Coastal Science
Coastal Science
The NYWSC carries out multidisciplinary science activities across the State’s diverse coastal waters and landscapes on the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes, including the many interconnected waterways, the barrier beaches that form and erode continually, the open waterways that are prone to the effects of major storms and hurricanes, and upland surface-water and groundwater source areas. These areas are also some of the most productive ecosystems in the State and host most of the population and economic development of the State. As a result, the interplay of environmental- and human-health concerns is a prominent thread that connects much of the coastal science activities of the USGS and involves cooperation not only among science disciplines but also across the Nation and internationally. Major topics of study include nearshore environmental health (ecosystem health and water and sediment quality), beach and barrier dynamics, tide and wave hydrodynamics, wetlands, climate and land-use change, and flood hazards.
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Long Island Topography
The present landforms of Long Island are the result of many geologic processes, some of which began many millions of years ago and some of which began only recently. Most of the major features of the present-day topography, however, are related to the last glaciation, which ended approximately 22,000 years ago.
Long Island Fresh and Saltwater Relations/Interactions
Because saltwater has a greater density than freshwater, fresh groundwater in coastal aquifers will overlie any saltwater that is present in the aquifer at depth (Figure 14).
Long Island State of the Aquifer System
One of the most important concepts to understand is that volumes of water pumped from a groundwater system must come from somewhere and must cause a change in the groundwater system. Another important concept is that water table aquifers are hydraulically connected to the streams that drain them. Therefore, pumping water from aquifers that are hydraulically connected with surface-water bodies can...
Long Island Water Availability
The foundation of any groundwater analysis, including those analyses whose objective is to propose and evaluate alternative management strategies, is the availability of high-quality data. Some, such as precipitation data, are generally available and relatively easy to obtain at the time of a hydrologic analysis. Other data and information, such as geologic and hydrogeologic maps, can require...
Long Island Groundwater System Potential Hazards
Hazards which may impact the ground water system adversely are presented in this web page. The impacts of these hazards are only shown here as a topic for further discussion and may need to be investigated with further details.
State of the Aquifer, Long Island, New York
Groundwater is among the Nation's most important natural resources. Nationwide it provides half of our drinking water and is essential to the vitality of agriculture and industry, as well as to the health of rivers, wetlands, and estuaries throughout the country. On Long Island groundwater is the sole source of fresh water for over 2.6 million people.
New York Water Science Center Data Program
Objective: The USGS New York Water Science Center (NYWSC) works with other Federal agencies as well as with State, municipal, and tribal agencies to provide research and data about water-related issues. Relevance and Impact: The NYWSC leads the scientific and water-resources management communities by providing high-quality, timely, and unbiased scientific data, reports, and other information that
Coastal Storm Response Surge, Wave, and Tide Hydrodynamics Network (SWaTH)
Following Hurricane Sandy, the USGS began construction of an overland Surge, Wave, and Tide Hydrodynamics (SWaTH) Network along the Northeastern Atlantic Coast from North Carolina to Maine. This network, developed collaboratively with numerous partners, features the integration of long-term tide gage networks, with real-time rapid-deployment gages (RDG) and mobile storm-tide sensors (STS). An elem
South Shore Estuary Reserve Total Maximum Daily Load Monitoring
Introduction Ongoing efforts to improve the health of New York's South Shore Estuary Reserve (SSER) require continuously recorded water-quality data to understand the short-term effects of stormwater runoff and other pollution sources. To document the diel and tidal variability of water quality in the western bays of the SSER, the USGS monitors select physical and chemical parameters at
Water Resources of Monroe County, New York
In 1979, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) entered into a cooperative agreement with Monroe County (MC), which, over the span of more than three decades, has resulted in more than 30 reports that have summarized flow and water-quality data at sites in Monroe County and have presented the results of investigations of particular water-related issues that existed in the County. The collaborative rela
Sediment-bound Contaminant Resiliency and Response (SCoRR) Strategy
The U.S. Geological Survey's Strategy to Evaluate Persistent Contaminant Hazards Resulting from Sea Level Rise and Storm-derived Disturbances SCoRR: Sediment-bound Contaminant Resiliency and Response Strategy Project Page Natural and anthropogenic contaminants, pathogens, and viruses are found in soils and sediments throughout the United States. Enhanced dispersion and concentration of these
Long Island-New Jersey (LINJ) Coastal Drainages Study -- Land Use Study (NY)
Background The Long Island-New Jersey (LINJ) coastal drainages NAWQA study is one of the 1994 set and is coordinated from our West Trenton, NJ office. Tasks for the first two years, 1994-95, included staffing, developing a liaison process, analyzing existing data, and designing a data collection program that started in 1996. These planning activities lead to the study design for 3 years of inte