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 at these locations:
- Dream Inn hotel in Santa Cruz, California;
- Sunset State Beach in Santa Cruz, California;
- Tres Palmas in Rincón, Puerto Rico;
- Unalakleet, Alaska; and
- Whidbey Island, Washington.
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: July 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. One camera looks eastward over Santa Cruz Main Beach and boardwalk, while the other looks southward over Cowells Beach. The cameras are part of the Remote Sensing Coastal Change project.
Contacts: Jonathan Warrick -
Date published: July 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: Jonathan Warrick -
Date published: July 14, 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: Eric Grossman -
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 -
Date published: July 22, 2019Status: CompletedUsing Video Imagery to Study Wave Dynamics: Isla Verde
USGS scientists installed video cameras atop a building and oceanographic instruments off San Juan, Puerto Rico, to better understand how waves move across coral reefs and cause flooding on tropical shorelines.
Contacts: Curt StorlazziAttribution: Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center -
Date published: August 28, 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: Ann Gibbs, Li Erikson
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Year Published: 2019Characterizing the catastrophic 2017 Mud Creek Landslide, California, using repeat Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetry
Along the rugged coast of Big Sur, California, the Mud Creek landslide failed catastrophically on May 20, 2017 and destroyed over 400 m of scenic California State Highway 1. We collected structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry data using airborne platforms that, when combined with existing airborne lidar data, revealed that the area exhibited...
Warrick, Jonathan A.; Ritchie, Andrew C.; Reid, Mark E.; Schmidt, Kevin M.; Logan, Joshua B.Attribution: Coasts, Geology, Mapping, Remote Sensing, and Geospatial Data, Natural Hazards, Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Natural Hazards, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Landslide Hazards, California, United States of America, Big Sur Landslide
Decadal-scale analysis of coastal landslides along the Big Sur coast: rates and processes
Hapke, Cheryl J.; Green, Krystal R.
Rates of landsliding and cliff retreat along the Big Sur Coast, California--measuring a crucial baseline
Hapke, Cheryl J.; Green, Krystal R. Map showing coastal cliff retreat rates along the Big Sur coast, Monterey and San Luis Obispo Counties, California
The average coastal cliff retreat rate along the Big Sur coast is 18 ? 6 cm/yr as measured over a 52-year time period. The erosion reference features measured as the cliff edge include the well-defined cliff edges common to marine terraces, slight breaks in the slope defining the upper edge of the active lower slope, and the road grade. Cliff...
Hapke, Cheryl J.; Green, Krystal R. Maps showing estimated sediment yield from coastal landslides and active slope distribution along the Big Sur coast, Monterey and San Luis Obispo Counties, California
The 1982-83 and 1997-98 El Ni?os brought very high precipitation to California?s central coast; this precipitation resulted in raised groundwater levels, coastal flooding, and destabilized slopes throughout the region. Large landslides in the coastal mountains of Big Sur in Monterey and San Luis Obispo Counties blocked sections of California State...
Hapke, Cheryl J.; Green, Krystal R.; Dallas, Kate Beach systems: sediment yield from Big Sur coastal landslides
No abstract available.
Hapke, Cheryl-
Date published: March 18, 2019Topographic point clouds for the Mud Creek landslide, Big Sur, California from structure-from-motion photogrammetry from aerial photographs
This data release contains structure-from-motion (SfM) point-cloud data from aerial surveys conducted over the Mud Creek landslide on Big Sur from 1967-2018. Data sources include scanned aerial photographs, digital images collected from fixed-wing aircraft, and digital images collected from multirotor UAS.
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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 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, 2017
Huge 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 1, 2017USGS maps, measures huge landslide on California's Big Sur coast
USGS scientists analyzing before-and-after air photos have calculated the size of the May 20 landslide on California’s Big Sur coast, about 140 miles south of San Francisco.
Attribution: Natural Hazards, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center -
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 -
Date published: May 27, 2017USGS helping to monitor and assess huge Big Sur landslide
USGS is collecting and analyzing air photos to help monitor a huge landslide that occurred May 20 on California’s Big Sur coast.
Attribution: Natural Hazards, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center -
Date published: October 21, 2016New Maps from Old Photos: Measuring Coastal Erosion
U.S. Geological Survey scientists and their coauthors from the California Coastal Records Project have found a way to use historical aerial photographs not just to see evidence of coastal erosion, but to accurately measure how much has occurred over time.
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Date published: August 1, 2005New USGS Fact Sheet About Landslides Delivering Slope Material to Nearshore Waters on California's Big Sur Coast
Landslides are common along the rugged Big Sur coast in central California
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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.