Remote Sensing Coastal Change
Science Center Objects
We use remote-sensing technologies—such as aerial photography, satellite imagery, and lidar (laser-based surveying)—to measure coastal change along U.S. shorelines.
Quantifying coastal change is essential for calculating trends in erosion, evaluating processes that shape coastal landscapes, and predicting how the coast will respond to future storms and sea-level rise, all critical for U.S. coastal communities.
Rapid developments have occurred in remote-sensing technologies during the 21st century. With our collaborators in and beyond the Department of the Interior, we seek to apply these technologies in innovative ways to advance understanding of coastal systems and their hazards.
Using video imagery to study coastal change
Currently, video cameras are installed:
- atop the Dream Inn hotel in Santa Cruz, California, overlooking the coast in northern Monterey Bay;
- at Sunset State Beach in Santa Cruz, California, overlooking the coast in northern Monterey Bay;
- atop a building overlooking the coast at Isla Verde in San Juan, Puerto Rico;
- atop a windmill tower in Unalakleet, Alaska, overlooking Norton Sound; and
- along a beach on Whidbey Island, Washington at the northern boundary of Puget Sound.
USGS researchers analyze the imagery and video collected from these cameras in order to remotely sense a range of processes, which include shoreline position, sandbar migration, rip-channel formation, wave run-up on the beach, alongshore current, and nearshore bathymetry.
USGS plans to install similar systems in other remote locations. The knowledge gained will improve computer-derived simulations of coastal flooding and shoreline change that communities can use to plan for sea-level rise, changing storm patterns, and other threats to beaches.
The Mud Creek landslide on California’s Big Sur coast
On May 20, 2017, the steep slopes at Mud Creek on California’s Big Sur coast, about 140 miles south of San Francisco, suffered a catastrophic collapse. USGS Scientists from the Pacific Coastal and Marine and the Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Centers are monitoring this section of the coastline, in collaboration with the California Department of Transportation.
USGS air photo of the Mud Creek landslide, taken on May 27, 2017.
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Date published: April 25, 2019Status: ActiveUsing Video Imagery to Study Coastal Change: Santa Cruz Beaches
Two video cameras atop the Dream Inn hotel in Santa Cruz, California, overlook the coast in northern Monterey Bay. Camera 1 looks eastward over Santa Cruz Main Beach and boardwalk, while Camera 2 looks southward over Cowells Beach. The cameras are part of the Remote Sensing Coastal Change project.
Contacts: Shawn R HarrisonAttribution: Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center -
Date published: April 25, 2019Status: ActiveUsing Video Imagery to Study Coastal Change: Whidbey Island
Video cameras overlook the coast along a beach on Whidbey Island, Island County at the northern boundary of Puget Sound in western Washington.
Contacts: Shawn R Harrison, Eric GrossmanAttribution: Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center -
Date published: April 25, 2019Status: ActiveUsing Video Imagery to Study Wave Dynamics: Isla Verde
Four video cameras overlook the coast at Isla Verde in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Two of them focus on the shoreline: Camera 1 looks at the nearby beach and eastward along the shore, and Camera 2 looks farther away to the eastern end of the beach. The other two look out across the reefs: Camera 3 to the north-northwest, and Camera 4 to the northeast.
Contacts: Curt Storlazzi, Shawn R HarrisonAttribution: Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center -
Date published: April 25, 2019Status: ActiveUsing Video Imagery to Study Coastal Change: Sunset State Beach
Two video cameras overlook the coast at Sunset State Beach in Watsonville, California. Camera 1 looks northwest while Camera 2 looks north. The cameras are part of the Remote Sensing Coastal Change project.
Contacts: Shawn R HarrisonAttribution: Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center -
Date published: April 25, 2019Status: ActiveUsing Video Imagery to Study Wave Dynamics: Unalakleet
Two video cameras overlook the coast from atop a windmill tower in Unalakleet, Alaska where they look westward over Norton Sound.
Contacts: Shawn R HarrisonAttribution: Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center -
Date published: December 7, 2017Status: ActiveThe Mud Creek landslide on California’s Big Sur coast
On May 20, 2017, the steep slopes at Mud Creek on California’s Big Sur coast, about 140 miles south of San Francisco, suffered a catastrophic collapse. USGS Scientists from the Pacific Coastal and Marine and the Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Centers are monitoring this section of the coastline, in collaboration with the California Department of Transportation.
Attribution: Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
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Date published: November 8, 2017Eyes on the Coast—Video Cameras Help Forecast Coastal Change
Coastal communities count on beaches for recreation and for protection from large waves, but beaches are vulnerable to threats such as erosion by storms and flooding. Whether beaches grow, shrink, or even disappear depends in part on what happens just offshore. How do features like shifting sandbars affect waves, currents, and the movement of sand from the beach to offshore and back?
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Date published: November 29, 2018Studying flood hazards in San Juan, Puerto Rico
USGS scientists from Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, along with with NOAA, the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, and Arrecifes Pro Ciudad, are using video imagery and wave measurements to study flood hazards in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
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Date published: September 12, 2018USGS coastal flood maps assist emergency planning for Hurricane Lane
As Hurricane Lane approached Hawaiʻi, personnel in the Honolulu Emergency Operations Center on Oahu contacted Curt Storlazzi of the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center to ask for information on potential coastal flooding that could help them direct emergency-management services to areas of higher risk.
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Date published: September 7, 2018Hurricane Maria’s impacts on deep-water coral reefs off Puerto Rico
USGS research geologist Curt Storlazzi was quoted in an August 22 Nature news article about Hurricane Maria’s effects on deep-water coral reefs off Puerto Rico.
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Date published: July 18, 2018Time-lapse view of California Highway 1 reconstruction after 2017 landslide
USGS scientists produced an animated GIF in coordination with the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) re-opening of State Highway 1 through Big Sur on July 18, 2018.
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Date published: May 30, 2018Video cameras monitor coastal change on Whidbey Island, Washington
Video cameras installed by the USGS Remote Sensing Coastal Change project overlook the coast on Whidbey Island, Washington, about 25 miles north of Seattle.
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Date published: November 15, 2017LA Times story about Big Sur landslide features quotes, imagery from USGS
USGS geologists Jon Warrick (Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center) and Kevin Schmidt (Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center) are quoted in a November 9 Los Angeles Times story titled “Highway 1 was buried under a massive landslide. Months later, engineers battle Mother Nature to fix it...
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Date published: November 6, 2017Video shot from drones yields details about changing landslide on California’s Big Sur coast
On October 12, USGS drones collected video footage of the Mud Creek landslide, which buried California State Highway 1 under a third-of-a-mile-wide mass of rock and dirt on May 20.
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Date published: July 14, 2017USGS maps underwater part of Big Sur landslide at Mud Creek
Scientists from the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center mapped the offshore extent of the Mud Creek landslide on California’s Big Sur coast on July 11, 2017.
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Date published: July 11, 2017Huge landslide on California’s Big Sur coast continues to change
The Mud Creek landslide on California’s Big Sur coast keeps eroding.
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Date published: June 15, 2017New Land Created by Slide on Big Sur Coast is Eroding
USGS analysis of air photos collected June 13 shows that new land created by a May 20 landslide on California’s Big Sur coast is eroding.
Attribution: Natural Hazards, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center