic-contaminated soil exposed to sea and river waters in biogeochemical microcosm reactors across field-validated redox conditions.more » We find that reducing conditions lead to arsenic release from historically contaminated coastal soils through reductive dissolution of arsenic-bearing mineral oxides in both sea and river water inundations, with less arsenic release from seawater scenarios than river water due to inhibition of oxide dissolution. For the first time, we systematically display gradation of solid phase soil-arsenic speciation across defined redox windows from reducing to oxidizing conditions in natural waters by combining biogeochemical microcosm experiments and X-ray absorption spectroscopy. Here, our results demonstrate the threat of sea level rise stands to impact arsenic release from contaminated coastal soils by changing redox conditions.« less

  3. Sea Level Rise Induced Arsenic Release from Historically Contaminated Coastal Soils

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    LeMonte, Joshua J.; Stuckey, Jason W.; Sanchez, Joshua Z.

    Climate change-induced perturbations in the hydrologic regime are expected to impact biogeochemical processes, including contaminant mobility and cycling. Elevated levels of geogenic and anthropogenic arsenic are found along many coasts around the world, most notably in south and southeast Asia but also in the United States, particularly along the Mid-Atlantic coast. The mechanism by and the extent to which arsenic may be released in contaminated coastal soils due to sea level rise are unknown. Here we show a series of data from a coastal arsenic-contaminated soil exposed to sea and river waters in biogeochemical microcosm reactors across field-validated redox conditions.more » We find that reducing conditions lead to arsenic release from historically contaminated coastal soils through reductive dissolution of arsenic-bearing mineral oxides in both sea and river water inundations, with less arsenic release from seawater scenarios than river water due to inhibition of oxide dissolution. For the first time, we systematically display gradation of solid phase soil-arsenic speciation across defined redox windows from reducing to oxidizing conditions in natural waters by combining biogeochemical microcosm experiments and X-ray absorption spectroscopy. Here, our results demonstrate the threat of sea level rise stands to impact arsenic release from contaminated coastal soils by changing redox conditions.« less

  4. Reaction of subsurface coastal aquifers to climate and land use changes in Greece: modelling of groundwater refreshening patterns under natural recharge conditions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lambrakis, N.; Kallergis, G.

    2001-05-01

    This paper studies the multicomponent ion exchange process and freshening time under natural recharge conditions for three coastal aquifers in Greece. Due to over-pumping and the dry years of 1980-1990 decline in groundwater quality has been observed in most of the Greek coastal aquifers. This decline is caused by a lack of reliable water resource management, water abstraction from great depths, and seawater intrusion resulting in a rise of the fresh/salt water interface (salinisation process) due to a negative water balance. The reverse phenomenon, which should lead to groundwater freshening, is a long process. The freshening process shows chromatographic patterns that are due to chemical reactions such as calcite dissolution and cation exchange, and simultaneously occurring transport and dispersion processes. Using the geochemical simulation codes PHREEQE and PHREEQM (Parkhurst et al., US Geol. Surv. Water Resour. Invest., 80-96 (1980) 210; Appelo and Postma, Geochemistry, Groundwater and Pollution (1994)), these patterns were analysed and the above-mentioned processes were simulated for carefully selected aquifers in Peloponnesus and Crete (Greece). Aquifers of the Quaternary basin of Glafkos in Peloponnesus, the Neogene formations in Gouves, Crete, and the carbonate aquifer of Malia, Crete, were examined as representative examples of Greek coastal aquifer salinisation. The results show that when pumping was discontinued, the time required for freshening under natural conditions of the former two aquifers is long and varies between 8000 and 10,000 years. The Malia aquifer on the other hand, has a freshening time of 15 years. Freshening time was shown to depend mainly on cation exchange capacities and the recharge rate of the aquifers.

  5. Next steps for the National Wetlands Condition Assessment

    EPA Science Inventory

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) anticipates conducting a national survey of wetland condition, with field work scheduled for 2011 and a report in 2013. This session has presented various aspects of the planning for the survey and examples of surveys that have or w...

  6. 15 CFR 921.4 - Relationship to other provisions of the Coastal Zone Management Act, and to the Marine Protection...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... the Coastal Zone Management Act, and to the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act. 921.4... provisions of the Coastal Zone Management Act, and to the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act. (a...) NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE OCEAN AND COASTAL RESOURCE...

  7. 15 CFR 921.4 - Relationship to other provisions of the Coastal Zone Management Act, and to the Marine Protection...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... the Coastal Zone Management Act, and to the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act. 921.4... provisions of the Coastal Zone Management Act, and to the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act. (a...) NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE OCEAN AND COASTAL RESOURCE...

  8. 15 CFR 921.4 - Relationship to other provisions of the Coastal Zone Management Act, and to the Marine Protection...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... the Coastal Zone Management Act, and to the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act. 921.4... provisions of the Coastal Zone Management Act, and to the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act. (a...) NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE OCEAN AND COASTAL RESOURCE...

  9. 15 CFR 921.4 - Relationship to other provisions of the Coastal Zone Management Act, and to the Marine Protection...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... the Coastal Zone Management Act, and to the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act. 921.4... provisions of the Coastal Zone Management Act, and to the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act. (a...) NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE OCEAN AND COASTAL RESOURCE...

  10. 15 CFR 921.4 - Relationship to other provisions of the Coastal Zone Management Act, and to the Marine Protection...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... the Coastal Zone Management Act, and to the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act. 921.4... provisions of the Coastal Zone Management Act, and to the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act. (a...) NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE OCEAN AND COASTAL RESOURCE...

  11. Coastal Prairie

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    ,

    2000-01-01

    The coastal prairie, located along the coastal plain of southwestern Louisiana and southcentral Texas, is the southernmost tip of the tallgrass prairie ecosystem so prevalent in the Midwest. The coastal prairie ecosystem once covered as much as 3.8 million ha (9 million acres); today, more than 99% of this land has been lost to agriculture, range improvement, and urbanization. The remainder is highly fragmented and severely threatened by invasions of exotic species and urban sprawl. In Louisiana, the former 1 million ha of coastal prairie have now been reduced to about 100 ha. In Texas, only about 100,000 ha of coastal prairie remain intact.

  12. Dietary patterns are associated with dietary recommendations but have limited relationship to BMI in the Communities Advancing the Studies of Tribal Nations Across the Lifespan (CoASTAL) cohort.

    PubMed

    Fialkowski, Marie K; McCrory, Megan A; Roberts, Sparkle M; Tracy, J Kathleen; Grattan, Lynn M; Boushey, Carol J

    2012-10-01

    Traditional food systems in indigenous groups have historically had health-promoting benefits. The objectives of the present study were to determine if a traditional dietary pattern of Pacific Northwest Tribal Nations (PNwT) could be derived using reduced rank regression and if the pattern would be associated with lower BMI and current Dietary Reference Intakes. The baseline data from the Communities Advancing the Studies of Tribal Nations Across the Lifespan (CoASTAL) cohort were used to derive dietary patterns for the total sample and those with plausibly reported energy intakes. Pacific Northwest Coast of Washington State, USA. Adult PNwT members of the CoASTAL cohort with laboratory-measured weight and height and up to 4 d of dietary records (n 418). A traditional dietary pattern did not evolve from the analysis. Moderate consumption of a sweet drinks dietary pattern was associated with lower BMI while higher consumption of a vegetarian-based dietary pattern was associated with higher BMI. The highest consumers of the vegetarian-based dietary pattern were almost six times more likely to meet the recommendations for dietary fibre. Distinct dietary patterns were found. Further exploration is needed to confirm whether the lack of finding a traditional pattern is due to methodology or the loss of a traditional dietary pattern among this population. Longitudinal assessment of the CoASTAL cohort's dietary patterns needs to continue.

  13. Reporting on ecological condition and ecosystem services for the 2011 National Wetland Condition Assessment

    EPA Science Inventory

    The first-ever National Wetland Condition Assessment (NWCA) was conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) in 2011. Vegetation, algae, soil, water chemistry, and hydrologic data were collected at ~900 wetland points across the contiguous United States. The NW...

  14. Influence of ENSO on coastal flood hazard and exposure at the global-scale

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Muis, S.; Haigh, I. D.; Guimarães Nobre, G.; Aerts, J.; Ward, P.

    2017-12-01

    The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the dominant signal of interannual climate variability. The unusually warm (El Niño) and cold (La Niña) oceanic and atmospheric conditions in the tropical Pacific drives interannual variability in both mean and extreme sea levels, which in turn may influence the probabilities and impacts of coastal flooding. We assess the influence of ENSO on coastal flood hazard and exposure using daily timeseries from the Global Time and Surge Reanalysis (GTSR) dataset (Muis et al., 2016). As the GTSR timeseries do not include steric effects (i.e. density differences), we improve the GTSR timeseries by adding steric sea levels. Evaluation against observed sea levels shows that the including steric sea levels leads to a much better representation of the seasonal and interannual variability. We show that sea level anomalies occur during ENSO years with higher sea levels during La Niña in the South-Atlantic, Indian Ocean and the West Pacific, whereas sea levels are lower in the east Pacific. The pattern is generally inversed for El Niño. We also find an effect of ENSO in the number of people exposed to coastal flooding. Although the effect is minor at the global-scale, it may be important for flood risk management to consider at the national or sub national levels. Previous studies at the global-scale have used tide gauge observation to assess the influence of ENSO on extreme sea levels. The advantage of our approach over observations is that GTSR provides a consistent dataset with a full global coverage for the period 1979-2014. This allows us to assess ENSO's influence on sea level extremes anywhere in the world. Furthermore, it enables us to also calculate the impacts of extreme sea levels in terms of coastal flooding and exposed population. ReferencesMuis et al (2016) A global reanalysis of storm surges and extreme sea levels. Nature Communications.7:11969. doi:10.1038/ncomms11969.

  15. Accuracy assessment, using stratified plurality sampling, of portions of a LANDSAT classification of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Coastal Plain

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Card, Don H.; Strong, Laurence L.

    1989-01-01

    An application of a classification accuracy assessment procedure is described for a vegetation and land cover map prepared by digital image processing of LANDSAT multispectral scanner data. A statistical sampling procedure called Stratified Plurality Sampling was used to assess the accuracy of portions of a map of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastal plain. Results are tabulated as percent correct classification overall as well as per category with associated confidence intervals. Although values of percent correct were disappointingly low for most categories, the study was useful in highlighting sources of classification error and demonstrating shortcomings of the plurality sampling method.

  16. Partnerships panel: the New Jersey coastal heritage trail route: a partnership in action

    Treesearch

    Philip G. Correll; Janet C. Wolf

    1995-01-01

    The New Jersey Coastal Heritage Trail Route is a vehicular tourism route that is being developed to provide for public understanding and appreciation of significant natural and cultural sites associated with the coastal areas of New Jersey. Authorized by federal legislation in 1988, the Trail is a public/private partnership involving the National Park Service, state of...

  17. Sensor to User - NASA/EOS Data for Coastal Zone Management Applications Developed from Integrated Analyses: Verification, Validation and Benchmark Report

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hall, Callie; Arnone, Robert

    2006-01-01

    The NASA Applied Sciences Program seeks to transfer NASA data, models, and knowledge into the hands of end-users by forming links with partner agencies and associated decision support tools (DSTs). Through the NASA REASoN (Research, Education and Applications Solutions Network) Cooperative Agreement, the Oceanography Division of the Naval Research Laboratory (NRLSSC) is developing new products through the integration of data from NASA Earth-Sun System assets with coastal ocean forecast models and other available data to enhance coastal management in the Gulf of Mexico. The recipient federal agency for this research effort is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The contents of this report detail the effort to further the goals of the NASA Applied Sciences Program by demonstrating the use of NASA satellite products combined with data-assimilating ocean models to provide near real-time information to maritime users and coastal managers of the Gulf of Mexico. This effort provides new and improved capabilities for monitoring, assessing, and predicting the coastal environment. Coastal managers can exploit these capabilities through enhanced DSTs at federal, state and local agencies. The project addresses three major issues facing coastal managers: 1) Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs); 2) hypoxia; and 3) freshwater fluxes to the coastal ocean. A suite of ocean products capable of describing Ocean Weather is assembled on a daily basis as the foundation for this semi-operational multiyear effort. This continuous realtime capability brings decision makers a new ability to monitor both normal and anomalous coastal ocean conditions with a steady flow of satellite and ocean model conditions. Furthermore, as the baseline data sets are used more extensively and the customer list increased, customer feedback is obtained and additional customized products are developed and provided to decision makers. Continual customer feedback and response with new improved

  18. A study on the influence of tides on the water table conditions of the shallow coastal aquifers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Singaraja, C.; Chidambaram, S.; Jacob, Noble

    2018-03-01

    Tidal variation and water level in aquifer is an important function in the coastal environment, this study attempts to find the relationship between water table fluctuation and tides in the shallow coastal aquifers. The study was conducted by selecting three coastal sites and by monitoring the water level for every 2-h interval in 24 h of observation. The study was done during two periods of full moon and new moon along the Cuddalore coastal region of southern part of Tamil Nadu, India. The study shows the relationship between tidal variation, water table fluctuations, dissolved oxygen, and electrical conductivity. An attempt has also been made in this study to approximate the rate of flow of water. Anyhow, the differences are site specific and the angle of inclination of the water table shows a significant relation to the mean sea level, with respect to the distance of the point of observation from the sea and elevation above mean sea level.

  19. Modeling Coastal Vulnerability through Space and Time

    PubMed Central

    2016-01-01

    Coastal ecosystems experience a wide range of stressors including wave forces, storm surge, sea-level rise, and anthropogenic modification and are thus vulnerable to erosion. Urban coastal ecosystems are especially important due to the large populations these limited ecosystems serve. However, few studies have addressed the issue of urban coastal vulnerability at the landscape scale with spatial data that are finely resolved. The purpose of this study was to model and map coastal vulnerability and the role of natural habitats in reducing vulnerability in Jamaica Bay, New York, in terms of nine coastal vulnerability metrics (relief, wave exposure, geomorphology, natural habitats, exposure, exposure with no habitat, habitat role, erodible shoreline, and surge) under past (1609), current (2015), and future (2080) scenarios using InVEST 3.2.0. We analyzed vulnerability results both spatially and across all time periods, by stakeholder (ownership) and by distance to damage from Hurricane Sandy. We found significant differences in vulnerability metrics between past, current and future scenarios for all nine metrics except relief and wave exposure. The marsh islands in the center of the bay are currently vulnerable. In the future, these islands will likely be inundated, placing additional areas of the shoreline increasingly at risk. Significant differences in vulnerability exist between stakeholders; the Breezy Point Cooperative and Gateway National Recreation Area had the largest erodible shoreline segments. Significant correlations exist for all vulnerability (exposure/surge) and storm damage combinations except for exposure and distance to artificial debris. Coastal protective features, ranging from storm surge barriers and levees to natural features (e.g. wetlands), have been promoted to decrease future flood risk to communities in coastal areas around the world. Our methods of combining coastal vulnerability results with additional data and across multiple time

  20. 75 FR 34092 - Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act Provisions; Weakfish Fishery

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-06-16

    .... 0912011421-0200-01] RIN 0648-AY41 Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative Management Act Provisions; Weakfish Fishery AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration... to be more compatible with Addendum IV to Amendment 4 of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries...

  1. 46 CFR 11.426 - Requirements for master of near-coastal self-propelled vessels of less than 200 GRT.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... 46 Shipping 1 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Requirements for master of near-coastal self-propelled... National Deck Officer Endorsements § 11.426 Requirements for master of near-coastal self-propelled vessels of less than 200 GRT. (a) The minimum service required to qualify for a master of near-coastal self...

  2. Elevation uncertainty in coastal inundation hazard assessments

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Gesch, Dean B.; Cheval, Sorin

    2012-01-01

    Coastal inundation has been identified as an important natural hazard that affects densely populated and built-up areas (Subcommittee on Disaster Reduction, 2008). Inundation, or coastal flooding, can result from various physical processes, including storm surges, tsunamis, intense precipitation events, and extreme high tides. Such events cause quickly rising water levels. When rapidly rising water levels overwhelm flood defenses, especially in heavily populated areas, the potential of the hazard is realized and a natural disaster results. Two noteworthy recent examples of such natural disasters resulting from coastal inundation are the Hurricane Katrina storm surge in 2005 along the Gulf of Mexico coast in the United States, and the tsunami in northern Japan in 2011. Longer term, slowly varying processes such as land subsidence (Committee on Floodplain Mapping Technologies, 2007) and sea-level rise also can result in coastal inundation, although such conditions do not have the rapid water level rise associated with other flooding events. Geospatial data are a critical resource for conducting assessments of the potential impacts of coastal inundation, and geospatial representations of the topography in the form of elevation measurements are a primary source of information for identifying the natural and human components of the landscape that are at risk. Recently, the quantity and quality of elevation data available for the coastal zone have increased markedly, and this availability facilitates more detailed and comprehensive hazard impact assessments.

  3. 76 FR 11969 - Fisheries Off West Coast States; Coastal Pelagic Species Fisheries; Annual Specifications

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-03-04

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 50 CFR Part 660 [Docket No. 110111018-1095-02] RIN 0648-XA109 Fisheries Off West Coast States; Coastal Pelagic Species Fisheries; Annual Specifications AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration...

  4. Risk of impaired condition of watersheds containing National Forest lands

    Treesearch

    Thomas C Brown; Pamela Froemke

    2010-01-01

    We assessed the risk of impaired condition of the nearly 3700 5th-level watersheds in the contiguous 48 states containing the national forests and grasslands that make up the U.S. Forest Service's National Forest System (NFS). The assessment was based on readily available, relatively consistent nationwide data sets for a series of indicators representing watershed...

  5. Inventory of coastal protected areas and historical heritage sites (North Bulgarian coast)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Palazov, Atanas; Stancheva, Margarita; Stanchev, Hristo; Krastev, Anton; Peev, Preslav

    2015-04-01

    Coastal protected areas and historical heritage sites in Bulgaria are established by national policy instruments/laws and EU Directives to protect a wide range of natural and cultural resources along the coast. Within the framework of HERAS Project (Submarine Archaeological Heritage of the Western Black Sea Shelf), financed by European Union under the CBC Program Romania-Bulgaria, we made an inventory and identification of protected areas, nature reserves, monuments, parks and onshore historical sites along the North Bulgarian coast (NUTS III level). The adjacent coastline is 96 km long between cape Sivriburun to the border of Romania on the north and cape Ekrene on the south. Coastal zone here is mostly undeveloped and low urbanized compared to other coastal regions in Bulgaria. It comprises of large sand beaches, vast sand dunes, up to 70 m spectacular high limestone cliffs, coastal fresh-water lakes, wetlands etc. This coastal section includes also one of the most important wetlands and it is migration corridor for many protected birds in Bulgaria, that host one of the rarest ecosystem types with national and international conservational value. Added to ecosystem values, the region is also an archeologically important area, where numerous underwater and coastal archaeological sites from different periods have been discovered - Prehistory, Antiquity (ancient Greek, Hellenistic, Roman), Mediaeval (Early Byzantium, Bulgarian). Research was made within 2100 m zone from the coastline (in accordance with zones defined by the Black Sea Coastal Development Act) for territories with protected status in the framework of many national laws and EU Directives. The total area of this strip zone is 182, 6 km2 and around 67% is under protection. There are 11 unique NATURA 2000 protected areas (6 Special Protection Areas (SPAs) and 5 Sites of Communities Importance (SCI), 2 nature reserves and 1 Nature Park. Some of them are also onshore historical sites. In Bulgaria such sites

  6. NUTRIENT AND HABITAT INDICATORS FOR CRITERIA DEVELOPMENT IN THE GREAT LAKES COASTAL WETLANDS

    EPA Science Inventory

    EPA?s National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory (NHEERL) has developed a national research program with the goal of demonstrating approaches for establishing scientifically sound nutrient and biological criteria for coastal ecosystems. Mid-Continent Ecology D...

  7. Towards a joint national and state partnership in aquatic resource assessment monitoring survey design

    EPA Science Inventory

    The USEPA is currently conducting national assessments of all aquatic resources in the United States. Prior national assessments were completed for coastal waters and wadeable streams. National assessments are now underway for lakes, rivers and streams, coastal waters, and wetl...

  8. An Inventory and Classification of Coastal Wetlands of the Laurentian Great Lakes

    EPA Science Inventory

    This inventory and classification of DRM/riverine coastal wetlands is needed for doing a probability based selection for assessments of this valued aquatic resource across large areas, e.g., by states for 305B reports of coastal wetland condition.

  9. NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MARINE PRODUCTS VIA NOAA WEATHER RADIO

    Science.gov Websites

    ! Boating Safety Beach Hazards Rip Currents Hypothermia Hurricanes Thunderstorms Lightning Coastal Flooding Radio network provides voice broadcasts of local and coastal marine forecasts on a continuous cycle. The forecasts are produced by local National Weather Service Forecast Offices. Coastal stations also broadcast

  10. Persistence of Coastal Vegetation in Supratidal Zones of Northern China

    PubMed Central

    Yang, Hongxiao; Chu, Jianmin

    2013-01-01

    Coastal vegetation comprises a number of coastal specialists and terrestrial generalists. It remains unclear how they persist on disturbed and undisturbed coastal conditions. We tested the hypothesis that coastal specialists may be superior to terrestrial generalists on supratidal zones of coasts, but their superiority can be influenced by human disturbances. Eight separate sandy coasts of the Shandong Peninsula were sampled, representing for disturbed and undisturbed sandy coasts. Plants growing on their supratidal zones were surveyed. On this basis, we compared the relative dominances, niche widths, and commonness of all species, and also analyzed species diversities of the coasts. Coastal specialists were found to be more common and widespread on supratidal zones of the sandy coasts than terrestrial generalists haphazardly invading from hinterlands. Coastal specialists exhibited lower Sørensen dissimilarities than terrestrial generalists among the coasts. Tourist trampling seemed more detrimental than pond fishery to coastal vegetation. Relative to terrestrial generalists, coastal specialists responded to human disturbances more deterministically, with steady decreases in species diversities. These evidences verify that coastal specialists are intrinsically superior to terrestrial generalists on supratidal zones of coasts, especially of undisturbed coasts, because their dispersal among coasts adapts well to local storm surge regime. They also validate that human disturbances can depress the superiority of coastal specialists, partly by inducing invasion of terrestrial generalists. PMID:24224026

  11. EAARL Topography-Colonial National Historical Park

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Brock, John C.; Wright, C. Wayne; Nayegandhi, Amar; Stevens, Sara; Travers, Laurinda J.

    2008-01-01

    These Lidar-derived topography maps were produced as a collaborative effort between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Geology Program, Florida Integrated Science Center (FISC) St. Petersburg, the National Park Service (NPS) Inventory and Monitoring Program, Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Wallops Flight Facility. One objective of this research is to create techniques to survey coral reefs, barrier islands, and various nearshore coastal environments for the purposes of geomorphic change studies, habitat mapping, ecological monitoring, change detection, and event assessment. As part of this project, data from an innovative instrument under development at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, the NASA Experimental Airborne Advanced Research Lidar (EAARL) are being used. This sensor has the potential to make significant contributions in this realm for measuring subaerial and submarine topography wthin cross-environment surveys. High spectral resolution, water-column correction, and low costs were found to be key factors in providing accurate and affordable imagery to coastal resource managers.

  12. Land-based sources of marine pollution: Pesticides, PAHs and phthalates in coastal stream water, and heavy metals in coastal stream sediments in American Samoa.

    PubMed

    Polidoro, Beth A; Comeros-Raynal, Mia T; Cahill, Thomas; Clement, Cassandra

    2017-03-15

    The island nations and territories of the South Pacific are facing a number of pressing environmental concerns, including solid waste management and coastal pollution. Here we provide baseline information on the presence and concentration of heavy metals and selected organic contaminants (pesticides, PAHs, phthalates) in 7 coastal streams and in surface waters adjacent to the Futiga landfill in American Samoa. All sampled stream sediments contained high concentrations of lead, and some of mercury. Several coastal stream waters showed relatively high concentrations of diethyl phthalate and of organophosphate pesticides, above chronic toxicity values for fish and other aquatic organisms. Parathion, which has been banned by the US Environmental Protection Agency since 2006, was detected in several stream sites. Increased monitoring and initiatives to limit non-point source land-based pollution will greatly improve the state of freshwater and coastal resources, as well as reduce risks to human health in American Samoa. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Inclusion of Coastal Wetlands within the Inventory of United States Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Crooks, S.; Wirth, T. C.; Herold, N.; Bernal, B.; Holmquist, J. R.; Troxler, T.; Megonigal, P.; Sutton-Grier, A.; Muth, M.; Emmett-Mattox, S.

    2016-12-01

    The Inventory of U.S. GHG Emissions and Sinks' (Inventory) chapter on Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) reports C stock changes and emissions of CH4 and N2O from forest management, and other land-use/land-use change activities. With the release of the 2013 Supplement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National GHG Inventories: Wetlands (Wetlands Supplement) the United States has begun working to include emissions and removals from management activities on coastal wetlands, and is responding to a request by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for Parties to report back in March 2017 on their country's experience in applying the Wetlands Supplement. To support the EPA, NOAA has formed an interagency and science community group i.e., Coastal Wetland Carbon Working Group (CWCWG). The task of the CWCWG is to conduct an initial IPCC Tier 1-2 baseline assessment of GHG emissions and removals associated with coastal wetlands using the methodologies described in the recently released IPCC Wetlands Supplement for inclusion in the Inventory submitted to the UNFCCC in April 2017. The 5 million ha coastal land area of the conterminous United States has been delineated based upon tide stations and LIDAR derived digital elevation model. Land use change within the coastal land area has been calculated from NOAA Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP), Forest Inventory and National Resource Inventory (NRI). Tier 2 (i.e., country-specific) subnational / climate zone estimates of carbon stocks (including soils), along with carbon sequestration rates and methane emissions rates have been developed from literature. Future opportunities to improve the coastal wetland estimates include: refined quantification of methane emissions from wetlands across the salinity gradient (including mapping of this gradient) and from impounded waters; quantification of impacts of forestry activities on wetland soils; emissions and removals on forested tidally

  14. Coherence between coastal and river flooding along the California coast

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Odigie, Kingsley O.; Warrick, Jonathan

    2018-01-01

    Water levels around river mouths are intrinsically determined by sea level and river discharge. If storm-associated coastal water-level anomalies coincide with extreme river discharge, landscapes near river mouths will be flooded by the hydrodynamic interactions of these two water masses. Unfortunately, the temporal relationships between ocean and river water masses are not well understood. The coherence between extreme river discharge and coastal water levels at six California river mouths across different climatic and geographic regions was examined. Data from river gauges, wave buoys, and tide gauges from 2007 to 2014 were integrated to investigate the relationships between extreme river discharge and coastal water levels near the mouths of the Eel, Russian, San Lorenzo, Ventura, Arroyo Trabuco, and San Diego rivers. Results indicate that mean and extreme coastal water levels during extreme river discharge are significantly higher compared with background conditions. Elevated coastal water levels result from the combination of nontidal residuals (NTRs) and wave setups. Mean and extreme (>99th percentile of observations) NTRs are 3–20 cm and ∼30 cm higher during extreme river discharge conditions, respectively. Mean and extreme wave setups are up to 40 cm and ∼20–90 cm higher during extreme river discharge than typical conditions, respectively. These water-level anomalies were generally greatest for the northern rivers and least for the southern rivers. Time-series comparisons suggest that increases in NTRs are largely coherent with extreme river discharge, owing to the low atmospheric pressure systems associated with storms. The potential flooding risks of the concurrent timing of these water masses are tempered by the mixed, semidiurnal tides of the region that have amplitudes of 2–2.5 m. In summary, flooding hazard assessments for floodplains near California river mouths for current or future conditions with sea-level rise should include the temporal

  15. Preliminary Results Of Hydrodynamic Responses To Ship Movements And Weather Conditions Along The Coastal Walls Of Shallow Areas

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Acar, Dursun; Alpar, Bedri; Cagatay, Namık; Ozeren, Sinan; Sarı, Erol; Eris, Kadir; Vardar, Denizhan; Arslan, Tugce; Basegmez, Koray

    2016-04-01

    Water-level variations in coastal areas and shallow channels take place under the influence of more complex factors, compared to those in deeper areas. Atmospheric pressure, wind, and wave interactions with bottom morphological characteristics are some important natural features while human-induced factors are usually maritime traffic and manoeuvres the ships. While weather conditions cause long-term changes in water level, water level interactions in near shore areas, can occur very quickly depending on the ship manoeuvres and squat characteristics, and these rapid changes can lead to unpredictable water level lowering. Such rapid changes may cause various dangerous incidents and ship accidents, particularly in areas where rapid water oscillations occur. Improper calculations of propulsion power or orientation of the ship body, especially in the areas where geological and morphological characteristics permit fast water movements, are the most important additional causes of accidents due to sudden water level decreases. For an example, even though a 200-m-long vessel can complete its 35° rotation in a circular area with radius of 250 m, if it is calm and sufficiently deep, this diameter increases 5 times at the shallow waters also depending on the hydrodynamic flow conditions. In 2005, "Gerardus Mercator" has bumped into the inside bottom wall of the channel with a low speed (4 knots) turn of when she had just made a 200° turn. Seven years later the cruise ship "Costa Concordia" struck a rock, before she drifted and grounded, in the calm seas of the coast of Isola del Giglio in Italy, due to a combined effects of waves generated by side waves of ship manoeuvres, atmospheric pressure and squat specifications as well. The waves reflected from the seawalls complicate the navigation problems which should be examined in detail. Thus, three prototype models with various angular seawall features were prepared, simple in shape with perpendicular and sloped seawalls with

  16. Development of the Coastal Storm Modeling System (CoSMoS) for predicting the impact of storms on high-energy, active-margin coasts

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Barnard, Patrick; Maarten van Ormondt,; Erikson, Li H.; Jodi Eshleman,; Hapke, Cheryl J.; Peter Ruggiero,; Peter Adams,; Foxgrover, Amy C.

    2014-01-01

    The Coastal Storm Modeling System (CoSMoS) applies a predominantly deterministic framework to make detailed predictions (meter scale) of storm-induced coastal flooding, erosion, and cliff failures over large geographic scales (100s of kilometers). CoSMoS was developed for hindcast studies, operational applications (i.e., nowcasts and multiday forecasts), and future climate scenarios (i.e., sea-level rise + storms) to provide emergency responders and coastal planners with critical storm hazards information that may be used to increase public safety, mitigate physical damages, and more effectively manage and allocate resources within complex coastal settings. The prototype system, developed for the California coast, uses the global WAVEWATCH III wave model, the TOPEX/Poseidon satellite altimetry-based global tide model, and atmospheric-forcing data from either the US National Weather Service (operational mode) or Global Climate Models (future climate mode), to determine regional wave and water-level boundary conditions. These physical processes are dynamically downscaled using a series of nested Delft3D-WAVE (SWAN) and Delft3D-FLOW (FLOW) models and linked at the coast to tightly spaced XBeach (eXtreme Beach) cross-shore profile models and a Bayesian probabilistic cliff failure model. Hindcast testing demonstrates that, despite uncertainties in preexisting beach morphology over the ~500 km alongshore extent of the pilot study area, CoSMoS effectively identifies discrete sections of the coast (100s of meters) that are vulnerable to coastal hazards under a range of current and future oceanographic forcing conditions, and is therefore an effective tool for operational and future climate scenario planning.

  17. Geochemistry of shallow ground water in coastal plain environments in the southeastern United States: Implications for aquifer susceptibility

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Tesoriero, A.J.; Spruill, T.B.; Eimers, J.L.

    2004-01-01

    Ground-water chemistry data from coastal plain environments have been examined to determine the geochemical conditions and processes that occur in these areas and assess their implications for aquifer susceptibility. Two distinct geochemical environments were studied to represent a range of conditions: an inner coastal plain setting having more well-drained soils and lower organic carbon (C) content and an outer coastal plain environment that has more poorly drained soils and high organic C content. Higher concentrations of most major ions and dissolved inorganic and organic C in the outer coastal plain setting indicate a greater degree of mineral dissolution and organic matter oxidation. Accordingly, outer coastal plain waters are more reducing than inner coastal plain waters. Low dissolved oxygen (O2) and nitrate (NO 3-) concentrations and high iron (Fe) concentrations indicate that ferric iron (Fe (III)) is an important electron acceptor in this setting, while dissolved O2 is the most common terminal electron acceptor in the inner coastal plain setting. The presence of a wide range of redox conditions in the shallow aquifer system examined here underscores the importance of providing a detailed geochemical characterization of ground water when assessing the intrinsic susceptibility of coastal plain settings. The greater prevalence of aerobic conditions in the inner coastal plain setting makes this region more susceptible to contamination by constituents that are more stable under these conditions and is consistent with the significantly (p<0.05) higher concentrations of NO3- found in this setting. Herbicides and their transformation products were frequently detected (36% of wells sampled), however concentrations were typically low (<0.1 ??g/L). Shallow water table depths often found in coastal plain settings may result in an increased risk of the detection of pesticides (e.g., alachlor) that degrade rapidly in the unsaturated zone.

  18. The magnitude and origin of groundwater discharge to eastern U.S. and Gulf of Mexico coastal waters

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Befus, Kevin; Kroeger, Kevin D.; Smith, Christopher G.; Swarzenski, Peter W.

    2017-01-01

    Fresh groundwater discharge to coastal environments contributes to the physical and chemical conditions of coastal waters, but the role of coastal groundwater at regional to continental scales remains poorly defined due to diverse hydrologic conditions and the difficulty of tracking coastal groundwater flow paths through heterogeneous subsurface materials. We use three-dimensional groundwater flow models for the first time to calculate the magnitude and source areas of groundwater discharge from unconfined aquifers to coastal waterbodies along the entire eastern U.S. We find that 27.1 km3/yr (22.8–30.5 km3/yr) of groundwater directly enters eastern U.S. and Gulf of Mexico coastal waters. The contributing recharge areas comprised ~175,000 km2 of U.S. land area, extending several kilometers inland. This result provides new information on the land area that can supply natural and anthropogenic constituents to coastal waters via groundwater discharge, thereby defining the subterranean domain potentially affecting coastal chemical budgets and ecosystem processes.

  19. Ecosystem-based coastal defence in the face of global change.

    PubMed

    Temmerman, Stijn; Meire, Patrick; Bouma, Tjeerd J; Herman, Peter M J; Ysebaert, Tom; De Vriend, Huib J

    2013-12-05

    The risk of flood disasters is increasing for many coastal societies owing to global and regional changes in climate conditions, sea-level rise, land subsidence and sediment supply. At the same time, in many locations, conventional coastal engineering solutions such as sea walls are increasingly challenged by these changes and their maintenance may become unsustainable. We argue that flood protection by ecosystem creation and restoration can provide a more sustainable, cost-effective and ecologically sound alternative to conventional coastal engineering and that, in suitable locations, it should be implemented globally and on a large scale.

  20. NOAA'S Coastal Ocean Program: Science for solutions

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Wenzel, L.; Scavia, D.

    The year 1988 was not a good one for the coasts. Hundreds of dead and dying dolphins washed ashore from unknown causes; medical wastes, including syringes, appeared on New Jersey beaches; and many areas were too contaminated to permit shellfish harvesting or swimming. People responded to this visible evidence that the coast was in trouble. Many problems that draw attention that year were symptoms of longstanding patterns of human activities near the coast. And some, such as the pollution of beaches by sewage outflows, could be addressed by available technology and management decisions. Other were, and are, more complicated. Themore » depletion of US fisheries continued, reaching crisis proportions in some regions, due to the inexact nature of stock assessments and the social and economic consequences of imposing restrictions. For other issues, such as the contamination of estuaries and coastal waters by toxics and nutrients, the sheer complexity of the problems frustrated managers looking for solutions. Congress responded by passing legislation to control ocean dumping and medical wastes. Looking at the broader set of coastal issues, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) created the Coastal Ocean Program (COP) in 1989 to focus on NOAA and academic coastal ocean science efforts on emerging and longstanding problems.« less

  1. Hydrogeomorphic factors and ecosystem responses in coastal wetlands of the Great Lakes

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Keough, Janet R.; Thompson, Todd A.; Guntenspergen, Glenn R.; Wilcox, Douglas A.

    1999-01-01

    Gauging the impact of manipulative activities, such as rehabilitation or management, on wetlands requires having a notion of the unmanipulated condition as a reference. And understanding of the reference condition requires knowledge of dominant factors influencing ecosystem processes and biological communities. In this paper, we focus on natural physical factors (conditions and processes) that drive coastal wetland ecosystems of the Laurentian Great Lakes. Great Lakes coastal wetlands develop under conditions of large-lake hydrology and disturbance imposed at a hiearchy of spatial and temporal scales and contain biotic communities adapted to unstable and unpredictable conditions. Coastal wetlands are configured along a continuum of hydrogeomorphic types: open coastal wetlands, drowned river mouth and flooded delta wetlands, and protected wetlands, each developing distinct ecosystem propertics and biotic communities. Hydrogeomorphic factors associated with the lake and watershed operate at a hierarchy of scales: a) local and short-term (seiches and ice action), b) watershed / lakewide / annual (seasonal water-level change), and c) larger or year-to-year and longer (regional and/or greater than one-year). Other physical factors include the unique water quality features of each lake. The aim of this paper is to provide scientists and managers with a framework for considering regional and site-specific geomorphometry and a hierarchy of physical processes in planning management and conservation projects.

  2. Stem Cubic-Foot Volume Tables for Tree Species in the Upper Coastal Plain

    Treesearch

    Alexander Clark; Ray A. Souter

    1996-01-01

    Stemwood cubic-foot volume inside bark tables are presented for 11 species and 8 species groups based on equations used to estimate timber sale volumes on national forests in the Upper Coastal Plain. Tables are based on form class measurement data for 521 trees sampled in the Upper Coastal Plain and taper data collected across the South. A series of tables is...

  3. The main characteristics, problems, and prospects for Western European coastal seas.

    PubMed

    Dauvin, Jean-Claude

    2008-01-01

    Located to the far West of Western Europe, France has a western maritime coastal zone of more than 3800 km, which is widely influenced by the North-eastern Atlantic. The English Channel, an epi-continental shallow sea with very strong tides, runs along 650 km of the French coast and 1100 km of the English coast. It is also a bio-geographical crossroad encompassing a much wider range of ecological conditions than other European seas. France's Atlantic coast north of the Gironde estuary is a succession of rocky and sandy shorelines, including a sizeable intertidal zone, a wide continental shelf, and two major estuaries (Loire and Gironde). South of the Gironde, the 260 km of coastline is low, sandy and straight, with a narrowing continental shelf further on South due to the presence of the Cape Breton canyon in the bathyal and abyssal zones. Interface between the continental and oceanic systems, these bordering seas--North Sea, English Channel and Atlantic Ocean--have been the subject of many recent research programmes (the European Mast-FLUXMANCHE and INTERREG programmes; the national coastal environment programme and the LITEAU programme in France), designed to improve comprehension of the functions, production, and dynamics of these seas as well as their future evolution. Given the many conflicting practices in these littoral zones, integrated coastal zone management appears to be essential in order to cope with both natural phenomena, such as the infilling of estuarine zones, cliff erosion, and rising sea levels, and chronic anthropogenic pressures, such as new harbour installations (container dikes, marinas), sea aggregate extraction for human constructions, and offshore wind mill farms. This article provides as complete an overview as possible of the research projects on these bordering seas, both those that have recently been accomplished and those that are currently in progress, in order to highlight the main characteristics of these ecosystems and to

  4. Satellite Derived Bathymetry as a Coastal Geo-Intelligence Tool for Alaska

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ventura, D. C.

    2017-12-01

    What do marine rescue, navigation safety, resource management, coastal infrastructure management, climate adaptation and resilience, economic investment, habitat protection agencies and institutions all have in common? They all benefit from accurate coastal bathymetric data As Arctic-Related Incidents of National Significance (IoNS) workshop points out, reducing time and cost of collecting coastal bathymetry in the Arctic is fundamental to addressing needs of a multitude of stakeholders. Until recently, high resolution coastal data acquisition involved field mobilization of planes, vessels, and people. Given limited resources, short season and remoteness, this approach results in very modest progress toward filling the Alaska's coastal bathymetry data gap and updating vintage data from circa Captain Cook.After successfully executing Satellite Derived Bathymetry (SDB) projects in other more environmentally suitable locations, Fugro and its partner EOMAP are now assessing suitability SDB technique along the Alaska coast. This includes aaccessing archived satellite data and understanding best environmental conditions for the mapping and defining maximum mapping depth as an initial action to understand potentials for Alaska. Here we leverage the physics-based approach to satellite imagery data extraction to derive water depth and complimentary intelligence such as seafloor habitat mapping and certain water quality parameters, such as clarity, turbidity, sediment and chlorophyll-a concentrations, and seasonal changes. Both new and archive imagery are utilized as part of the process. If successful, the benefits and cost savings of this approach are enormous as repeat rate for data collects like this can be measured in months/years as opposed to decades/centuries. Arctic coasts have multiple vulnerabilities and the rate of change will continue to outpace the budgets. As innovative and learning organizations, Fugro and EOMAP strive to not only share the results of this

  5. Gridded population projections for the coastal zone under the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Merkens, Jan-Ludolf; Reimann, Lena; Hinkel, Jochen; Vafeidis, Athanasios T.

    2016-10-01

    Existing quantifications of the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP) used for climate impact assessment do not account for subnational population dynamics such as coastward-migration that can be critical for coastal impact assessment. This paper extends the SSPs by developing spatial projections of global coastal population distribution for the five basic SSPs. Based on a series of coastal migration drivers we develop coastal narratives for each SSP. These narratives account for differences in coastal and inland population developments in urban and rural areas. To spatially distribute population, we use the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) national population and urbanisation projections and employ country-specific growth rates, which differ for coastal and inland as well as for urban and rural regions, to project coastal population for each SSP. These rates are derived from spatial analysis of historical population data and adjusted for each SSP based on the coastal narratives. Our results show that, compared to the year 2000 (638 million), the population living in the Low Elevated Coastal Zone (LECZ) increases by 58% to 71% until 2050 and exceeds one billion in all SSPs. By the end of the 21st century, global coastal population declines to 830-907 million in all SSPs except for SSP3, where coastal population growth continues and reaches 1.184 billion. Overall, the population living in the LECZ is higher by 85 to 239 million compared to the original IIASA projections. Asia expects the highest absolute growth (238-303 million), Africa the highest relative growth (153% to 218%). Our results highlight regions where high coastal population growth is expected and will therefore face an increased exposure to coastal flooding.

  6. Interoperability Between Coastal Web Atlases Using Semantic Mediation: A Case Study of the International Coastal Atlas Network (ICAN)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wright, D. J.; Lassoued, Y.; Dwyer, N.; Haddad, T.; Bermudez, L. E.; Dunne, D.

    2009-12-01

    Coastal mapping plays an important role in informing marine spatial planning, resource management, maritime safety, hazard assessment and even national sovereignty. As such, there is now a plethora of data/metadata catalogs, pre-made maps, tabular and text information on resource availability and exploitation, and decision-making tools. A recent trend has been to encapsulate these in a special class of web-enabled geographic information systems called a coastal web atlas (CWA). While multiple benefits are derived from tailor-made atlases, there is great value added from the integration of disparate CWAs. CWAs linked to one another can query more successfully to optimize planning and decision-making. If a dataset is missing in one atlas, it may be immediately located in another. Similar datasets in two atlases may be combined to enhance study in either region. *But how best to achieve semantic interoperability to mitigate vague data queries, concepts or natural language semantics when retrieving and integrating data and information?* We report on the development of a new prototype seeking to interoperate between two initial CWAs: the Marine Irish Digital Atlas (MIDA) and the Oregon Coastal Atlas (OCA). These two mature atlases are used as a testbed for more regional connections, with the intent for the OCA to use lessons learned to develop a regional network of CWAs along the west coast, and for MIDA to do the same in building and strengthening atlas networks with the UK, Belgium, and other parts of Europe. Our prototype uses semantic interoperability via services harmonization and ontology mediation, allowing local atlases to use their own data structures, and vocabularies (ontologies). We use standard technologies such as OGC Web Map Services (WMS) for delivering maps, and OGC Catalogue Service for the Web (CSW) for delivering and querying ISO-19139 metadata. The metadata records of a given CWA use a given ontology of terms called local ontology. Human or machine

  7. Food security assessment in the coastal area of Demak Regency

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Harini, R.; Handayani, H. N.; Ramdani, F. R.

    2018-04-01

    Food security is an issue of national and global level. Food is a basic human need to live. Without food will threaten human life. This research was conducted in coastal area of Demak Regency. This research is to understand the potential of human resources, natural resources and assess the level of food security of coastal communities. The data used are primary data through interviews with the local community. Also used Secondary data from government agencies. Data analysis used qualitative and quantitative descriptive methods through graphs, tables and maps. The results showed that potential of human resources in Demak coastal area (Wedung, Purworejo, and Sidogemah villages) is low. It can be indicated from education level of respondents in Demak are elementary school and junior high school. Beside, total households income are about 2-4 million. This study found that the households sampled are 90% is food insecured households. The most of households in Demak coastal area are about 90% households include on insecurity food category.

  8. 34 CFR 75.617 - Compliance with the Coastal Barrier Resources Act.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 34 Education 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Compliance with the Coastal Barrier Resources Act. 75.617 Section 75.617 Education Office of the Secretary, Department of Education DIRECT GRANT PROGRAMS What Conditions Must Be Met by a Grantee? Construction § 75.617 Compliance with the Coastal Barrier...

  9. Coastal sedimentation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Schubel, J. R.

    1980-01-01

    Several important coastal sedimentation problems are identified. Application of existing or anticipated remote sensing techniques to examine these problems is considered. Specifically, coastal fine particle sediment systems, floods and hy hurricanes and sedimentation f of coastal systems, routes and rates of sediment transport on continental shelves, and dredging and dredged material disposal are discussed.

  10. Coastal dune facies, Permian Cutler Formation (White Rim Sandstone), Capitol Reef National Park area, southern Utah

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kamola, Diane L.; Chan, Marjorie A.

    1988-04-01

    The Permian Cutler Formation (White Rim Sandstone) in the Capitol Reef National Park area in southern Utah is an excellent example of a coastal dune complex subjected to periodic flooding by marine waters. Wind-ripple, grainfall and grainflow laminae compose the cross-sets deposited by eolian dunes. However, wave-reworked structures such as oscillation ripples, the occurrence of the characteristically marine trace fossils Thalassinoides and Chondrites, and interfingering marine carbonate beds of the Kaibab Formation collectively indicate marine interaction with the eolian environment. Four facies are distinguished: cross-stratified sandstone, burrowed to bioturbated sandstone, brecciated and deformed sandstone, and ripple-laminated sandstone and thin carbonate beds. One unusual aspect of the cross-stratified sandstone facies is the abundance of coarse-grained sand. Coarse-grained sand is atypical in many ancient eolian slipface deposits, but occurs here in large slipface foresets as both grainflow and wind-ripple deposits. No water-laid structures are found in these slipface deposits. Coarse-grained sand was probably transported to the Cutler shoreline by fluvial systems draining the Uncompahgre Uplift to the east, and then concentrated as coarse-grained ripples in interdune areas. Some of these coarse-grained ripples migrated up the stoss side of the dunes and accumulations of coarse-grained sand avalanched down the crest to form grainflow deposits. An extensive amount of soft-sediment deformation is indicated by the presence of convolute bedding and brecciation. These features occur near the zone of interfingering with marine carbonate beds of the Kaibab Formation. The water-saturated and moist conditions required for extensive deformation may have been controlled by the proximity of these sandstones to the shoreline, and fluctuations in the associated groundwater table.

  11. Two-Dimensional Hydrodynamic Simulation of Surface-Water Flow and Transport to Florida Bay through the Southern Inland and Coastal Systems (SICS)

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Swain, Eric D.; Wolfert, Melinda A.; Bales, Jerad D.; Goodwin, Carl R.

    2004-01-01

    Successful restoration of the southern Florida ecosystem requires extensive knowledge of the physical characteristics and hydrologic processes controlling water flow and transport of constituents through extremely low-gradient freshwater marshes, shallow mangrove-fringed coastal creeks and tidal embayments, and near-shore marine waters. A sound, physically based numerical model can provide simulations of the differing hydrologic conditions that might result from various ecosystem restoration scenarios. Because hydrology and ecology are closely linked in southern Florida, hydrologic model results also can be used by ecologists to evaluate the degree of ecosystem restoration that could be achieved for various hydrologic conditions. A robust proven model, SWIFT2D, (Surface-Water Integrated Flow and Transport in Two Dimensions), was modified to simulate Southern Inland and Coastal Systems (SICS) hydrodynamics and transport conditions. Modifications include improvements to evapotranspiration and rainfall calculation and to the algorithms that describe flow through coastal creeks. Techniques used in this model should be applicable to other similar low-gradient marsh settings in southern Florida and elsewhere. Numerous investigations were conducted within the SICS area of southeastern Everglades National Park and northeastern Florida Bay to provide data and parameter values for model development and testing. The U.S. Geological Survey and the National Park Service supported investigations for quantification of evapotranspiration, vegetative resistance to flow, wind-induced flow, land elevations, vegetation classifications, salinity conditions, exchange of ground and surface waters, and flow and transport in coastal creeks and embayments. The good agreement that was achieved between measured and simulated water levels, flows, and salinities through minimal adjustment of empirical coefficients indicates that hydrologic processes within the SICS area are represented properly

  12. Lidar Wavelength Considerations and Radiometric Performance Analysis for Coastal Applications

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Parrish, C. E.; Osiri, R.

    2011-12-01

    Until recently, the vast majority of commercial, topographic lidar systems operating in North America used 1064 nm lasers. However, systems employing erbium-doped fiber lasers operating at 1550 nm are becoming increasingly prevalent. An advantage of this wavelength is enhanced eye safety, as greater water absorption in the ocular components at wavelengths above ~1400 nm prevents radiation from reaching the retina. However, for related reasons, 1550 nm lidar systems may be subject to a greater decrease in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) when the ground surface is wet. When operating near the upper limits of the system's operational altitude range-as is often done in order to maximize acquisition efficiency and minimize costs-this reduced SNR can lead to drop-outs and data gaps. The U.S. National Geodetic Survey (NGS), a program office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), uses lidar for coastal mapping applications. One of the primary goals is to extract tide-datum based shoreline, which is used in updating nautical charts, defining legal boundaries, and in a variety of coastal science and geomorphology studies. Mapping a tidally-referenced shoreline from topographic lidar data typically involves acquiring the data over exposed areas of the intertidal zone at low tide. Even when not submerged, these areas are frequently wet from the receding tide, wave runup, etc. If not compensated for through appropriate flight planning, the additional decrease in SNR with 1550 nm systems, due to the surface being wet, can lead to sparse, noisy data or even data voids, affecting the ability to extract a tidally-referenced shoreline. This study focuses on a theoretical and empirical investigation of 1550 nm lidar systems for coastal mapping. Lidar data were acquired over Assateague Island, Maryland with a new, dual Riegl LMS-Q680i system at a variety of flying heights. Additionally, reflectance spectra were acquired with a field spectrometer for various East

  13. AN ASSESSMENT OF THE ECOLOGICAL CONDITION OF COASTAL WATERS SURROUNDING THE GULF OF MEXICO IAPSO INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR BIOLOGICAL OCEANOGRAPHY MEETING, LA PLATA, ARGENTINA, OCTOBER 2001

    EPA Science Inventory

    Assessment of the Ecological Condition of Coastal Waters Surrounding the Gulf of Mexico (Abstract). To be presented at the Joint IAPSO/IABO Assembly: 2001 An Ocean Odyssey, 21-26 October 2001, Mar del Plata, Argentina. 1 p. (ERL,GB R844).

    The purpose of the Environmental ...

  14. Coastal circulation and water-column properties in the National Park of American Samoa, February–July 2015

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Storlazzi, Curt; Cheriton, Olivia; Rosenberger, Kurt; Logan, Joshua; Clark, Timothy B.

    2017-06-06

    There is little information on the oceanography in the National Park of American Samoa (NPSA). The transport pathways for potentially harmful constituents of land-derived runoff, as well as larvae and other planktonic organisms, are driven by nearshore circulation patterns. To evaluate the processes affecting coral reef ecosystem health, it is first necessary to understand the oceanographic processes driving nearshore circulation, residence times, exposure rates, and transport pathways. Information on how the NPSA’s natural resources may be affected by anthropogenic sources of pollution, sediment runoff, larval transport, or modifications to the marine protected areas is critical to NPSA resource managers for understanding and ultimately managing coastal and marine resources. To address this need, U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. National Park Service researchers conducted a collaborative study in 2015 to determine coastal circulation patterns and water-column properties along north-central Tutuila, American Samoa, in an area focused on NPSA’s Tutuila Unit and its coral reef ecosystem. The continuous measurements of waves, currents, tides, and water-column properties from these instrument deployments over 150 days, coupled with available meteorological measurements of wind and rainfall, provide information on nearshore circulation and the variability in these hydrodynamic properties for NPSA’s Tutuila Unit. In general, circulation was strongly driven by regional winds at longer (greater than day) timescales and by tides at shorter (less than day) timescales. Flows were primarily directed along shore, with current speeds faster offshore to the north and slower closer to shore, especially in embayments. Water-column properties exhibit strong seasonality coupled to the shift from non-trade wind season to trade wind season. During the non-trade wind season that was characterized by variable winds and larger waves in the NPSA, waters were warmer, slightly more

  15. Emerging methods for the study of coastal ecosystem landscape structure and change

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Brock, John C.; Danielson, Jeffrey J.; Purkis, Sam

    2013-01-01

    Coastal landscapes are heterogeneous, dynamic, and evolve over a range of time scales due to intertwined climatic, geologic, hydrologic, biologic, and meteorological processes, and are also heavily impacted by human development, commercial activities, and resource extraction. A diversity of complex coastal systems around the globe, spanning glaciated shorelines to tropical atolls, wetlands, and barrier islands are responding to multiple human and natural drivers. Interdisciplinary research based on remote-sensing observations linked to process studies and models is required to understand coastal ecosystem landscape structure and change. Moreover, new techniques for coastal mapping and monitoring are increasingly serving the needs of policy-makers and resource managers across local, regional, and national scales. Emerging remote-sensing methods associated with a diversity of instruments and platforms are a key enabling element of integrated coastal ecosystem studies. These investigations require both targeted and synoptic mapping, and involve the monitoring of formative processes such as hydrodynamics, sediment transport, erosion, accretion, flooding, habitat modification, land-cover change, and biogeochemical fluxes.

  16. Toward a community coastal sediment transport modeling system: the second workshop

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Sherwood, Christopher R.; Harris, Courtney K.; Geyer, W. Rockwell; Butman, Bradford

    2002-01-01

    Models for transport and the long-term fate of particles in coastal waters are essential for a variety of applications related to commerce, defense, public health, and the quality of the marine environment. Examples include: analysis of waste disposal and transport and the fate of contaminated materials; evaluation of burial rates for naval mines or archaeological artifacts; prediction of water-column optical properties; analysis of transport and the fate of biological particles; prediction of coastal flooding and coastal erosion; evaluation of impacts of sea-level or wave-climate changes and coastal development; planning for construction and maintenance of navigable waterways; evaluation of habitat for commercial fisheries; evaluation of impacts of natural or anthropogenic changes in coastal conditions on recreational activities; and design of intakes and outfalls for sewage treatment, cooling systems, and desalination plants.

  17. Toward a community coastal sediment transport modeling system: The second workshop

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sherwood, Christopher R.; Harris, Courtney K.; Rockwell Geyer, W.; Butman, Bradford

    Models for transport and the long-term fate of particles in coastal waters are essential for a variety of applications related to commerce, defense, public health, and the quality of the marine environment. Examples include: analysis of waste disposal and transport and the fate of contaminated materials; evaluation of burial rates for naval mines or archaeological artifacts; prediction of water-column optical properties; analysis of transport and the fate of biological particles; prediction of coastal flooding and coastal erosion; evaluation of impacts of sea-level or wave-climate changes and coastal development; planning for construction and maintenance of navigable waterways; evaluation of habitat for commercial fisheries; evaluation of impacts of natural or anthropogenic changes in coastal conditions on recreational activities; and design of intakes and outfalls for sewage treatment, cooling systems, and desalination plants.

  18. C2R2: Training Students To Build Coastal Resilience

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ferraro, C.; Kopp, R. E.; Jordan, R.; Gong, J.; Andrews, C.; Auermuller, L. M.; Herb, J.; McDonnell, J. D.; Bond, S.

    2017-12-01

    In the United States, about 23 million people live within 6 meters of sea level. In many parts of the country, sea-level rise between 1960 and 2010 has already led to a 2-5-fold increase in the rate of `nuisance' flooding. On top of rising seas, intensifying hurricanes and more frequent extremes of heat, humidity and precipitation pose additional risks to coastal societies, economies and ecosystems. Addressing risks posed by changing climate conditions in coastal areas demands innovative strategies that intersect multiple disciplines including engineering, ecology, communication, climate science, and community planning. To be usable, it also requires engaging coastal stakeholders in the development of research questions, the assessment of implications of research for planning and policy, and the communication of research results. Yet traditional, disciplinary programs are poorly configured to train the workforce needed to assess coastal climate risk and to develop and deploy integrated strategies for increasing coastal climate resilience. Coastal Climate Risk & Resilience (C2R2) is an NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) working to prepare the workforce that will build coastal resilience in the face of climate risks. Through its trainee and certificate programs, C2R2 works with graduate students at Rutgers University from multiple disciplines to better integrate all the elements of coastal systems and to communicate effectively with coastal stakeholders. C2R2 students will acquire the knowledge and practical skills needed to become leading researchers and practitioners tackling the critical challenges of coastal resilience.

  19. National List of Beaches

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    EPA has published a list of coastal recreation waters adjacent to beaches (or similar points of access) used by the public in the U.S. The list, required by the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act (BEACH Act), identifies waters that are subject to a state beach water quality monitoring and public notification program consistent with the National Beach Guidance and Required Performance Criteria for BEACH Act Grants.

  20. A MANAGEMENT SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR GREAT LAKES COASTAL WETLANDS

    EPA Science Inventory

    The Great Lakes National Program Office in conjunction with the Great Lakes Commission and other researchers is leading a large scale collaborative effort that will yield, in unprecedented detail, a management support system for Great Lakes coastal wetlands. This entails the dev...

  1. Coastal Bacterioplankton Community Dynamics in Response to a Natural Disturbance

    PubMed Central

    Rappé, Michael S.

    2013-01-01

    In order to characterize how disturbances to microbial communities are propagated over temporal and spatial scales in aquatic environments, the dynamics of bacterial assemblages throughout a subtropical coastal embayment were investigated via SSU rRNA gene analyses over an 8-month period, which encompassed a large storm event. During non-perturbed conditions, sampling sites clustered into three groups based on their microbial community composition: an offshore oceanic group, a freshwater group, and a distinct and persistent coastal group. Significant differences in measured environmental parameters or in the bacterial community due to the storm event were found only within the coastal cluster of sampling sites, and only at 5 of 12 locations; three of these sites showed a significant response in both environmental and bacterial community characteristics. These responses were most pronounced at sites close to the shoreline. During the storm event, otherwise common bacterioplankton community members such as marine Synechococcus sp. and members of the SAR11 clade of Alphaproteobacteria decreased in relative abundance in the affected coastal zone, whereas several lineages of Gammaproteobacteria, Betaproteobacteria, and members of the Roseobacter clade of Alphaproteobacteria increased. The complex spatial patterns in both environmental conditions and microbial community structure related to freshwater runoff and wind convection during the perturbation event leads us to conclude that spatial heterogeneity was an important factor influencing both the dynamics and the resistance of the bacterioplankton communities to disturbances throughout this complex subtropical coastal system. This heterogeneity may play a role in facilitating a rapid rebound of regions harboring distinctly coastal bacterioplankton communities to their pre-disturbed taxonomic composition. PMID:23409156

  2. Are aliens threatening European aquatic coastal ecosystems?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Reise, Karsten; Olenin, Sergej; Thieltges, David W.

    2006-05-01

    Inshore waters of European coasts have accumulated a high share of non-indigenous species, where a changeable palaeoenvironment has caused low diversity in indigenous biota. Also strongly transformed modern coastal ecosystems seem to assimilate whatever species have been introduced and tolerate the physical regime. Adding non-native species does not have any directional predetermined effects on recipient coastal ecosystems. The status of being a non-native rather refers to a position in evolutionary history than qualify as an ecological category with distinct and consistent properties. Effects of invaders vary between habitats and with the phase of invasion and also with shifting ambient conditions. Although aliens accelerate change in European coastal biota, we found no evidence that they generally impair biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. More often, invaders expand ecosystem functioning by adding new ecological traits, intensifying existing ones and increasing functional redundancy.

  3. Geologic Resource Evaluation of Pu'ukohola Heiau National Historic Site, Hawai'i: Part I, Geology and Coastal Landforms

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Richmond, Bruce M.; Cochran, Susan A.; Gibbs, Ann E.

    2008-01-01

    Geologic resource inventories of lands managed by the National Park Service (NPS) are important products for the parks and are designed to provide scientific information to better manage park resources. Park-specific geologic reports are used to identify geologic features and processes that are relevant to park ecosystems, evaluate the impact of human activities on geologic features and processes, identify geologic research and monitoring needs, and enhance opportunities for education and interpretation. These geologic reports are planned to provide a brief geologic history of the park and address specific geologic issues forming a link between the park geology and the resource manager. The Kona coast National Parks of the Island of Hawai'i are intended to preserve the natural beauty of the Kona coast and protect significant ancient structures and artifacts of the native Hawaiians. Pu'ukohola Heiau National Historic Site (PUHE), Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park (KAHO), and Pu'uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park (PUHO) are three Kona parks studied by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Geology Team in cooperation with the National Park Service. This report is one of six related reports designed to provide geologic and benthic-habitat information for the three Kona parks. Each geology and coastal-landform report describes the regional geologic setting of the Hawaiian Islands, gives a general description of the geology of the Kona coast, and presents the geologic setting and issues for one of the parks. The related benthic-habitat mapping reports discuss the marine data and habitat classification scheme, and present results of the mapping program. Pu'ukohola Heiau National Historic Site (PUHE) is the smallest (~86 acres) of three National Parks located on the leeward Kona coast of the Island of Hawai'i. The main structure at PUHE, Pu'ukohola Heiau, is an important historical temple that was built during 1790-91 by King Kamehameha I

  4. Characterizing Fishing Effort and Spatial Extent of Coastal Fisheries

    PubMed Central

    Stewart, Kelly R.; Lewison, Rebecca L.; Dunn, Daniel C.; Bjorkland, Rhema H.; Kelez, Shaleyla; Halpin, Patrick N.; Crowder, Larry B.

    2010-01-01

    Biodiverse coastal zones are often areas of intense fishing pressure due to the high relative density of fishing capacity in these nearshore regions. Although overcapacity is one of the central challenges to fisheries sustainability in coastal zones, accurate estimates of fishing pressure in coastal zones are limited, hampering the assessment of the direct and collateral impacts (e.g., habitat degradation, bycatch) of fishing. We compiled a comprehensive database of fishing effort metrics and the corresponding spatial limits of fisheries and used a spatial analysis program (FEET) to map fishing effort density (measured as boat-meters per km2) in the coastal zones of six ocean regions. We also considered the utility of a number of socioeconomic variables as indicators of fishing pressure at the national level; fishing density increased as a function of population size and decreased as a function of coastline length. Our mapping exercise points to intra and interregional ‘hotspots’ of coastal fishing pressure. The significant and intuitive relationships we found between fishing density and population size and coastline length may help with coarse regional characterizations of fishing pressure. However, spatially-delimited fishing effort data are needed to accurately map fishing hotspots, i.e., areas of intense fishing activity. We suggest that estimates of fishing effort, not just target catch or yield, serve as a necessary measure of fishing activity, which is a key link to evaluating sustainability and environmental impacts of coastal fisheries. PMID:21206903

  5. Characterizing fishing effort and spatial extent of coastal fisheries.

    PubMed

    Stewart, Kelly R; Lewison, Rebecca L; Dunn, Daniel C; Bjorkland, Rhema H; Kelez, Shaleyla; Halpin, Patrick N; Crowder, Larry B

    2010-12-29

    Biodiverse coastal zones are often areas of intense fishing pressure due to the high relative density of fishing capacity in these nearshore regions. Although overcapacity is one of the central challenges to fisheries sustainability in coastal zones, accurate estimates of fishing pressure in coastal zones are limited, hampering the assessment of the direct and collateral impacts (e.g., habitat degradation, bycatch) of fishing. We compiled a comprehensive database of fishing effort metrics and the corresponding spatial limits of fisheries and used a spatial analysis program (FEET) to map fishing effort density (measured as boat-meters per km²) in the coastal zones of six ocean regions. We also considered the utility of a number of socioeconomic variables as indicators of fishing pressure at the national level; fishing density increased as a function of population size and decreased as a function of coastline length. Our mapping exercise points to intra and interregional 'hotspots' of coastal fishing pressure. The significant and intuitive relationships we found between fishing density and population size and coastline length may help with coarse regional characterizations of fishing pressure. However, spatially-delimited fishing effort data are needed to accurately map fishing hotspots, i.e., areas of intense fishing activity. We suggest that estimates of fishing effort, not just target catch or yield, serve as a necessary measure of fishing activity, which is a key link to evaluating sustainability and environmental impacts of coastal fisheries.

  6. Ocean and Coastal Law

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ross, David A.

    First of all, this is not the typical book that one expects to see reviewed in Eos, but, read on. It should be clear, by now, even to the most esoteric geophysicist, that lawyers and jurists are taking very close looks at many coastal zone and offshore marine activities. More importantly, there are a wide variety of laws (both at the state and the national levels) and international regulations that determine how we now use or will use our coastal region including how and where we will do marine scientific research. Recently, a Presidential Proclamation (March 1983) declared a 200-mile exclusive economic zone for the United States. The President, in the accompanying statements to the Proclamation, has called special attention to polymetallic sulfide deposits (Is someone in the White House reading Eos?) in what will now be U.S. waters (i.e., the Juan de Fuca region). Well, if you or your colleagues want to know more about U.S. and individual state rules for management and use of our marine areas, this might be the book for you.

  7. DIEL OXYGEN-INDUCED MOVEMENT OF FISH ASSEMBLAGES IN A GREAT LAKES COASTAL WETLAND

    EPA Science Inventory

    To determine the importance of dissolved oxygen conditions in influencing daily ovement patterns of fishes in Great Lakes coastal wetlands, we sampled migrating fish assemblages from habitats with varying diurnal dissolved oxygen patterns in a Lake Superior coastal wetland during...

  8. Inventory of Selected Freshwater-Ecology Studies From the New England Coastal Basins (Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island), 1937-1997

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1999-01-01

    plains. The Atlantic Coastal Pine Barrens ecoregion is represented in the southeastern part of the study unit and includes Cape Cod and the islands...Providence, Washington 1The area of the NECB study unit within the Atlantic Coastal Pine Barrens ecoregion had previously been part of the Northeastern...Unit are the Northeastern Highlands, Northeastern Coastal Zone, and Atlantic Coastal Pine Barrens1 (U.S. Environ- mental Protection Agency-National

  9. 78 FR 42021 - Atlantic Highly Migratory Species; Commercial Gulf of Mexico Aggregated Large Coastal Shark and...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-07-15

    ... Large Coastal Shark and Gulf of Mexico Hammerhead Shark Management Groups AGENCY: National Marine... coastal sharks (LCS) and hammerhead sharks in the Gulf of Mexico region. This action is necessary because... aggregated LCS and Gulf of Mexico hammerhead shark management groups are closed effective 11:30 p.m. local...

  10. Coastal groundwater discharge for the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts calculated with three-dimensional groundwater flow models

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Befus, K. M.; Kroeger, K. D.; Smith, C. G.; Swarzenski, P. W.

    2017-12-01

    Fresh groundwater discharge to coastal environments contribute to the physical and chemical conditions of coastal waters. At regional scales, groundwater fluxes remain poorly constrained, representing uncertainty in both water and chemical budgets that have implications for downstream ecosystem health and for how human activities alter coastal hydrologic processes. Coastal groundwater discharges remain widely unconstrained due to the interconnectedness of highly heterogeneous hydrogeologic frameworks and hydrologic conditions. We use regional-scale, three-dimensional groundwater flow models with the best available hydrostratigraphic framework data to calculate the magnitude of groundwater discharging from coastal aquifers to coastal waterbodies along the eastern U.S. In addition, we constrain the inland areas that contribute to coastal groundwater discharges using particle tracking. We find that 27 km3/yr of groundwater enters coastal waters of the eastern U.S. and Gulf of Mexico and was over 175,000 km2. The contributing areas to coastal groundwater discharge extended kilometers inland and often were supplied by recharge occurring tens of kilometers inland. These results suggest that coastal groundwater discharges rely on larger contributing areas and potentially transport more dissolved constituents than previously calculated, which are important factors for constraining the role of groundwater in coastal chemical budgets and its impacts on coastal ecosystems.

  11. Reflected GPS Power for the Detection of Surface Roughness Patterns in Coastal Water

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Oertel, George, F.; Allen, Thomas R.

    2000-01-01

    Coastal bays formed by the barrier islands of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia are parts of a coastal region known as a "Coastal Compartment". The coastal compartment between the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays is actually the mosaic of landscapes on the headland of the interfluve that separates these large drainage basins. The coastal compartments form a variety of different-shaped waterways landward of the coastline. Shape differences along the boundaries produce differences in exposure to wind and waves. Different shoreface topographies seaward of the coastline also influence surface roughness by changing wave-refraction patterns. Surface-water roughness (caused by waves) is controlled by a number of parameters, including fetch, shielding, exposure corridors, water-mass boundary conditions, wetland vegetation and water depth in coastal bays. In the coastal ocean, surface roughness patterns are controlled by shoreface shoaling and inlet refraction patterns in the coastal ocean. Knowledge of wave phenomena in the nearshore and backbarrier areas is needed to understand how wave climate influences important ecosystems in estuaries and bays.

  12. EAARL topography: Fire Island National Seashore

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Brock, John C.; Wright, C. Wayne; Patterson, Matt; Nayagandhi, Amar; Patterson, Judd

    2007-01-01

    This Web site contains 31 LIDAR-derived first return topography maps and GIS files for Fire Island National Seashore. These lidar-derived topographic maps were produced as a collaborative effort between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Geology Program, the National Park Service (NPS), Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network, Inventory and Monitoring Program, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Wallops Flight Facility. The aims of the partnership that created this product are to develop advanced survey techniques for mapping barrier island geomorphology and habitats, and to enable the monitoring of ecological and geological change within National Seashores. This product is based on data from an innovative airborne lidar instrument under development at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, the NASA Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar (EAARL).

  13. Waterworks Book. An Activity Book about Mississippi's Coastal Resources for Primary Grades.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Howe, Kevin M.

    Coastal resources are highlighted in this activity book for primary school children. Special focus is given to Mississippi's coastal areas, but applications to other geographic areas can be made. Wetland concepts and conditions are developed through a variety of games, puzzles, matching exercises and pictorial explanations. Activities addressing…

  14. 15 CFR 930.98 - Federally assisted activities outside of the coastal zone or the described geographic area.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... of the coastal zone or the described geographic area. 930.98 Section 930.98 Commerce and Foreign Trade Regulations Relating to Commerce and Foreign Trade (Continued) NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC... Federally assisted activities outside of the coastal zone or the described geographic area. State agencies...

  15. 15 CFR 930.98 - Federally assisted activities outside of the coastal zone or the described geographic area.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... of the coastal zone or the described geographic area. 930.98 Section 930.98 Commerce and Foreign Trade Regulations Relating to Commerce and Foreign Trade (Continued) NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC... Federally assisted activities outside of the coastal zone or the described geographic area. State agencies...

  16. 15 CFR 930.98 - Federally assisted activities outside of the coastal zone or the described geographic area.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... of the coastal zone or the described geographic area. 930.98 Section 930.98 Commerce and Foreign Trade Regulations Relating to Commerce and Foreign Trade (Continued) NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC... Federally assisted activities outside of the coastal zone or the described geographic area. State agencies...

  17. Influence the condition land subsidence and groundwater impact of Jakarta coastal area

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rahman, S.; Sumotarto, U.; Pramudito, H.

    2018-01-01

    Jakarta has been experiencing land subsidence for ten years due toerecting weight building and intensive extraction of groundwater for society drink water through ground water wells. Many groundwater extraction for drinkingwater has caused intensive scouring of land rock and further triggering land subsidence developed widely in coastal area of Jakarta. Measurement of the land subsidence has been performed by various experts and institutes. Between 1974 to 2010 subsidence has happened between 3 to 4.1 meters especially in Jakarta coastal area. Two major causes of the subsidence are identified. The first major cause is a result of erecting weight building such as hotels, appartments, and various human activities buildings. The second major cause is extracting ground water from aquifers bellow Jakarta land due to water deep wells down to the aquifer and traditional shallow water well of shallow or subsurface uncovered ground water. Weighter building and higher debit of water flow from deep water wells has fastened and deepened the land subsidence. Continuous measurement of land subsidence by means of geodetic as well as geophysical earth behaviour measurements need to be performed to monitor the rate, location as well as mapping of the land subsidence.

  18. USGS science for the Nation's changing coasts: shoreline change research

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Hapke, Cheryl J.; Thieler, E. Robert

    2011-01-01

    The demands of increasing human population in the coastal zone create competition with coastal habitat preservation and with recreational and commercial uses of the coast and nearshore waters. As climate changes over the coming century, these problems facing coastal communities will likely worsen. Good management and policy decision-making require baseline information on the rates, trends, and scientific understanding of the processes of coastal change on a regional to national scale. To address this need, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is engaged in a research project of national scope to measure, report, and interpret historical shoreline change along open-ocean coasts of the United States. One of the primary goals of this project is to understand shoreline change hazards using methods that are comparable from one area of the country to another and that will allow for future, repeatable analyses of shoreline movement, coastal erosion, and land loss.

  19. Rational Exploitation and Utilizing of Groundwater in Jiangsu Coastal Area

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kang, B.; Lin, X.

    2017-12-01

    Jiangsu coastal area is located in the southeast coast of China, where is a new industrial base and an important coastal and Land Resources Development Zone of China. In the areas with strong human exploitation activities, regional groundwater evolution is obviously affected by human activities. In order to solve the environmental geological problems caused by groundwater exploitation fundamentally, we must find out the forming conditions of regional groundwater hydrodynamic field, and the impact of human activities on groundwater hydrodynamic field evolution and hydrogeochemical evolition. Based on these results, scientific management and reasonable exploitation of the regional groundwater resources can be provided for the utilization. Taking the coastal area of Jiangsu as the research area, we investigate and analyze of the regional hydrogeological conditions. The numerical simulation model of groundwater flow was established according to the water power, chemical and isotopic methods, the conditions of water flow and the influence of hydrodynamic field on the water chemical field. We predict the evolution of regional groundwater dynamics under the influence of human activities and climate change and evaluate the influence of groundwater dynamic field evolution on the environmental geological problems caused by groundwater exploitation under various conditions. We get the following conclusions: Three groundwater exploitation optimal schemes were established. The groundwater salinization was taken as the primary control condition. The substitution model was proposed to model groundwater exploitation and water level changes by BP network method.Then genetic algorithm was used to solve the optimization solution. Three groundwater exploitation optimal schemes were submit to local water resource management. The first sheme was used to solve the groundwater salinization problem. The second sheme focused on dual water supply. The third sheme concerned on emergency water

  20. Doubling of coastal flooding frequency within decades due to sea-level rise

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Vitousek, Sean; Barnard, Patrick L.; Fletcher, Charles H.; Frazer, Neil; Erikson, Li; Storlazzi, Curt D.

    2017-01-01

    Global climate change drives sea-level rise, increasing the frequency of coastal flooding. In most coastal regions, the amount of sea-level rise occurring over years to decades is significantly smaller than normal ocean-level fluctuations caused by tides, waves, and storm surge. However, even gradual sea-level rise can rapidly increase the frequency and severity of coastal flooding. So far, global-scale estimates of increased coastal flooding due to sea-level rise have not considered elevated water levels due to waves, and thus underestimate the potential impact. Here we use extreme value theory to combine sea-level projections with wave, tide, and storm surge models to estimate increases in coastal flooding on a continuous global scale. We find that regions with limited water-level variability, i.e., short-tailed flood-level distributions, located mainly in the Tropics, will experience the largest increases in flooding frequency. The 10 to 20 cm of sea-level rise expected no later than 2050 will more than double the frequency of extreme water-level events in the Tropics, impairing the developing economies of equatorial coastal cities and the habitability of low-lying Pacific island nations.

  1. Visualizing Coastal Erosion, Overwash and Coastal Flooding in New England

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Young Morse, R.; Shyka, T.

    2017-12-01

    Powerful East Coast storms and their associated storm tides and large, battering waves can lead to severe coastal change through erosion and re-deposition of beach sediment. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has modeled such potential for geological response using a storm-impact scale that compares predicted elevations of hurricane-induced water levels and associated wave action to known elevations of coastal topography. The resulting storm surge and wave run-up hindcasts calculate dynamic surf zone collisions with dune structures using discrete regime categories of; "collision" (dune erosion), "overwash" and "inundation". The National Weather Service (NWS) recently began prototyping this empirical technique under the auspices of the North Atlantic Regional Team (NART). Real-time erosion and inundation forecasts were expanded to include both tropical and extra-tropical cyclones along vulnerable beaches (hotspots) on the New England coast. Preliminary results showed successful predictions of impact during hurricane Sandy and several intense Nor'easters. The forecasts were verified using observational datasets, including "ground truth" reports from Emergency Managers and storm-based, dune profile measurements organized through a Maine Sea Grant partnership. In an effort to produce real-time visualizations of this forecast output, the Northeastern Regional Association of Coastal Ocean Observing Systems (NERACOOS) and the Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI) partnered with NART to create graphical products of wave run-up levels for each New England "hotspot". The resulting prototype system updates the forecasts twice daily and allows users the ability to adjust atmospheric and sea state input into the calculations to account for model errors and forecast uncertainty. This talk will provide an overview of the empirical wave run-up calculations, the system used to produce forecast output and a demonstration of the new web based tool.

  2. 76 FR 40836 - Fisheries Off West Coast States; Coastal Pelagic Species Fisheries; Closure

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-07-12

    .... 0912281446-0111-02] RIN 0648-XA554 Fisheries Off West Coast States; Coastal Pelagic Species Fisheries; Closure AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration..., Pacific sardine may be harvested only as part of the live bait fishery or incidental to other fisheries...

  3. 75 FR 33733 - Fisheries Off West Coast States; Coastal Pelagic Species Fisheries; Closure

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-06-15

    .... 0912281446-0111-02 RIN 0648-XW90 Fisheries Off West Coast States; Coastal Pelagic Species Fisheries; Closure AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA... sardine can only be harvested as part of the live bait fishery or incidental to other fisheries; the...

  4. 77 FR 50952 - Fisheries Off West Coast States; Coastal Pelagic Species Fisheries; Closure

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-08-23

    .... 120312182-2239-02] RIN 0648-XC166 Fisheries Off West Coast States; Coastal Pelagic Species Fisheries; Closure AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration..., Pacific sardine may be harvested only as part of the live bait fishery or incidental to other fisheries...

  5. 75 FR 42610 - Fisheries Off West Coast States; Coastal Pelagic Species Fisheries; Closure

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-07-22

    .... 0912281446-0111-02] RIN 0648-XX54 Fisheries Off West Coast States; Coastal Pelagic Species Fisheries; Closure AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA..., Pacific sardine can only be harvested as part of the live bait fishery or incidental to other fisheries...

  6. 75 FR 59156 - Fisheries Off West Coast States; Coastal Pelagic Species Fisheries; Closure

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-09-27

    .... 0912281446-0111-02] RIN 0648-XY79 Fisheries Off West Coast States; Coastal Pelagic Species Fisheries; Closure AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA..., Pacific sardine can only be harvested as part of the live bait fishery or incidental to other fisheries...

  7. 78 FR 51097 - Fisheries Off West Coast States; Coastal Pelagic Species Fisheries; Closure

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-08-20

    .... 121210694-3514-02] RIN 0648-XC783 Fisheries Off West Coast States; Coastal Pelagic Species Fisheries; Closure AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration..., Pacific sardine may be harvested only as part of the live bait fishery or incidental to other fisheries...

  8. 76 FR 58720 - Fisheries Off West Coast States; Coastal Pelagic Species Fisheries; Closure

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-09-22

    .... 0912281446-0111-02] RIN 0648-XA709 Fisheries Off West Coast States; Coastal Pelagic Species Fisheries; Closure AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration..., 2012, Pacific sardine may be harvested only as part of the live bait fishery or incidental to other...

  9. Appilications of National Wetland Condition Assessment Data to Wetland Protection and Management

    EPA Science Inventory

    The first National Wetland Condition Assessment (NWCA) was conducted in 2011 by the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and its federal and state partners, using a survey design allowing extrapolation of results to national and regional scales. Vegetation, algae, soil, wat...

  10. National assessment of hurricane-induced coastal erosion hazards: Northeast Atlantic Coast

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Birchler, Justin J.; Stockdon, Hilary F.; Doran, Kara S.; Thompson, David M.

    2014-01-01

    Extreme coastal changes caused by hurricanes may increase the vulnerability of communities both during a storm and to future storms. For example, when sand dunes are substantially eroded, inland structures are exposed to storm surge and waves. On barrier islands, absent or low dunes allow water to flow inland across the island, potentially increasing storm surge in the back bay, on the sound-side of the barrier, and on the mainland.

  11. Economic Tools for Managing Nitrogen in Coastal Watersheds ...

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    Watershed managers are interested in using economics to communicate the value of estuarine resources to the wider community, determine the most cost-effective means to reduce nitrogen pollution, and evaluate the benefits of taking action to improve coastal ecosystems. We spoke to coastal watershed managers who had commissioned economic studies and found that they were largely satisfied with the information and their ability to communicate the importance of coastal ecosystems. However, while managers were able to use these studies as communication tools, methods used in some studies were inconsistent with what some economists consider best practices. In addition, many watershed managers are grappling with how to implement nitrogen management activities in a way that is both cost-effective and achieves environmental goals, while maintaining public support. These and other issues led to this project. Our intent is to provide information to watershed managers and others interested in watershed management – such as National Estuary Programs, local governments, or nongovernmental organizations – on economic tools for managing nitrogen in coastal watersheds, and to economists and other analysts who are interested in assisting them in meeting their needs. Watershed management requires balancing scientific, political, and social issues to solve environmental problems. This document summarizes questions that watershed managers have about using economic analysis, and g

  12. Coastal erosion management in Accra: Combining local knowledge and empirical research

    PubMed Central

    2016-01-01

    Coastal erosion along the Accra coast has become a chronic phenomenon that threatens both life and property. The issue has assumed a centre stage of national debate in recent times because of its impact on the coastal communities. Lack of reliable geospatial data hinders effective scientific investigations into the changing trends in the shoreline position. However, knowledge about coastal erosion, by the local people, and how far the shoreline has migrated inland over time is high in the coastal communities in Accra. This opens a new chapter in coastal erosion research to include local knowledge of the local settlers in developing sustainable coastal management. This article adopted a scientific approach to estimate rate of erosion and tested the results against perceived erosion trend by the local settlers. The study used a 1974 digital topographic map and 1996 aerial photographs. The end point rate statistical method in DSAS was used to compute the rates of change. The short-term rate of change for the 22-year period under study was estimated as -0.91 m/annum ± 0.49 m/annum. It was revealed that about 79% of the shoreline is eroding, while the remaining 21% is either stabilised or accreting. It emerged, from semi-structured interviews with inhabitants in the Accra coastal communities, that an average of about 30 m of coastal lands are perceived to have been lost to erosion for a period of about 20 years. This translates to a historic rate of change of about 1.5 m/year, which corroborates the results of the scientific study. Again this study has established that the local knowledge of the inhabitants, about coastal erosion, can serve as reliable information under scarcity of scientific data for coastal erosion analyses in developing countries.

  13. Trace metals and macroelements in mussels from Chinese coastal waters: National spatial patterns and normalization.

    PubMed

    Lu, Guang-Yuan; Wang, Wen-Xiong

    2018-06-01

    Metal contamination is one of the most ubiquitous and complex problems in the Chinese coastal environment. To explore the large-scale spatial patterns of bioavailable metals, we sampled three major mussels, including 784 blue mussels (Mytilus edulis Linnaeus, 1758) of 14 sites, 224 hard-shelled mussels (Mytilus unguiculatus Valenciennes, 1858) of 4 sites, and 392 green mussels (Perna viridis (Linnaeus, 1758)) of 7 sites, ranging from temperate to tropical coastlines of China, during August and September 2015. The concentrations of macroelements (Na, K, Ca, Mg, and P) and toxic trace metals (Ag, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Ti, and Zn) in the mussel's whole soft tissues were determined. Among the four Chinese coastal basins, Cd, Ti and Cr in the mussel tissues were the highest at Bohai Sea (BS) and Yellow Sea (YS), and Cu, Ni, Pb and Ag in the mussel tissues were the highest at East China Sea (ECS) and South China Sea (SCS). Zinc concentrations in mussels from YS were significantly higher than those from the other regions. Given the variability of environmental conditions such as salinity and nutrients, we further normalized the measured tissue metal concentrations with tissue Na and P levels. After Na normalization as the salinity proxy, the variability of Cd, Cu, Zn, Ag, and Ni was reduced. Trace elements accumulation in the mussel tissues was significantly related to both macroelements (Na or P) and body dry weight. The present study demonstrated that nonlinear optimization of different elements was necessary in assessing metal bioaccumulation patterns in marine mussels at a large spatial scale. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. Using Hydrated Salt Phase Change Materials for Residential Air Conditioning Peak Demand Reduction and Energy Conservation in Coastal and Transitional Climates in the State of California

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lee, Kyoung Ok

    The recent rapid economic and population growth in the State of California have led to a significant increase in air conditioning use, especially in areas of the State with coastal and transitional climates. This fact makes that the electric peak demand be dominated by air conditioning use of residential buildings in the summer time. This extra peak demand caused by the use of air conditioning equipment lasts only a few days out of the year. As a result, unavoidable power outages have occurred when electric supply could not keep up with such electric demand. This thesis proposed a possible solution to this problem by using building thermal mass via phase change materials to reduce peak air conditioning demand loads. This proposed solution was tested via a new wall called Phase Change Frame Wall (PCFW). The PCFW is a typical residential frame wall in which Phase Change Materials (PCMs) were integrated to add thermal mass. The thermal performance of the PCFWs was first evaluated, experimentally, in two test houses, built for this purpose, located in Lawrence, KS and then via computer simulations of residential buildings located in coastal and transitional climates in California. In this thesis, a hydrated salt PCM was used, which was added in concentrations of 10% and 20% by weight of the interior sheathing of the walls. Based on the experimental results, under Lawrence, KS weather, the PCFWs at 10% and 20% of PCM concentrations reduced the peak heat transfer rates by 27.0% and 27.3%, on average, of all four walls, respectively. Simulated results using California climate data indicated that PCFWs would reduce peak heat transfer rates by 8% and 19% at 10% PCM concentration and 12.2% and 27% at 20% PCM concentration for the coastal and transitional climates, respectively. Furthermore, the PCFWs, at 10% PCM concentration, would reduce the space cooling load and the annual energy consumption by 10.4% and 7.2%, on average in both climates, respectively.

  15. INVITED SESSION: THE 2011 NATIONAL WETLAND CONDITION ASSESSMENT: TECHNICAL UNDERPINNINGS AND RESULTS

    EPA Science Inventory

    The first-ever National Wetland Condition Assessment (NWCA) was conducted in 2011 by the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and its federal and state partners, using a survey design allowing extrapolation of results to national and regional scales. At each of 1138 locatio...

  16. Laboratory Experiments of Tsunami Inundation in Patchy Coastal Forest on a Steep Beach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Irish, J. L.; Weiss, R.; Yang, Y.; Zainali, A.; Marivela Colmenarejo, R.

    2014-12-01

    Tsunamis are a leading natural threat to coastal communities, and events such as the 2011 Japan and 2004 Indian Ocean tsunamis caused widespread, crippling damages to coastal infrastructure. Yet, these events also called attention to the role of coastal forest as sustainable mitigation against tsunami hazard. Here, we present large-scale experiments of tsunami runup and withdrawal on a steeply sloping beach in the presence of patchy forest. The forest is modeled using 1.2-m diameter macro-roughness patches of varying resistance were constructed from staggered arrays of 2.7-cm diameter rigid cylinders. Macro-roughness patches were affixed in a staggered arrangement with mean spacing of 3.2 m between patches (Fig. 1). The basin depth and wave height at the wavemaker were 0.73 m and 0.43 m, respectively, such that a broken roller formed offshore of the still-water line. Point measurements of velocity and flow depth were made at twenty locations using co-located acoustic Doppler velocimeters and sonic wave gauges, respectively, in order to construct a flow field in the vicinity of three macro-roughness patches. Simultaneous, high-resolution video was also collected in order to track the runup bore position in time. Analysis of mean flow conditions reveals that patchy roughness induces non-uniform changes in momentum flux throughout the patch array (Fig. 2). During runup, momentum flux is generally reduced in the lee of the patches. However, flow channelization between cross-shore rows of patches leads to an increase in momentum flux. During withdrawal, the strong gravity-driven flows that develop as a result of the steep 1:10 beach lead to an increase in momentum flux in areas behind the patches, which benefited from reduced momentum flux during runup. The experiment findings indicate that flow interactions with the natural environment are indeed complex and that care must be exercised when considering the use of coastal forest as a tsunami bioshield. Acknowledgements

  17. The coastal use structure within the coastal system. A sustainable development-consistent approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vallega, A.

    1996-01-01

    To contribute to the development of methodological approaches to coastal area management consistent with the sustainable development concept and guidelines provided by UNCED Agenda 21, Chapter 17, first the classifications of coastal uses provided by literature and those adopted by coastal management programmes are presented and discussed. Moving from this basis and reasoning in terms of general system-sustained approach the following concepts and methodological issues are considered: a goal-oriented concept of coastal use; the sustainable development-grounded coastal use framework and the role of discriminants through which it is conceived and described; the relationships between coastal uses; in particular, conflicting relationships focusing attention on conflicts between decision-making centres, as well as users, motivations and tractability of uses; the relationships between coastal uses and the ecosystem; the basic options for sustainability-consistent coastal use development.

  18. Application of Remote Sensing to Assess the Impact of Short Term Climate Variability on Coastal Sedimentation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Menzel, W. Paul; Huh, Oscar K.; Walker, Nan

    2004-01-01

    The purpose of this joint University of Wisconsin (UW) and Louisiana State University (LSU) project has been to relate short term climate variation to response in the coastal zone of Louisiana in an attempt to better understand how the coastal zone is shaped by climate variation. Climate variation in this case largely refers to variation in surface wind conditions that affect wave action and water currents in the coastal zone. The primary region of focus was the Atchafalaya Bay and surrounding bays in the central coastal region of Louisiana. Suspended solids in the water column show response to wind systems both in quantity (through resuspension) and in the pattern of dispersement or transport. Wind systems associated with cold fronts are influenced by short term climate variation. Wind energy was used as the primary signature of climate variation in this study because winds are a significant influence on sediment transport in the micro-tidal Gilf of Mexico coastal zone. Using case studies, the project has been able to investigate the influence of short term climate variation on sediment transport. Wind energy data, collected daily for National Weather Service (NWS) stations at Lake Charles and New Orleans, LA, were used as an indicator of short term climate variation influence on seasonal time scales. A goal was to relate wind energy to coastal impact through sediment transport. This goal was partially accomplished by combining remote sensing and wind energy data. Daily high resolution remote sensing observations are needed to monitor the complex coastal zone environment, where winds, tides, and water level all interact to influence sediment transport. The NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) era brings hope for documenting and revealing response of the complex coastal transport mosaic through regular high spatial resolution observations from the Moderate resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) instrument. MODIS observations were sampled in this project for

  19. Coastal aquifers: Scientific advances in the face of global environmental challenges

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Post, Vincent E. A.; Werner, Adrian D.

    2017-08-01

    Coastal aquifers embody the subsurface transition between terrestrial and marine systems, and form the almost invisible pathway for tremendous volumes of freshwater that flow to the ocean. Changing conditions of the earth's landscapes and oceans can disrupt the fragile natural equilibrium between fresh and saltwater that exists in coastal zones. Among these, over-abstraction of groundwater is considered the leading man-made cause of seawater intrusion. Moreover, many of the world's largest urban settings, where sources of contamination are profuse, have been built over the freshwater in coastal aquifers. Thus, coastal aquifers are important receptors of human impacts to water on Earth (Michael et al., 2017). This Special Issue on 'Investigation and Management of Coastal Aquifers' contains current scientific advances on the topic, dealing with the storage and quality of water, affected by stressors ranging in scale from point source contamination to global climate change.

  20. High Arctic Coasts At Risk - The Impact of Coastal Hazards on Scientific and Community Infrastructure in Svalbard

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Strzelecki, M. C.; Pawlowski, L.; Jaskolski, M.; Lim, M.; Zagorski, P.; Long, A. J.; Jensen, M.

    2015-12-01

    The rapid climate warming being observed in the Svalbard is leading to an increase in human activities in the coastal zone, leading to an increased need for coastal hazard assessment. Present-day Svalbard coastal landscapes are modified by increased degradation of permafrost accelerated sediment supply from deglaciated catchments, and prolonged periods of open-water conditions and wave activity. Since the second half of 20thcentury there is also an observed increase in the number and intensity of storms entering the Arctic particularly in summer months when coastlines are free of protective ice cover. Despite the potential significance of these coastal hazards on the security of scientific (research bases and devices) and community (ports, airports, roads, buildings) infrastructure on Svalbard, relatively little is known on the present-day rate of Svalbard coastal zone changes and how they might impact the nearshore infrastructure in the future. Here we report the results of a project that focused on rates of coastal zone changes in Svalbard and examined the impact of extreme coastal processes on scientific and community infrastructure. The project applied combination of remote sensing and field-based mapping techniques to characterise coastal changes observed in the surroundings of main research stations in Svalbard in Hornsund (PPS), Petuniabukta (AMUPS) and Bellsund (Calypsobyen) as well as a major towns: Longyearbyen, Piramiden, Barentsburg and Svea. Our results document dramatic changes of Svalbard coastal zone under intervals characterised by a warming climate, retreating local ice masses, a shortened winter sea-ice season and melting permafrost. The study confirmed the growing importance of extreme processes in shaping coasts of Svalbard and the impact of these changes on human infrastructure. Our study proposes a risk assessment for a development and protection of infrastructure along the coasts of Svalbard under scenarios of climate change, sea level rise

  1. Remote sensing of landscape-level coastal environmental indicators.

    PubMed

    Klemas, V V

    2001-01-01

    Advances in technology and decreases in cost are making remote sensing (RS) and geographic information systems (GIS) practical and attractive for use in coastal resource management. They are also allowing researchers and managers to take a broader view of ecological patterns and processes. Landscape-level environmental indicators that can be detected by Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and other remote sensors are available to provide quantitative estimates of coastal and estuarine habitat conditions and trends. Such indicators include watershed land cover, riparian buffers, shoreline and wetland changes, among others. With the launch of Landsat 7, the cost of TM imagery has dropped by nearly a factor of 10, decreasing the cost of monitoring large coastal areas and estuaries. New satellites, carrying sensors with much finer spatial (1-5 m) and spectral (200 narrow bands) resolutions are being launched, providing a capability to more accurately detect changes in coastal habitat and wetland health. Advances in the application of GIS help incorporate ancillary data layers to improve the accuracy of satellite land-cover classification. When these techniques for generating, organizing, storing, and analyzing spatial information are combined with mathematical models, coastal planners and managers have a means for assessing the impacts of alternative management practices.

  2. Processes influencing the transport and fate of contaminated sediments in the coastal ocean: Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Alexander, P. Soupy; Baldwin, Sandra M.; Blackwood, Dann S.; Borden, Jonathan; Casso, Michael A.; Crusius, John; Goudreau, Joanne; Kalnejais, Linda H.; Lamothe, Paul J.; Martin, William R.; Martini, Marinna A.; Rendigs, Richard R.; Sayles, Frederick L.; Signell, Richard P.; Valentine, Page C.; Warner, John C.; Bothner, Michael H.; Butman, Bradford

    2007-01-01

    Most of the major urban centers of the United States including Boston, New York, Washington, Chicago, New Orleans, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle—are on a coast (fig. 1.1). All of these cities discharge treated sewage effluent into adjacent waters. In 2000, 74 percent of the U.S. population lived within 200 kilometers (km) of the coast. Between 1980 and 2002, the population density in coastal communities increased approximately 4.5 times faster than in noncoastal areas of the U.S. (Perkins, 2004). More people generate larger volumes of wastes, increase the demands on wastewater treatment, expand the area of impervious land surfaces, and use more vehicles that contribute contaminants to street runoff. According to the National Coastal Condition Report II (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2005a), on the basis of coastal habitat, water and sediment quality, benthic index, and fish tissue, the overall national coastal condition is only poor to fair and the overall coastal condition in the highly populated Northeast is poor. Scientific information helps managers to prioritize and regulate coastal-ocean uses that include recreation, commercial fishing, transportation, waste disposal, and critical habitat for marine organisms. These uses are often in conflict with each other and with environmental concerns. Developing a strategy for managing competing uses while maintaining sustainability of coastal resources requires scientific understanding of how the coastal ocean system behaves and how it responds to anthropogenic influences. This report provides a summary of a multidisciplinary research program designed to improve our understanding of the transport and fate of contaminants in Massachusetts coastal waters. Massachusetts Bay and Boston Harbor have been a focus of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) research because they provide a diverse geographic setting for developing a scientific understanding of the geology, geochemistry, and oceanography of

  3. The Factors and Conditions for National Human Resource Development in Brazil

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sparkman, Torrence E.

    2015-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand the factors and conditions that influence national human resource development (NHRD) in Brazil. In this paper, the transitioning nature of the political, economic, social and educational conditions; the current challenges and trends that may impact NHRD; and the current status of NHRD research in…

  4. Decision Support Model for Optimal Management of Coastal Gate

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ditthakit, Pakorn; Chittaladakorn, Suwatana

    2010-05-01

    The coastal areas are intensely settled by human beings owing to their fertility of natural resources. However, at present those areas are facing with water scarcity problems: inadequate water and poor water quality as a result of saltwater intrusion and inappropriate land-use management. To solve these problems, several measures have been exploited. The coastal gate construction is a structural measure widely performed in several countries. This manner requires the plan for suitably operating coastal gates. Coastal gate operation is a complicated task and usually concerns with the management of multiple purposes, which are generally conflicted one another. This paper delineates the methodology and used theories for developing decision support modeling for coastal gate operation scheduling. The developed model was based on coupling simulation and optimization model. The weighting optimization technique based on Differential Evolution (DE) was selected herein for solving multiple objective problems. The hydrodynamic and water quality models were repeatedly invoked during searching the optimal gate operations. In addition, two forecasting models:- Auto Regressive model (AR model) and Harmonic Analysis model (HA model) were applied for forecasting water levels and tide levels, respectively. To demonstrate the applicability of the developed model, it was applied to plan the operations for hypothetical system of Pak Phanang coastal gate system, located in Nakhon Si Thammarat province, southern part of Thailand. It was found that the proposed model could satisfyingly assist decision-makers for operating coastal gates under various environmental, ecological and hydraulic conditions.

  5. Advancing UAS methods for monitoring coastal environments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ridge, J.; Seymour, A.; Rodriguez, A. B.; Dale, J.; Newton, E.; Johnston, D. W.

    2017-12-01

    Utilizing fixed-wing Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), we are working to improve coastal monitoring by increasing the accuracy, precision, temporal resolution, and spatial coverage of habitat distribution maps. Generally, multirotor aircraft are preferred for precision imaging, but recent advances in fixed-wing technology have greatly increased their capabilities and application for fine-scale (decimeter-centimeter) measurements. Present mapping methods employed by North Carolina coastal managers involve expensive, time consuming and localized observation of coastal environments, which often lack the necessary frequency to make timely management decisions. For example, it has taken several decades to fully map oyster reefs along the NC coast, making it nearly impossible to track trends in oyster reef populations responding to harvesting pressure and water quality degradation. It is difficult for the state to employ manned flights for collecting aerial imagery to monitor intertidal oyster reefs, because flights are usually conducted after seasonal increases in turbidity. In addition, post-storm monitoring of coastal erosion from manned platforms is often conducted days after the event and collects oblique aerial photographs which are difficult to use for accurately measuring change. Here, we describe how fixed wing UAS and standard RGB sensors can be used to rapidly quantify and assess critical coastal habitats (e.g., barrier islands, oyster reefs, etc.), providing for increased temporal frequency to isolate long-term and event-driven (storms, harvesting) impacts. Furthermore, drone-based approaches can accurately image intertidal habitats as well as resolve information such as vegetation density and bathymetry from shallow submerged areas. We obtain UAS imagery of a barrier island and oyster reefs under ideal conditions (low tide, turbidity, and sun angle) to create high resolution (cm scale) maps and digital elevation models to assess habitat condition

  6. Coastal dynamics vs beach users attitudes and perceptions to enhance environmental conservation and management effectiveness.

    PubMed

    Aretano, Roberta; Parlagreco, Luca; Semeraro, Teodoro; Zurlini, Giovanni; Petrosillo, Irene

    2017-10-15

    This work carries out a landscape analysis for the last 60years to compare the degree of preservation of two areas on the same Italian coastline characterized by different environmental protection levels: a National designated protected areas and a highly tourist coastal destination. The conversion of natural land-covers into human land uses were detected for protected and unprotected coastal stretches highlighting that the only establishment of a protected area is not enough to stem undesirable land-use outcomes. A survey analysis was also conducted to assess attitudes of beach users and to evaluate their perception of natural habitats, beach and coastal water quality, and coastal dynamic over time. The results of 2071 questionnaires showed that there is similarity between subjective and objective data. However, several beach users perceived a bad quality of coastal water in the legally unprotected coastal area. The implications from a planning and management perspective are discussed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Coastal Storm Hazards from Virginia to Maine

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2015-11-01

    study, storm surge, tide, waves, wind, atmospheric pressure, and currents were the dominant storm responses computed. The effect of sea level change on...coastal storm hazards and vulnerability nationally (USACE 2015). NACCS goals also included evaluating the effect of future sea level change (SLC) on...the computed high-fidelity responses included storm surge, astronomical tide, waves, wave effects on water levels, storm duration, wind, currents

  8. Stem Cubic-Foot Volume Tables for Tree Species in the Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plain

    Treesearch

    Alexander Clark; Ray A. Souter

    1996-01-01

    Stemwood cubic-foot volume inside bark tables are presented for 14 species and 9 species groups based on equations used to estimate timber sale volumes on national forests in the Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plain. Tables are based on form class measurement data for 2,728 trees sampled in the Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plain and taper data collected across the South. A...

  9. Towards a Multi-scale Montecarlo Climate Emulator for Coastal Flooding and Long-Term Coastal Change Modeling: The Beautiful Problem

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rueda, A.; Alvarez Antolinez, J. A.; Hegermiller, C.; Serafin, K.; Anderson, D. L.; Ruggiero, P.; Barnard, P.; Erikson, L. H.; Vitousek, S.; Camus, P.; Tomas, A.; Gonzalez, M.; Mendez, F. J.

    2016-02-01

    Long-term coastal evolution and coastal flooding hazards are the result of the non-linear interaction of multiple oceanographic, hydrological, geological and meteorological forcings (e.g., astronomical tide, monthly mean sea level, large-scale storm surge, dynamic wave set-up, shoreline evolution, backshore erosion). Additionally, interannual variability and trends in storminess and sea level rise are climate drivers that must be considered. Moreover, the chronology of the hydraulic boundary conditions plays an important role since a collection of consecutive minor storm events can have more impact than the 100-yr return level event. Therefore, proper modeling of shoreline erosion, beach recovery and coastal flooding should consider the sequence of storms, the multivariate nature of the hydrodynamic forcings, and the different time scales of interest (seasonality, interannual and decadal variability). To address this `beautiful problem', we propose a hybrid approach that combines: (a) numerical hydrodynamic and morphodynamic models (SWAN for wave transformation, a shoreline change model, X-Beach for modeling infragravity waves and erosion of the backshore during extreme events and RFSM-EDA (Jamieson et al, 2012) for high resolution flooding of the coastal hinterland); (b) long-term data bases (observational and hindcast) of sea state parameters, astronomical tides and non-tidal residuals; and (c) statistical downscaling techniques, non-linear data mining, and extreme value models. The statistical downscaling approaches for multivariate variables are based on circulation patterns (Espejo et al., 2014), the chronology of the circulation patterns (Guanche et al, 2013) and the event hydrographs of multivariate extremes, resulting in a time-dependent climate emulator of hydraulic boundary conditions for coupled simulations of the coastal change and flooding models. ReferencesEspejo et al (2014) Spectral ocean wave climate variability based on circulation patterns, J

  10. National Weather Service Forecast Office - Honolulu, Hawai`i

    Science.gov Websites

    Locations - Coastal Forecast Kauai Northwest Waters Kauai Windward Waters Kauai Leeward Waters Kauai Channel Coastal Wind Observations Buoy Reports, and current weather conditions for selected locations tides , sunrise and sunset information Coastal Waters Forecast general weather overview Tropical information

  11. Commerce, Research and Education: Contributions and Challenges of Marine Extension Work in NOAA Sea Grant Program-Puerto Rico, Michigan and National office

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Aleman Diaz, A.

    2006-12-01

    The National Sea Grant program represents NOAA's nationwide university-based program in support of coastal resource use and conservation. This program is composed of 30 university-based programs that work with local coastal communities. This study focuses on a historical and multi-sited ethnographic approach that analyzes two Sea Grant Programs and their connection to the overarching NOAA national goals from 1980- 2000.The project aims to offer insight on how the extension agent position facilitates the resolution of coastal and marine management and tourism issues. The extension agents are staff who have an extensive knowledge of available coastal resources and have the role of translating this information to coastal stakeholders. Additionally, these agents assess the needs of coastal communities and report back to the program making their role into a position that can effectively alter and/or contribute to institutional and environmental management programs at broader, cross-country and global levels. The extension programs in Michigan and Puerto Rico were examined to understand how local programs respond to cultural and regional processes shaping marine extension and the management of issues faced by coastal stakeholders. A total of 36 semi- structured in-depth interviews were completed at each site, to address the following questions: (1) How do extension agents view their role at the Puerto Rico and Michigan offices and in the Sea Grant program? How do they view the conditions of their work? (2) How do their views compare to the accomplishments by each Sea Grant administration and internal inquiries? How do their views reveal conditions documented in Puerto Rico and Michigan (e.g., social, cultural, political, economic, etc)? (3) What kind of strategies do agents develop for the management of specific coastal and tourism related projects? (4) How do the Puerto Rico and Michigan offices coordinate their work, and collaborate with other "college" programs and

  12. Beyond just sea-level rise: Considering macroclimatic drivers within coastal wetland vulnerability assessments to climate change

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Osland, Michael J.; Enwright, Nicholas M.; Day, Richard H.; Gabler, Christopher A.; Stagg, Camille L.; Grace, James B.

    2016-01-01

    Due to their position at the land-sea interface, coastal wetlands are vulnerable to many aspects of climate change. However, climate change vulnerability assessments for coastal wetlands generally focus solely on sea-level rise without considering the effects of other facets of climate change. Across the globe and in all ecosystems, macroclimatic drivers (e.g., temperature and rainfall regimes) greatly influence ecosystem structure and function. Macroclimatic drivers have been the focus of climate-change related threat evaluations for terrestrial ecosystems, but largely ignored for coastal wetlands. In some coastal wetlands, changing macroclimatic conditions are expected to result in foundation plant species replacement, which would affect the supply of certain ecosystem goods and services and could affect ecosystem resilience. As examples, we highlight several ecological transition zones where small changes in macroclimatic conditions would result in comparatively large changes in coastal wetland ecosystem structure and function. Our intent in this communication is not to minimize the importance of sea-level rise. Rather, our overarching aim is to illustrate the need to also consider macroclimatic drivers within vulnerability assessments for coastal wetlands.

  13. Water quality assessment in the Mexican Caribbean: Impacts on the coastal ecosystem

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hernández-Terrones, Laura M.; Null, Kimberly A.; Ortega-Camacho, Daniela; Paytan, Adina

    2015-07-01

    Coastal zones are dominated by economically important ecosystems, and excessive urban, industrial, agricultural, and tourism activities can lead to rapid degradation of those habitats and resources. Groundwater in the Eastern Yucatan Peninsula coastal aquifer discharges directly into the coastal ocean affecting the coral reefs, which are part of the Mesoamerican Coral Reef System. The composition and impacts of groundwater were studied at different coastal environments around Akumal (SE Yucatan Peninsula). Radium isotopes and salinity were used to quantify fresh groundwater and recirculated seawater contributions to the coastal zone. Excess Ra distribution suggests spatially variable discharge rates of submarine groundwater. High NO3- levels and high coliform bacteria densities indicate that groundwater is polluted at some sites. Dissolved phosphorous content is elevated in the winter and during the high tourism season, likely released from untreated sewage discharge and from aquifer sediments under reducing conditions.

  14. Benthic Macroinvertebrate Assemblages in the Near Coastal Zone of Lake Erie

    EPA Science Inventory

    Benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages have been used as indicators of ecological condition because their responses integrate localized environmental conditions of the sediments and overlying water. Assemblages of benthic invertebrates in the near coastal region are of particular...

  15. Retrospective ecotoxicological data and current information needs for terrestrial vertebrates residing in coastal habitat of the United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Rattner, B.A.; Eisenreich, K.M.; Golden, N.H.; McKernan, M.A.; Hothem, R.L.; Custer, T.W.

    2005-01-01

    The Contaminant Exposure and Effects—Terrestrial Vertebrates (CEE-TV) database was developed to conduct simple searches for ecotoxicological information, examine exposure trends, and identify significant data gaps. The CEE-TV database contains 16,696 data records on free-ranging amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals residing in estuarine and coastal habitats of the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts, Alaska, Hawaii, and the Great Lakes. Information in the database was derived from over 1800 source documents, representing 483 unique species (about 252,000 individuals), with sample collection dates spanning from 1884 to 2003. The majority of the records contain exposure data (generally contaminant concentrations) on a limited number (n = 209) of chlorinated and brominated compounds, cholinesterase-inhibiting pesticides, economic poisons, metals, and petroleum hydrocarbons, whereas only 9.3% of the records contain biomarker or bioindicator effects data. Temporal examination of exposure data provides evidence of declining concentrations of certain organochlorine pesticides in some avian species (e.g., ospreys, Pandion haliaetus), and an apparent increase in the detection and possibly the incidence of avian die-offs related to cholinesterase-inhibiting pesticides. To identify spatial data gaps, 11,360 database records with specific sampling locations were combined with the boundaries of coastal watersheds, and National Wildlife Refuge and National Park units. Terrestrial vertebrate ecotoxicological data were lacking in 41.9% of 464 coastal watersheds in the continental United States. Recent (1990–2003) terrestrial vertebrate contaminant exposure or effects data were available for only about half of the National Wildlife Refuge and National Park units in the geographic area encompassed by the database. When these data gaps were overlaid on watersheds exhibiting serious water quality problems and/or high vulnerability to pollution, 72 coastal watersheds, and

  16. InSAR-Detected Tidal Flow in Louisiana's Coastal Wetlands

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Oliver-Cabrera, T.; Wdowinski, S.

    2014-12-01

    The Louisiana coast is among the most productive coastal area in the US and home to the largest coastal wetland area in the nation. However, Louisiana coastal wetlands have been threatened by natural (sea-level rise) and human (infrastructure development) stresses; they constitute the major part of the wetland loss of the country. Monitoring Louisiana's coastal wetlands represent a large challenge for local and federal authorities due to the large amount of area and hostile environment. Insofar, optical remote sensing observations have been used to classify the wetlands, monitor land cover changes, and assess the wetland loss over time. However, optical data is insensitive to surface flow and, hence, unable to detect the width of the tidal zone and changes in this area over time. SAR interferometry can provide useful information and ease the monitoring task. Wetland InSAR is the only application of the InSAR technology that provides information of aquatic surface. It provides useful information on surface water level changes in both inland and coastal wetlands. In this study, we use InSAR and tide gauge observations to detect and compare surface water level changes in response to ocean tide propagation through the Louisiana coastal wetlands. Our data consist of ALOS PALSAR, Radarsat-1 and tide gauge information over the coast of Louisiana. In order to detect water level changes, we used mainly high coherence interferferograms with short temporal baselines (46-92 days for ALOS data and 24-48 days for Radarsat-1). Interferometric processing of the data provides details maps of water level changes in the coastal zone. Preliminary results indicate tidal changes of up 30 cm and that tidal flow is limited to 8-10 km from the open water. Our results also show that the tidal flow is disrupted by various man-made structures as, canals and roads. The high spatial resolution wetland InSAR observations can provide useful constraints for detailed coastal wetland flow models.

  17. Portable coastal observatories

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Frye, Daniel; Butman, Bradford; Johnson, Mark; von der Heydt, Keith; Lerner, Steven

    2000-01-01

    Ocean observational science is in the midst of a paradigm shift from an expeditionary science centered on short research cruises and deployments of internally recording instruments to a sustained observational science where the ocean is monitored on a regular basis, much the way the atmosphere is monitored. While satellite remote sensing is one key way of meeting the challenge of real-time monitoring of large ocean regions, new technologies are required for in situ observations to measure conditions below the ocean surface and to measure ocean characteristics not observable from space. One method of making sustained observations in the coastal ocean is to install a fiber optic cable from shore to the area of interest. This approach has the advantage of providing power to offshore instruments and essentially unlimited bandwidth for data. The LEO-15 observatory offshore of New Jersey (yon Alt et al., 1997) and the planned Katama observatory offshore of Martha's Vineyard (Edson et al., 2000) use this approach. These sites, along with other cabled sites, will play an important role in coastal ocean science in the next decade. Cabled observatories, however, have two drawbacks that limit the number of sites that are likely to be installed. First, the cable and the cable installation are expensive and the shore station needed at the cable terminus is often in an environmentally sensitive area where competing interests must be resolved. Second, cabled sites are inherently limited geographically to sites within reach of the cable, so it is difficult to cover large areas of the coastal ocean.

  18. Relationship between Air Pollution and Weather Conditions under Complicated Geographical conditions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cheng, Q.; Jiang, P.; Li, M.

    2017-12-01

    Air pollution is one of the most serious issues all over the world, especially in megacities with constrained geographical conditions for air pollution diffusion. However, the dynamic mechanism of air pollution diffusion under complicated geographical conditions is still be confused. Researches to explore relationship between air pollution and weather conditions from the perspective of local atmospheric circulations can contribute more to solve such problem. We selected three megacities (Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou) under different geographical condition (mountain-plain transition region, coastal alluvial plain and coastal hilly terrain) to explore the relationship between air pollution and weather conditions. RDA (Redundancy analysis) model was used to analyze how the local atmospheric circulation acts on the air pollutant diffusion. The results show that there was a positive correlation between the concentration of air pollutants and air pressure, while temperature, precipitation and wind speed have negative correlations with the concentration of air pollutants. Furthermore, geographical conditions, such as topographic relief, have significant effects on the direction, path and intensity of local atmospheric circulation. As a consequence, air pollutants diffusion modes in different cities under various geographical conditions are diverse from each other.

  19. National Weather Service Forecast Office - Honolulu, Hawai`i

    Science.gov Websites

    Locations - Coastal Forecast Kauai Northwest Waters Kauai Windward Waters Kauai Leeward Waters Kauai Channel Oahu Forecast Oahu Surf Forecast Coastal Wind Observations Buoy Reports, and current weather conditions for selected locations tides, sunrise and sunset information Coastal Waters Forecast general weather

  20. A holistic evaluation of risks in coastal regions under changing climatic, environmental and socioeconomic conditions: the Theseus Decision Support System.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Losada, I. J.; Garcia Alonso, E.; Mendez, F. J.; Zanuttigh, B.; Nicholls, R. J.; Thompson, R.; Vanderlinden, J. P.; Fernandez, F.; Ondiviela, B.; Diaz-Simal, P.; Bagli, S.

    2012-04-01

    There is a general acceptance that global changes associated with natural hazards and socioeconomic processes are occurring at a faster pace than ever, with deep implications in terms of risk exposure and environmental impact. The capacity of coastal areas to adapt and react to these changes will be a key factor in the future preservation of life standards and represents a great challenge for politicians, scientists and professionals at any level. Within the large scope of Theseus Project (EU 7th Framework Program), one of the main objectives is to design a tool to help decision makers in defining optimal strategies to minimize risks within a certain city or coastal area in a three-fold sense: economic losses, human damages and environmental impacts. The resulting software, the Theseus-DSS, links the most relevant physical processes (waves, sea-levels, hard and soft structures, coastal erosion and inland flooding) with the potential impact zones (marine and inland), considering their functions (ecosystems) and uses (economic units), and the dependence of this functions and uses upon the prevailing physical conditions. The new software tries to fill a gap among the existing tools, based on the following pillars: • Seamless integration of disciplines: physics, engineering, ecology, social sciences and economy. • Intermediate spatial scales (1- 10 km) and medium-to- long time spans (1-10 years). • Decision-making based on a balance between deterministic models and expert, discussion-based assumptions. The user of the Theseus-DSS will be able either to check the consequences of predefined scenarios at a particular study site, or to create user-defined scenarios, run them and compare the results with other scenarios. The results are expressed, locally and at an aggregate level, in the three aforementioned dimensions: economic losses (€/year), mean annual expected live losses (persons/year) and impact on habitats (null, low, medium and high).

  1. Predicting Coastal Flood Severity using Random Forest Algorithm

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sadler, J. M.; Goodall, J. L.; Morsy, M. M.; Spencer, K.

    2017-12-01

    Coastal floods have become more common recently and are predicted to further increase in frequency and severity due to sea level rise. Predicting floods in coastal cities can be difficult due to the number of environmental and geographic factors which can influence flooding events. Built stormwater infrastructure and irregular urban landscapes add further complexity. This paper demonstrates the use of machine learning algorithms in predicting street flood occurrence in an urban coastal setting. The model is trained and evaluated using data from Norfolk, Virginia USA from September 2010 - October 2016. Rainfall, tide levels, water table levels, and wind conditions are used as input variables. Street flooding reports made by city workers after named and unnamed storm events, ranging from 1-159 reports per event, are the model output. Results show that Random Forest provides predictive power in estimating the number of flood occurrences given a set of environmental conditions with an out-of-bag root mean squared error of 4.3 flood reports and a mean absolute error of 0.82 flood reports. The Random Forest algorithm performed much better than Poisson regression. From the Random Forest model, total daily rainfall was by far the most important factor in flood occurrence prediction, followed by daily low tide and daily higher high tide. The model demonstrated here could be used to predict flood severity based on forecast rainfall and tide conditions and could be further enhanced using more complete street flooding data for model training.

  2. EAARL topography: George Washington Birthplace National Monument

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Brock, John C.; Wright, C. Wayne; Patterson, Matt; Nayegandhi, Amar; Patterson, Judd

    2007-01-01

    This Web site contains Lidar-derived topography (first return and bare earth) maps and GIS files for George Washington Birthplace National Monument in Virginia. These lidar-derived topography maps were produced as a collaborative effort between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Geology Program, FISC St. Petersburg, the National Park Service (NPS), Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network, Inventory and Monitoring Program, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Wallops Flight Facility. One objective of this research is to create techniques to survey coral reefs and barrier islands for the purposes of geomorphic change studies, habitat mapping, ecological monitoring, change detection, and event assessment. As part of this project, data from an innovative instrument under development at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, the NASA Experimental Airborne Advanced Research Lidar (EAARL) are being used. This sensor has the potential to make significant contributions in this realm for measuring subaerial and submarine topography wthin cross-environment surveys. High spectral resolution, water-column correction, and low costs were found to be key factors in providing accurate and affordable imagery to coastal resource managers.

  3. Gains from trans-boundary water quality management in linked catchment and coastal socio-ecological systems: a case study for the Minho region

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Roebeling, P. C.; Brito, A. G.; Rocha, J.; Alves, H.; Mamede, J.

    2012-04-01

    Worldwide, aquatic and coastal ecosystems are affected by point and diffuse source water pollution originating from rural, urban and industrial land uses in catchments, even though these ecosystems are of vital importance from an environmental and economic perspective. Integrated Catchment and Coastal Zone Management (ICCZM) specifically takes into account this inherent relationship between terrestrial land use, surface and ground water pollution, aquatic and coastal ecosystem state, and associated environmental values. To warrant sustainable regional economic development, we need to balance the marginal costs from terrestrial water pollution abatement and the associated marginal benefits from aquatic and coastal resource appreciation. In doing so, however, we need to differentiate between intra- and trans-boundary catchments because benefactors and beneficiaries from water quality improvement are not one and the same. In trans-boundary catchments, private (national) welfare maximizing rates of water quality improvement differ across nations as benefits from water quality improvement generally accrue to one nation while the costs are paid by multiple nations. While approaches for water quality management in linked catchment and coastal socio-ecological systems are fairly recent though existent, water quality management in trans-boundary catchments poses additional challenges. The objective of this paper is to develop and apply a deterministic optimal control approach that allows us to explore private and social welfare maximizing rates of water pollution abatement in linked catchment and coastal socio-ecological systems. For a case study of the Minho region in the Iberian Peninsula, we estimate nation-specific water pollution abatement cost (based on management practice adoption) and benefit (based on aquatic and coastal environmental values) functions, to determine as well as compare private (national) and social (trans-national) welfare maximizing rates of water

  4. China's coastal wetlands: conservation history, implementation efforts, existing issues and strategies for future improvement.

    PubMed

    Sun, Zhigao; Sun, Wenguang; Tong, Chuan; Zeng, Congsheng; Yu, Xiang; Mou, Xiaojie

    2015-06-01

    China has approximately 5.80×10(6)ha coastal wetlands by 2014, accounting for 10.82% of the total area of natural wetlands. Healthy coastal wetland ecosystems play an important role in guaranteeing the territory ecological security and the sustainable development of coastal zone in China. In this paper, the natural geography and the past and present status of China's coastal wetlands were introduced and the five stages (1950s-1970s, 1980s-1991, 1992-2002, 2003-2010 and 2011-present) of China's coastal wetlands conservation from the foundation of the People's Republic in 1949 to present were distinguished and reviewed. Over the past decades, China has made great efforts in coastal wetland conservation, as signified by the implementation of coastal wetland restoration projects, the construction of coastal wetland nature reserves, the practice of routine ecological monitoring and two national wetland surveys, the promulgation of local wetland conservation statutes and specific regulations, the coordination mechanism to enhance management capacity, the wide development of coastal wetland research and public participation, and the extensive communication to strengthen international cooperation. Nonetheless, six major issues recently emerged in China's coastal wetland conservation are evidently existed, including the increasing threats of pollution and human activities, the increasing adverse effects of threaten factors on ecosystem function, the increasing threats of coastal erosion and sea-level rising, the insufficient funding for coastal wetlands conservation, the imperfect legal and management system for coastal wetlands, and the insufficient education, research and international cooperation. Although the threats and pressures on coastal wetlands conservation are still apparent, the future of China's coastal wetlands looks promising since the Chinese government understands that the sustainable development in coastal zone requires new attitudes, sound policies and

  5. Coastal landforms and processes at the Cape Cod National Seashore, Massachusetts—A primer

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Giese, Graham S.; Williams, S. Jeffress; Adams, Mark

    2015-12-17

    The coast of outer Cape Cod, about 15,000 years old and about 30 miles (mi; 50 kilometers [km]) long, is but a tiny piece of the global Earth system that operates within a much larger realm of space and time. Cape Cod’s coastal landforms are temporary holding patterns within a continual interplay of land, sea, atmosphere, climate, ice, and life, including a variety of human activities that both affect and are affected by these processes. These interactions produce the landforms, and the landforms alter the interactions. The resulting landforms provide habitats for a wide variety of coastal plants and animals. The habitats along with their inhabitants and the interacting environmental factors controlling them constitute the Cape’s complex and varied ecosystems. But for now, we are here to enjoy it. We welcome you to delight and wonder at the perpetually changing handshake between the ocean and shore at New England’s Great Beach.

  6. Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, Coastal Plain Resource Assessment: Report and recommendation to the Congress of the United States and final legislative environmental impact statement

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    ,

    1987-01-01

    The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, in the northeastern corner of Alaska, was first established as the Arctic National Wildlife Range by Public Land Order 2214 in 1960, for the purpose of preserving unique wildlife, wilderness, and recreational values. The original 8.9-millionacre Range was withdrawn from all forms of appropriation under the public land laws, including mining laws but not including mineral leasing laws. This order culminated extensive efforts begun more than a decade earlier to preserve this unique part of Alaska. The following report analyzes the potential environmental consequences of five management alternatives for the coastal plain, ranging from opening for lease of the entire area for oil and gas development, to wilderness designation. A legislative environmental impact statement has been integrated into the report.

  7. Socioeconomic and lifestyle factors associated with chronic conditions among older adults in Ecuador.

    PubMed

    Guevara, Pilar Egüez; Andrade, Flávia Cristina Drumond

    2015-09-01

    To explore socioeconomic and lifestyle factors associated with the prevalence of self-reported chronic conditions among older adults in Ecuador. The sample was drawn from the nationally representative observational cross-sectional data of the Health, Well-Being, and Aging survey conducted in Ecuador in 2009. Logistic regression models were used to explore the association between socioeconomic and lifestyle factors and the prevalence of selected chronic conditions. Older women in Ecuador are more likely than men to have been previously diagnosed with diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and arthritis. Results suggest no difference by education or health insurance on number and type of self-reported chronic conditions. However, older adults who resided in the coastal area were more likely to report having diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and stroke than those in the highlands. Living in rural areas was associated with lower odds of having diabetes and high blood pressure. Compared to white older adults, indigenous older adults were less likely to report having high blood pressure, but more likely to report having arthritis. Older age in Ecuador is marked by low educational levels and poverty. Female gender and living in coastal areas were associated with higher risks of self-reported chronic conditions.

  8. Inventory of Data Sources Used for Watershed Condition Assessments of Fire Island National Seashore, Gateway National Recreation Area, and Sagamore Hill National Historic Site, New York and New Jersey

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Benotti, Mark J.

    2008-01-01

    The natural resources and watershed conditions of National Park units in the New York-New Jersey area - Gateway National Recreation Area (GATE), Sagamore Hill National Historic Site (SAHI), and Fire Island National Seashore (FIIS) - are threatened by different degrees of urbanization and direct or indirect human use. Such threats as nutrient enrichment, sedimentation, exotic species invasion, water pollution, and development pose serious management concerns for these parks. Limited investigations of the status of different natural resources at or near each park have been conducted, but a comprehensive understanding of the natural resources and watershed conditions at FIIS, GATE, and SAHI is needed. This report details the sources of spatial data and metadata assembled into a Geographic Information System (GIS) for the purpose of assessing natural resources and watershed conditions at GATE, SAHI, and FIIS.

  9. Corrosion Map for Metal Pipes in Coastal Louisiana

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2017-12-01

    Transportation agencies often allow metal pipes as an option for cross drains under/along roads and highways. Metal culverts can corrode over time at various rates based on their environmental conditions (e.g., corrosive nature of coastal soils, high...

  10. U.S. Geological Survey coastal and marine geology research; recent highlights and achievements

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Williams, S. Jeffress; Barnes, Peter W.; Prager, Ellen J.

    2000-01-01

    The USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program has large-scale national and regional research projects that focus on environmental quality, geologic hazards, natural resources, and information transfer. This Circular highlights recent scientific findings of the program, which play a vital role in the USGS endeavor to understand human interactions with the natural environment and to determine how the fundamental geologic processes controlling the Earth work. The scientific knowledge acquired through USGS research and monitoring is critically needed by planners, government agencies, and the public. Effective communication of the results of this research will enable the USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program to play an integral part in assisting the Nation in responding the pressing Earth science challenges of the 21st century.

  11. Chemical analyses of ground water for saline-water resources studies in Texas Coastal Plain stored in National Water Data Storage and Retrieval System

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Taylor, R.E.

    1975-01-01

    Chemical analyses of 4,269 water samples from wells in 66 counties in Texas have been processed into the National Water Data Storage and Retrieval System by the Gulf Coast Hydrogeology Project of the U. S. Geological Survey. More than 65,000 chemical analyses of saline waters produced by oil test and production wells have been contributed to the project by major oil companies. The computerized tabulation and the computer-drawn map of the locations of sampling sites are the initial release of oil company, State, and Federal data in Texas Coastal Plain from the data bank.

  12. The USGS role in mapping the nation's submerged lands

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Schwab, Bill; Haines, John

    2004-01-01

    The seabed provides habitat for a diverse marine life having commercial, recreational, and intrinsic value. The habitat value of the seabed is largely a function of the geological structure and related geological, biological, oceanologic, and geochemical processes. Of equal importance, the nation's submerged lands contain energy and mineral resources and are utilized for the siting of offshore infrastructure and waste disposal. Seabed character and processes influence the safety and viability of offshore operations. Seabed and subseabed characterization is a prerequisite for the assessment, protection, and utilization of both living and non-living marine resources. A comprehensive program to characterize and understand the nation's submerged lands requires scientific expertise in the fields of geology, biology, hydrography, and oceanography. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has long experience as the Federal agency charged with conducting geologic research and mapping in both coastal and offshore regions. The USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program (CMGP) leads the nation in expertise related to characterization of seabed and subseabed geology, geological processes, seabed dynamics, and (in collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and international partners) habitat geoscience. Numerous USGS studies show that sea-floor geology and processes determine the character and distribution of biological habitats, control coastal evolution, influence the coastal response to storm events and human alterations, and determine the occurrence and concentration of natural resources.

  13. Coastal biodiversity and ecosystem services flows at the landscape scale: The CBESS progamme.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Paterson, David; Bothwell, John; Bradbury, Richard; Burrows, Michael; Burton, Niall; Emmerson, Mark; Garbutt, Angus; Skov, Martin; Solan, Martin; Spencer, Tom; Underwood, Graham

    2015-04-01

    The health of the European coastline is inextricably linked to the economy and culture of coastal nations but they are sensitive to climate change. As global temperatures increase, sea levels will rise and the forces experienced where land meets sea will become more destructive. Salt marshes, mudflats, beaches will be affected. These landscapes support a wide range of economically valuable animal and plant species, but also act as sites of carbon storage, nutrient recycling, and pollutant capture and amelioration. Their preservation is of utmost importance. Our programme: "A hierarchical approach to the examination of the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem service flows across coastal margins" (CBESS) is designed to understand the landscape-scale links between the functions that these systems provide (ecosystem service flows) and the organisms that provide these services (biodiversity stocks) and moves beyond most previous studies, conducted at smaller scales. Our consortium of experts ranges from microbial ecologists, through environmental economists, to mathematical modellers, and organisations (RSPB, BTO, CEFAS, EA) with vested interest in the sustainable use of coastal wetlands. CBESS spans the landscape scale, investigating how biodiversity stocks provide ecosystem services (cf. National Ecosystem Assessment: Supporting services; Provisioning services; Regulating services; and Cultural services). CBESS combined a detailed study of two regional landscapes with a broad-scale UK-wide study to allow both specific and general conclusions to be drawn. The regional study compares two areas of great UK national importance: Morecambe Bay on the west coast and the Essex coastline on the east. We carried out biological and physical surveys at more than 600 stations combined with in situ measures of ecosystem funtction to clarify how biodiversity can provide these important ecosystem functions across scales. This information will be shared with those

  14. Coastal ocean forecasting with an unstructured grid model in the southern Adriatic and northern Ionian seas

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Federico, Ivan; Pinardi, Nadia; Coppini, Giovanni; Oddo, Paolo; Lecci, Rita; Mossa, Michele

    2017-01-01

    SANIFS (Southern Adriatic Northern Ionian coastal Forecasting System) is a coastal-ocean operational system based on the unstructured grid finite-element three-dimensional hydrodynamic SHYFEM model, providing short-term forecasts. The operational chain is based on a downscaling approach starting from the large-scale system for the entire Mediterranean Basin (MFS, Mediterranean Forecasting System), which provides initial and boundary condition fields to the nested system. The model is configured to provide hydrodynamics and active tracer forecasts both in open ocean and coastal waters of southeastern Italy using a variable horizontal resolution from the open sea (3-4 km) to coastal areas (50-500 m). Given that the coastal fields are driven by a combination of both local (also known as coastal) and deep-ocean forcings propagating along the shelf, the performance of SANIFS was verified both in forecast and simulation mode, first (i) on the large and shelf-coastal scales by comparing with a large-scale survey CTD (conductivity-temperature-depth) in the Gulf of Taranto and then (ii) on the coastal-harbour scale (Mar Grande of Taranto) by comparison with CTD, ADCP (acoustic doppler current profiler) and tide gauge data. Sensitivity tests were performed on initialization conditions (mainly focused on spin-up procedures) and on surface boundary conditions by assessing the reliability of two alternative datasets at different horizontal resolution (12.5 and 6.5 km). The SANIFS forecasts at a lead time of 1 day were compared with the MFS forecasts, highlighting that SANIFS is able to retain the large-scale dynamics of MFS. The large-scale dynamics of MFS are correctly propagated to the shelf-coastal scale, improving the forecast accuracy (+17 % for temperature and +6 % for salinity compared to MFS). Moreover, the added value of SANIFS was assessed on the coastal-harbour scale, which is not covered by the coarse resolution of MFS, where the fields forecasted by SANIFS

  15. Relationships between watershed emergy flow and coastal New England salt marsh structure, function, and condition.

    PubMed

    Brandt-Williams, Sherry; Wigand, Cathleen; Campbell, Daniel E

    2013-02-01

    This study evaluated the link between watershed activities and salt marsh structure, function, and condition using spatial emergy flow density (areal empower density) in the watershed and field data from 10 tidal salt marshes in Narragansett Bay, RI, USA. The field-collected data were obtained during several years of vegetation, invertebrate, soil, and water quality sampling. The use of emergy as an accounting mechanism allowed disparate factors (e.g., the amount of building construction and the consumption of electricity) to be combined into a single landscape index while retaining a uniform quantitative definition of the intensity of landscape development. It expanded upon typical land use percentage studies by weighting each category for the intensity of development. At the RI salt marsh sites, an impact index (watershed emergy flow normalized for marsh area) showed significant correlations with mudflat infauna species richness, mussel density, plant species richness, the extent and density of dominant plant species, and denitrification potential within the high salt marsh. Over the 4-year period examined, a loading index (watershed emergy flow normalized for watershed area) showed significant correlations with nitrite and nitrate concentrations, as well as with the nitrogen to phosphorus ratios in stream discharge into the marshes. Both the emergy impact and loading indices were significantly correlated with a salt marsh condition index derived from intensive field-based assessments. Comparison of the emergy indices to calculated nitrogen loading estimates for each watershed also produced significant positive correlations. These results suggest that watershed emergy flow is a robust index of human disturbance and a potential tool for rapid assessment of coastal wetland condition.

  16. Coastal Modeling System

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2015-11-04

    Coastal Inlets Research Program Coastal Modeling System The work unit develops the Coastal Modeling System ( CMS ) and conducts basic research to...further understanding of sediment transport under mixed oceanic and atmospheric forcing. The CMS is a suite of coupled two-dimensional numerical...models for simulations of waves, hydrodynamics, salinity and sediment transport, and morphology change. The CMS was identified by the USACE Hydraulics

  17. Use of modular amphibious vehicles for conducting research in coastal zone

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zeziulin, Denis; Makarov, Vladimir; Belyaev, Alexander; Beresnev, Pavel; Kurkin, Andrey

    2016-04-01

    The project aims to create workable running systems of research complexes, moving along the bottom of coastal areas (in shallow waters) for investigation of waves, currents, sediment transport; investigation of ecosystems and biodiversity assessment of organisms; inspection and monitoring environmental conditions and anthropogenic load on nature; bathymetric studies. With all the variety of functional capabilities of modern robotic systems, possibilities of their application in the context of the study of coastal zones are extremely limited. Conducting research using aerial vehicles is limited to safety conditions of flight. Use of floating robotic systems in environmental monitoring and ecosystem research is only possible in conditions of relatively «soft» wave climate of the coastal zone. For these purposes, there are special amphibians such as remote-controlled vehicle Surf Rover [Daily, William R., Mark A. Johnson, and Daniel A. Oslecki. «Initial Development of an Amphibious ROV for Use in Big Surf.» Marine Technology Society 28.1 (1994): 3-10. Print.], mobile system MARC-1 [«The SPROV'er.» Florida Institute of Technology: Department of Marine and. Environmental Systems. Web. 05 May 2010.]. The paper describes methodological approaches to the selection of the design parameters of a new system.

  18. VIIRS validation and algorithm development efforts in coastal and inland Waters

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Stengel, E.; Ondrusek, M.

    2016-02-01

    Accurate satellite ocean color measurements in coastal and inland waters are more challenging than open-ocean measurements. Complex water and atmospheric conditions can limit the utilization of remote sensing data in coastal waters where it is most needed. The Coastal Optical Characterization Experiment (COCE) is an ongoing project at NOAA/NESDIS/STAR Satellite Oceanography and Climatology Division. The primary goals of COCE are satellite ocean color validation and application development. Currently, this effort concentrates on the initialization and validation of the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) VIIRS sensor using a Satlantic HyperPro II radiometer as a validation tool. A report on VIIRS performance in coastal waters will be given by presenting comparisons between in situ ground truth measurements and VIIRS retrievals made in the Chesapeake Bay, and inland waters of the Gulf of Mexico and Puerto Rico. The COCE application development effort focuses on developing new ocean color satellite remote sensing tools for monitoring relevant coastal ocean parameters. A new VIIRS total suspended matter algorithm will be presented for the Chesapeake Bay. These activities improve the utility of ocean color satellite data in monitoring and analyzing coastal and oceanic processes. Progress on these activities will be reported.

  19. Lidar vegetation mapping in national parks: Gulf Coast Network

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Brock, John C.; Palaseanu-Lovejoy, Monica; Segura, Martha

    2011-01-01

    Airborne lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) is an active remote sensing technique used to collect accurate elevation data over large areas. Lidar provides an extremely high level of regional topographic detail, which makes this technology an essential component of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) science strategy. The USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program (CMGP) has collaborated with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Park Service (NPS) to acquire dense topographic lidar data in a variety of coastal environments.

  20. Global climate change and intensification of coastal ocean upwelling.

    PubMed

    Bakun, A

    1990-01-12

    A mechanism exists whereby global greenhouse warning could, by intensifying the alongshore wind stress on the ocean surface, lead to acceleration of coastal upwelling. Evidence from several different regions suggests that the major coastal upwelling systems of the world have been growing in upwelling intensity as greenhouse gases have accumulated in the earth's atmosphere. Thus the cool foggy summer conditions that typify the coastlands of northern California and other similar upwelling regions might, under global warming, become even more pronounced. Effects of enhanced upwelling on the marine ecosystem are uncertain but potentially dramatic.

  1. Nearshore coastal bathymetry data collected in 2016 from West Ship Island to Horn Island, Gulf Islands National Seashore, Mississippi

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    DeWitt, Nancy T.; Stalk, Chelsea A.; Fredericks, Jake J.; Flocks, James G.; Kelso, Kyle W.; Farmer, Andrew S.; Tuten, Thomas M.; Buster, Noreen A.

    2018-04-13

    The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District, conducted bathymetric surveys of the nearshore waters surrounding Ship and Horn Islands, Gulf Islands National Seashore, Mississippi. The objective of this study was to establish base-level elevation conditions around West Ship, East Ship, and Horn Islands and their associated active littoral system prior to restoration activities. These activities include the closure of Camille Cut and the placement of sediment in the littoral zone of East Ship Island. These surveys can be compared with future surveys to monitor sediment migration patterns post-restoration and can also be measured against historic bathymetric datasets to further our understanding of island evolution.The USGS collected 667 line-kilometers (km) of single-beam bathymetry data and 844 line-km of interferometric swath bathymetry data in July 2016 under Field Activity Number 2016-347-FA. Data are provided in three datums: (1) the International Terrestrial Reference Frame of 2000 (ellipsoid height); (2) the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD83) CORS96 realization and the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 with respect to the GEOID12B model (orthometric height); and (3) NAD83 (CORS96) and Mean Lower Low Water (tidal datum). Data products, including x,y,zpoint datasets, trackline shapefiles, digital and handwritten Field Activity Collection Systems logs, 50-meter digital elevation model, and formal Federal Geographic Data Committee metadata, are available for download.

  2. Evaluation of Integrated Coastal Zone Management Plan Practices in the Turkish Case

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Doruk Özügül, M.; Yerliyurt, Bora; Seçilmişler, Töre

    2017-10-01

    In terms of both international and national contexts, mostly coastal zones are the place of complexity, vulnerability and competition, so that they have to be well-planned and managed. Diversity in users, land uses, investments, sectoral plans and policies make coastal areas highly complex and problematic zones where competition also takes place. Unless these dimensions of pressure aren’t balanced with precautionary actions, coastal zones transform into more vulnerable geographies. Within this context “Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) Plan” appears as a major tool where “integration” becomes a vital keyword for such diversifying environments. This integration challenge covers sectoral, administrative, spatial, interdisciplinary (in terms of scientific research fields) and internationality dimensions. A set of basic principles could also be obtained from the literature in order to reach a better ICZM Plan practice. These could be summarized as; “a broader perspective”, “a long-term perspective”, “adaptive management and monitoring”, “local specificities, specific solutions and flexible measures”, “carrying capacity of ecosystems”, “a participatory process”, “well coordination of policies and partners” and “coherence between sectoral policy objectives, planning and management”. A similar problematic conceptualization is also viable for Turkey, where approximately 76% of the total border length and 27 of 81 provinces are coastal. Naturally, both ICZM and coastal zone planning are within the emerging planning issues of national agenda. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Turkish practices depending on the above-mentioned principles by comparing various official ICZM plans of selected provinces. As a general conclusion it is seen that ICZM -to be an integrative and multi-dimensional tool- is contextually misunderstood. From this perspective “the determination of the plan borders”, “unsuitability of the

  3. The National Wetland Condition Assessment: National Data on Wetland Quality to Inform and Improve Wetlands Protection

    EPA Science Inventory

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in collaboration with states, tribes, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (US FWS), and other federal partners will conduct the first-ever National Wetland Condition Assessment (NWCA) in 2011. The NWCA is designed to build on the succ...

  4. Downwelling dynamics of the western Adriatic Coastal Current

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Geyer, W. R.; Mullenbach, B. L.; Kineke, G. C.; Sherwood, C. R.; Signell, R. P.; Ogston, A. S.; Puig, P.; Traykovski, P.

    2004-12-01

    The western Adriatic coastal current (WACC) flows for hundreds of kilometers along the east coast of Italy at speeds of 20 to 100 cm/s. It is fed by the buoyancy input from the Po River and other rivers of the northern Adriatic Sea, with typical freshwater discharge rates of 2000 m**3/s. The Bora winds provide the dominant forcing agent of the WACC during the winter months, resulting in peak southeastward flows reaching 100 cm/s. The energy input of the Bora is principally in the northern Adriatic, and the coastal current response is due mainly to the set up of the pressure field, although there is sometimes an accompanying local component of down-coast winds that further augments the coastal current. Downwelling conditions occur during Bora, with or without local wind-forcing, because the bottom Ekman transport occurs in either case. Downwelling results in destratification of the coastal current, due to both vertical mixing and straining of the cross-shore density gradient. The relative contributions of mixing and straining depends on the value of the Kelvin number K=Lf/(g_Oh)**1/2, where L is the width of the coastal current, f is the Coriolis parameter, g_O is reduced gravity, and h is the plume thickness. For a narrow coastal current (K<1), straining occurs more rapidly than vertical mixing. This is the case in the WACC during Bora events, with strain-induced destratification occurring in less than 24 hours. The straining process limits vertical mixing of the coastal current with the ambient Adriatic water, because once the isopycnals become vertical, no more mixing can occur. This limitation of mixing may explain the persistence of the density anomaly of the coastal current in the presence of high stresses. The straining process also has important implications for sediment transport: destratification allows sediment to be distributed throughout the water column during Bora events, resulting in enhanced down-coast fluxes. The influence of the downwelling

  5. Effect of economic recession on psychosocial working conditions by workers' nationality.

    PubMed

    Torá, Isabel; Martínez, José Miguel; Benavides, Fernando G; Leveque, Katia; Ronda, Elena

    2015-01-01

    Several publications have documented the effects of economic recessions on health. However, little is known about how economic recessions influence working conditions, especially among vulnerable workers. To explore the effects of 2008 economic crisis on the prevalence of adverse psychosocial working conditions among Spanish and foreign national workers. Data come from the 2007 and 2011 Spanish Working Conditions Surveys. Survey year, sociodemographic, and occupational information were independent variables and psychosocial factors exposures were dependent variables. Analyses were stratified by nationality (Spanish versus foreign). Prevalence and adjusted prevalence ratios (aPRs) of psychological job demands, job control, job social support, physical demands and perceived job insecurity were estimated using Poisson regression. The Spanish population had higher risk of psychological and physical job demand (aPR = 1.07, 95% CI = [1.04-1.10] and aPR = 1.05, 95% CI = [1.01-1.09], respectively) in 2011 compared to 2007. Among both Spanish and foreign national workers, greater aPR were found for job loss in 2011 compared to 2007 (aPR = 2.47, 95% CI = [2.34-2.60]; aPR = 2.44, 95% CI = [2.15-2.77], respectively). The 2008 economic crisis was associated with a significant increase in physical demands in Spanish workers and increased job insecurity for both Spanish and foreign workers.

  6. Unstructured-grid coastal ocean modelling in Southern Adriatic and Northern Ionian Seas

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Federico, Ivan; Pinardi, Nadia; Coppini, Giovanni; Oddo, Paolo

    2016-04-01

    The Southern Adriatic Northern Ionian coastal Forecasting System (SANIFS) is a short-term forecasting system based on unstructured grid approach. The model component is built on SHYFEM finite element three-dimensional hydrodynamic model. The operational chain exploits a downscaling approach starting from the Mediterranean oceanographic-scale model MFS (Mediterranean Forecasting System, operated by INGV). The implementation set-up has been designed to provide accurate hydrodynamics and active tracer processes in the coastal waters of Southern Eastern Italy (Apulia, Basilicata and Calabria regions), where the model is characterized by a variable resolution in range of 50-500 m. The horizontal resolution is also high in open-sea areas, where the elements size is approximately 3 km. The model is forced: (i) at the lateral open boundaries through a full nesting strategy directly with the MFS (temperature, salinity, non-tidal sea surface height and currents) and OTPS (tidal forcing) fields; (ii) at surface through two alternative atmospheric forcing datasets (ECMWF and COSMOME) via MFS-bulk-formulae. Given that the coastal fields are driven by a combination of both local/coastal and deep ocean forcings propagating along the shelf, the performance of SANIFS was verified first (i) at the large and shelf-coastal scales by comparing with a large scale CTD survey and then (ii) at the coastal-harbour scale by comparison with CTD, ADCP and tide gauge data. Sensitivity tests were performed on initialization conditions (mainly focused on spin-up procedures) and on surface boundary conditions by assessing the reliability of two alternative datasets at different horizontal resolution (12.5 and 7 km). The present work highlights how downscaling could improve the simulation of the flow field going from typical open-ocean scales of the order of several km to the coastal (and harbour) scales of tens to hundreds of meters.

  7. Beyond just sea-level rise: considering macroclimatic drivers within coastal wetland vulnerability assessments to climate change.

    PubMed

    Osland, Michael J; Enwright, Nicholas M; Day, Richard H; Gabler, Christopher A; Stagg, Camille L; Grace, James B

    2016-01-01

    Due to their position at the land-sea interface, coastal wetlands are vulnerable to many aspects of climate change. However, climate change vulnerability assessments for coastal wetlands generally focus solely on sea-level rise without considering the effects of other facets of climate change. Across the globe and in all ecosystems, macroclimatic drivers (e.g., temperature and rainfall regimes) greatly influence ecosystem structure and function. Macroclimatic drivers have been the focus of climate change-related threat evaluations for terrestrial ecosystems, but largely ignored for coastal wetlands. In some coastal wetlands, changing macroclimatic conditions are expected to result in foundation plant species replacement, which would affect the supply of certain ecosystem goods and services and could affect ecosystem resilience. As examples, we highlight several ecological transition zones where small changes in macroclimatic conditions would result in comparatively large changes in coastal wetland ecosystem structure and function. Our intent in this communication is not to minimize the importance of sea-level rise. Rather, our overarching aim is to illustrate the need to also consider macroclimatic drivers within vulnerability assessments for coastal wetlands. Published 2015. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

  8. 119. EQUIPMENT DATA TRANSMITTER (EDT) CONDITIONING PANEL FOR NATIONAL OCEANIC ...

    Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

    119. EQUIPMENT DATA TRANSMITTER (EDT) CONDITIONING PANEL FOR NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION (NOAA) PAYLOADS IN NORTHEAST CORNER OF VEHICLE MECHANICAL SYSTEMS ROOM (111), LSB (BLDG. 770) - Vandenberg Air Force Base, Space Launch Complex 3, Launch Pad 3 West, Napa & Alden Roads, Lompoc, Santa Barbara County, CA

  9. EAARL Coastal Topography - Northern Gulf of Mexico

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Nayegandhi, Amar; Brock, John C.; Sallenger, Abby; Wright, C. Wayne; Travers, Laurinda J.; Lebonitte, James

    2008-01-01

    These remotely sensed, geographically referenced elevation measurements of Lidar-derived coastal topography were produced as a collaborative effort between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Florida Integrated Science Center (FISC), St. Petersburg, FL and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Wallops Flight Facility, VA. One objective of this research is to create techniques to survey areas for the purposes of geomorphic change studies following major storm events. The USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program's National Assessment of Coastal Change Hazards project is a multi-year undertaking to identify and quantify the vulnerability of U.S. shorelines to coastal change hazards such as effects of severe storms, sea-level rise, and shoreline erosion and retreat. Airborne Lidar surveys conducted during periods of calm weather are compared to surveys collected following extreme storms in order to quantify the resulting coastal change. Other applications of high-resolution topography include habitat mapping, ecological monitoring, volumetric change detection, and event assessment. The purpose of this project is to provide highly detailed and accurate datasets of the northern Gulf of Mexico coastal areas, acquired on September 19, 2004, immediately following Hurricane Ivan. The datasets are made available for use as a management tool to research scientists and natural resource managers. An innovative airborne Lidar instrument originally developed at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, and known as the Experimental Airborne Advanced Research Lidar (EAARL), was used during data acquisition. The EAARL system is a raster-scanning, waveform-resolving, green-wavelength (532 nanometer) Lidar designed to map near-shore bathymetry, topography, and vegetation structure simultaneously. The EAARL sensor suite includes the raster-scanning, water-penetrating full-waveform adaptive Lidar, a down-looking RGB (red-green-blue) digital camera, a high-resolution multi

  10. 46 CFR 11.404 - Service requirements for master of ocean or near-coastal self-propelled vessels of unlimited...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... 46 Shipping 1 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Service requirements for master of ocean or near-coastal... Requirements for National Deck Officer Endorsements § 11.404 Service requirements for master of ocean or near... applicant for an endorsement as master of ocean or near-coastal self-propelled vessels of unlimited tonnage...

  11. 46 CFR 11.428 - Requirements for master of near-coastal self-propelled vessels of less than 100 GRT.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... 46 Shipping 1 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Requirements for master of near-coastal self-propelled... National Deck Officer Endorsements § 11.428 Requirements for master of near-coastal self-propelled vessels of less than 100 GRT. (a) The minimum service required to qualify for the endorsement as master of...

  12. Resilience from coastal protection.

    PubMed

    Ewing, Lesley C

    2015-10-28

    Coastal areas are important residential, commercial and industrial areas; but coastal hazards can pose significant threats to these areas. Shoreline/coastal protection elements, both built structures such as breakwaters, seawalls and revetments, as well as natural features such as beaches, reefs and wetlands, are regular features of a coastal community and are important for community safety and development. These protection structures provide a range of resilience to coastal communities. During and after disasters, they help to minimize damages and support recovery; during non-disaster times, the values from shoreline elements shift from the narrow focus on protection. Most coastal communities have limited land and resources and few can dedicate scarce resources solely for protection. Values from shore protection can and should expand to include environmental, economic and social/cultural values. This paper discusses the key aspects of shoreline protection that influence effective community resilience and protection from disasters. This paper also presents ways that the economic, environmental and social/cultural values of shore protection can be evaluated and quantified. It presents the Coastal Community Hazard Protection Resilience (CCHPR) Index for evaluating the resilience capacity to coastal communities from various protection schemes and demonstrates the use of this Index for an urban beach in San Francisco, CA, USA. © 2015 The Author(s).

  13. Predicting impact of SLR on coastal flooding in Banda Aceh coastal defences

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Al'ala, Musa; Syamsidik, Kato, Shigeru

    2017-10-01

    Banda Aceh is a low-lying city located at the northern tip of Sumatra Island and situated at the conjuncture of Malacca Strait and the Andaman Sea. A Sea Level Rise (SLR) rate at 7 mm/year has been observed around this region. In the next 50 years, this city will face a serious challenge to encounter impacts of the sea level rise, such as frequent coastal floodings. This study is aimed at estimating impacts of the sea level rise induced coastal floodings on several types of coastal structures and city drainage system. Numerical simulations of Delft3D were applied to investigate the influence of the gradual sea level rise in 50 years. The hydrodynamic process of coastal flooding and sediment transport were simulated by Delft3D-Flow. Topography and bathymetry data were collected from GEBCO and updated with the available nautical chart (DISHIDROS, JICA, and field measurements). Hydrodynamic process gains the flow process revealing the level of the sea water intrusion also observed in the model. Main rivers (Krueng Aceh, Krueng Neng, and Alue Naga Flood Canal) and the drainage system were observed to see the tides effects on coastal structures and drainage system. The impact on coastal community focusing on affected area, shoreline retreat, the rate of sea intrusion was analyzed with spatial tools. New coastal line, coastal flooding vulnerable area, and the community susceptibility properties map influenced by 50 years sea level rise is produced. This research found that the city needs to address strategies to anticipate the exacerbating impacts of the sea level rise by managing its coastal spatial planning and modify its drainage system, especially at the drainage outlets.

  14. Bubble Stripping as a Tool to Reduce High Dissolved CO2 in Coastal Marine Ecosystems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Koweek, D.; Mucciarone, D. A.; Dunbar, R. B.

    2016-02-01

    High dissolved CO2 concentrations in coastal ecosystems are a common occurrence due to a combination of large ecosystem metabolism and long residence times. Many of the socially, commercially, and recreationally important species may have adapted to this natural variability over time. However, eutrophication and ocean acidification may be perturbing the water chemistry beyond the bounds of tolerance for these organisms. We are currently limited in our ability to deal with the geochemical changes unfolding in our coastal ocean. This study helps to address this deficit of solutions by introducing bubble stripping as a novel geochemical engineering approach to reducing high CO2 in coastal marine ecosystems. We use an empirically validated numerical model to find that air/sea gas exchange rates within a bubbled system are 1-2 orders of magnitude higher than within a non-bubbled system. By coupling bubbling-enhanced ventilation to a coastal ecosystem metabolism model, we demonstrate that strategically timed bubble plumes can mitigate exposure to high CO2 under present-day conditions and that exposure mitigation is enhanced in the more acidic conditions predicted by the end of the century. The Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change emphasizes the need to both adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change and ocean acidification. We believe shallow water bubble stripping could be one approach for reducing high CO2 conditions in coastal ecosystems and should be added to the growing list of engineering approaches intended to increase coastal resilience in a changing ocean.

  15. On the significance of incorporating shoreline changes for evaluating coastal hydrodynamics under sea level rise scenarios

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Passeri, D.; Hagen, S. C.; Medeiros, S. C.

    2013-12-01

    Sea level rise (SLR) threatens coastal environments with loss of land, inundation of coastal wetlands, and increased flooding during extreme storm events. Research has shown that SLR is a major factor in the long-term, gradual retreat of shorelines (Fitzgerald et al., 2008). Along sandy shorelines, retreat has a more dynamic effect than just inundation due to rising water levels, including the physical process of erosion in which sand is removed from the shoreface and deposited offshore. This has the potential to affect ecological habitats as well as coastal communities. Although SLR induces seaward retreat of shorelines, many shorelines especially within the vicinity of inlets may experience accretion due to sediment trapping or beach replenishment (Aubrey and Giese, 1993, Browder and R.G., 1999). This study examines the influence of including projected shoreline changes under future sea states into hydrodynamic modeling within the Northern Gulf of Mexico (NGOM). The NGOM coastline is an economically and ecologically significant area, comprised of various bays, barrier islands and mainland beaches. Projected shorelines and nearshore morphology for the year 2050 are derived from the Coastal Vulnerability Index (CVI) shoreline change rates (Thieler and Hammer-Klose, 1999) and used in conjunction with the 'Bruun Rule effect'(Bruun, 1962). A large scale hydrodynamic model forced by astronomic tides and hurricane winds and pressures is used to simulate present conditions, a high projection of the 2050 sea state (18 in of SLR in accordance with Parris et al. (2012)) and the 2050 high sea state with 2050 shorelines to test the sensitivity of the system to the projected shoreline changes. Results show that shoreline changes coupled with sea level rise increases tidal inundation along shorelines, amplifies overtopping of barrier islands during storm surge events, and heightens inland storm surge inundation. It is critical to include estimates of shoreline and barrier

  16. Set-up and validation of a Delft-FEWS based coastal hazard forecasting system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Valchev, Nikolay; Eftimova, Petya; Andreeva, Nataliya

    2017-04-01

    European coasts are increasingly threatened by hazards related to low-probability and high-impact hydro-meteorological events. Uncertainties in hazard prediction and capabilities to cope with their impact lie in both future storm pattern and increasing coastal development. Therefore, adaptation to future conditions requires a re-evaluation of coastal disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategies and introduction of a more efficient mix of prevention, mitigation and preparedness measures. The latter presumes that development of tools, which can manage the complex process of merging data and models and generate products on the current and expected hydro-and morpho-dynamic states of the coasts, such as forecasting system of flooding and erosion hazards at vulnerable coastal locations (hotspots), is of vital importance. Output of such system can be of an utmost value for coastal stakeholders and the entire coastal community. In response to these challenges, Delft-FEWS provides a state-of-the-art framework for implementation of such system with vast capabilities to trigger the early warning process. In addition, this framework is highly customizable to the specific requirements of any individual coastal hotspot. Since its release many Delft-FEWS based forecasting system related to inland flooding have been developed. However, limited number of coastal applications was implemented. In this paper, a set-up of Delft-FEWS based forecasting system for Varna Bay (Bulgaria) and a coastal hotspot, which includes a sandy beach and port infrastructure, is presented. It is implemented in the frame of RISC-KIT project (Resilience-Increasing Strategies for Coasts - toolKIT). The system output generated in hindcast mode is validated with available observations of surge levels, wave and morphodynamic parameters for a sequence of three short-duration and relatively weak storm events occurred during February 4-12, 2015. Generally, the models' performance is considered as very good and

  17. Proceedings of a Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning Workshop for the Western United States

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Thorsteinson, Lyman; Hirsch, Derrick; Helweg, David; Dhanju, Amardeep; Barmenski, Joan; Ferrero, Richard

    2011-01-01

    Recent scientific and ocean policy assessments demonstrate that a fundamental change in our current management system is required to achieve the long-term health of our ocean, coasts, and Great Lakes in order to sustain the services and benefits they provide to society. The present (2011) species- and sector-centric way we manage these ecosystems cannot account properly for cumulative effects, sustaining multiple ecosystem services, and holistically and explicitly evaluating the tradeoffs associated with proposed alternative and multiple human uses. A transition to an ecosystem-based approach to management and conservation of coastal and marine resources is needed. Competing uses and activities such as commerce, recreation, cultural practices, energy development, conservation, and national security are increasing pressure for new and expanded resource usage in coastal marine ecosystems. Current management efforts use a sector-by-sector approach that mostly focuses on a limited range of tools and outcomes [for example, oil and gas leases, fishery management plans, and Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)]. A comprehensive, ecosystem-based, and proactive approach to planning and managing these uses and activities is needed. Further, scientific understanding and information are essential to achieve an integrated decision-making process that includes knowledge of ecosystem services, existing and possible future conditions, and potential consequences of natural and anthropogenic events. Because no single government agency has executive authority for coastal or ocean resources, conflicting objectives around competing uses abound. In recent years, regional- and state-level initiatives in Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning (CMSP) have emerged to coordinate management activities. In some respects, the components and steps of the overall CMSP process are similar to how existing ocean resources are regulated and managed. For example, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Regulation

  18. Exploring Techniques for Improving Retrievals of Bio-optical Properties of Coastal Waters

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2011-09-30

    BRDF model was developed for coastal waters, and validated on the data of the two LISCO instruments, and its comparison with MODIS satellite imagery...in field conditions to validate radiative transfer modeling and assess possibilities for the separation of organic and inorganic particulate...to retrieve water components and compared with NOMAD and field CCNY data. Simulated datasets were also used to develop a BRDF model for coastal

  19. Model Improvement by Assimilating Observations of Storm-Induced Coastal Change

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Long, J. W.; Plant, N. G.; Sopkin, K.

    2010-12-01

    Discrete, large scale, meteorological events such as hurricanes can cause wide-spread destruction of coastal islands, habitats, and infrastructure. The effects can vary significantly along the coast depending on the configuration of the coastline, variable dune elevations, changes in geomorphology (sandy beach vs. marshland), and alongshore variations in storm hydrodynamic forcing. There are two primary methods of determining the changing state of a coastal system. Process-based numerical models provide highly resolved (in space and time) representations of the dominant dynamics in a physical system but must employ certain parameterizations due to computational limitations. The predictive capability may also suffer from the lack of reliable initial or boundary conditions. On the other hand, observations of coastal topography before and after the storm allow the direct quantification of cumulative storm impacts. Unfortunately these measurements suffer from instrument noise and a lack of necessary temporal resolution. This research focuses on the combination of these two pieces of information to make more reliable forecasts of storm-induced coastal change. Of primary importance is the development of a data assimilation strategy that is efficient, applicable for use with highly nonlinear models, and able to quantify the remaining forecast uncertainty based on the reliability of each individual piece of information used in the assimilation process. We concentrate on an event time-scale and estimate/update unobserved model information (boundary conditions, free parameters, etc.) by assimilating direct observations of coastal change with those simulated by the model. The data assimilation can help estimate spatially varying quantities (e.g. friction coefficients) that are often modeled as homogeneous and identify processes inadequately characterized in the model.

  20. Formulating a coastal zone health metric for landuse impact management in urban coastal zones.

    PubMed

    Anilkumar, P P; Varghese, Koshy; Ganesh, L S

    2010-11-01

    The need for ICZM arises often due to inadequate or inappropriate landuse planning practices and policies, especially in urban coastal zones which are more complex due to the larger number of components, their critical dimensions, attributes and interactions. A survey of literature shows that there is no holistic metric for assessing the impacts of landuse planning on the health of a coastal zone. Thus there is a need to define such a metric. The proposed metric, CHI (Coastal zone Health Indicator), developed on the basis of coastal system sustainability, attempts to gauge the health status of any coastal zone. It is formulated and modeled through an expert survey and pertains to the characteristic components of coastal zones, their critical dimensions, and relevant attributes. The proposed metric is applied to two urban coastal zones and validated. It can be used for more coast friendly and sustainable landuse planning/masterplan preparation and thereby for the better management of landuse impacts on coastal zones. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.