Using Video Imagery to Study Coastal Change: Santa Cruz Beaches
Science Center Objects
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.
Every half hour during daylight hours, the cameras collect snapshots and video for 10 minutes. Today’s most recent images are shown below. Please note that it takes 10 minutes for the images to be posted, once they are collected by the camera.
Currently, video cameras are installed at these locations:
- Unalakleet, Alaska
- Dream Inn hotel in Santa Cruz, California
- Sunset State Beach in Santa Cruz, California
- Head of the Meadow Beach, Massachusetts
- Tres Palmas in Rincón, Puerto Rico
These and other images are used to remotely sense a range of processes, including:
- shoreline position,
- sandbar migration,
- rip-channel formation,
- wave run-up on the beach,
- alongshore current, and
- nearshore bathymetry.
Please note: If old photos are displayed, cameras may be temporarily offline.
Snapshots
The snapshot is the first frame of the video, just like a standard photo.
Main Beach Snapshot, looking eastward
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Cowells Beach Snapshot, looking southward
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Timex (time-exposure) images
A timex is a time-averaged image of all frames, smoothing away surface waves and determining the location of persistent wave-breaking (indicative of shallow sandbars).
Main Beach Timex, looking eastward
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Cowells Beach Timex, looking southward
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Variance images
A “variance” image shows the standard deviation of pixel intensity throughout the video, and it is useful for determining how much variation or movement is occurring at a given location.
Main Beach Variance Image, looking eastward
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Cowells Beach Variance Image, looking southward
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Bright images
A “bright” image shows the brightest pixel values throughout the video, useful for identifying the position of maximum wave run-up on the beach, position of all breaking waves, and sea-state.
Main Beach Bright Image, looking eastward
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Cowells Beach Bright Image, looking southward
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Dark images
A “dark” image shows the darkest pixel values throughout the video, useful for tracking sediment plumes, tracking floating debris, and filtering out breaking waves.
Main Beach Dark Image, looking eastward
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Cowells Beach Dark Image, looking southward
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USGS ocean engineer Gerry Hatcher (left) and USGS postdoctoral oceanographer Shawn Harrison make adjustments to a computer controlling two video cameras on the roof of the Dream Inn, a 10-story hotel overlooking Monterey Bay in Santa Cruz, California.
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Date published: March 2, 2020Status: 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: February 25, 2020Status: ActiveUsing Video Imagery to Study Wave Dynamics: Tres Palmas
Four video cameras look westward over the coast and the coral reef at Tres Palmas in Rincón, on the west coast of Puerto Rico. Two cameras look out at the horizon and over the ocean for the mid-field view; one camera offers a zoomed-in, far-field view overlooking the reef and out to the island of Desecheo, a U.S. National Wildlife Refuge; and another camera focuses on the beach.
Contacts: Curt Storlazzi, PhD, Miguel Canals-Silander, Patricia Chardon Maldonado -
Date published: January 30, 2020Status: 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 -
Date published: January 30, 2020Status: ActiveUsing Video Imagery to Study Coastal Change: Whidbey Island
From May of 2018 through November of 2019, USGS scientists collected imagery from video cameras overlooking 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 16, 2019Status: ActiveCoastal Climate Impacts
The impacts of climate change and sea-level rise around the Pacific and Arctic Oceans can vary tremendously. Thus far the vast majority of national and international impact assessments and models of coastal climate change have focused on low-relief coastlines that are not near seismically active zones. Furthermore, the degree to which extreme waves and wind will add further stress to coastal...
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Date published: December 13, 2019Status: ActiveUsing Video Imagery to Study Head of the Meadow Beach
Two video cameras are mounted on a bluff near Head of the Meadow Beach, Cape Cod National Seashore, North Truro, MA. One camera looks alongshore toward the north-northeast, and the second looks directly offshore (northeast). The cameras are part of a U.S. Geological Survey research project to study the beach and nearshore environment shared by beachgoers, shorebirds, seals, and sharks. The...
Contacts: Christopher Sherwood, PhD -
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 Storlazzi, PhD -
Date published: April 1, 2019Status: CompletedUsing Video Imagery to Study Coastal Change: Barter Island, Alaska
For a short study period, two video cameras overlooked the coast from atop the coastal bluff of Barter Island in northern Alaska. The purpose was to observe and quantify coastal processes such as wave run-up, development of rip channels, bluff erosion, and movement of sandbars and ice floes.
Read more about our Arctic research projects:
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Attribution: Region 11: Alaska, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center -
Date published: March 29, 2018Status: ActiveClimate check in our Santa Cruz backyard
For a beach town like Santa Cruz, preserving beaches by mitigating coastal erosion is vital. Surveys conducted now and regularly in the future will help scientists understand the short- and long-term impacts of climate change, El Niño years, and sea-level rise on a populated and vulnerable coastline.
Contacts: Patrick Barnard, Jonathan WarrickAttribution: 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?