The goal of the estuarine shoreline change project is to define shoreline positions for historical and modern wetland shorelines and calculate rates of change along the U.S. East and Gulf coasts.
Overview:
Coastal wetlands serve as buffer zones between marine and terrestrial environments that protect upland environments and inland communities from waves, storms, sea level rise, and episodic flooding. Wetlands also provide habitat for commercially and ecologically important species, are an important component of global carbon budgets and are popular destinations for recreational activities like hunting, fishing, and hiking. Many coastal wetlands are in ecologically and economically important estuaries and are at severe risk to habitat loss from increasing urbanization, climate change, sea level rise, and storms.
As sea level rises, coastal wetlands can maintain area by accreting vertically by accumulating sediment or organic matter resulting in elevation gain and/or migrating horizontally toward the upland by converting upland forests to wetlands (also known as upland transgression). Shoreline change, also called the linear regression rate (LRR), is calculated using the slope of the linear trend between three or more shoreline positions over time. Shoreline change rates can be used for evaluating living shoreline resources, decision-making for future resource planning, and restoration planning for both protected and open-ocean shorelines. Shoreline change rates, upland transgression, and vertical accretion are critical components for long-term marsh development and evaluating whether wetland habitats will persist under rising sea level or result in habitat loss. In addition, tropical storms impact coastal wetlands by changing the rate of shoreline erosion and vertical accretion. Evaluating both short- and long-term coastal hazards are critical steps in the coastal management and planning process.
In the past, shoreline change research has focused primarily on sandy beach shorelines, however understanding wetland shoreline change is equally as important due the diverse estuarine habitats at risk from habitat loss and expanding coastal communities under increasing threat from sea level rise and storms. This information can also be used for making decisions regarding living shoreline projects, protected species habitat management, land-use planning, and coastal restoration. For more information on the importance of, and the methodology used to study shoreline change, see the USGS National Shoreline Change geonarrative.
Project tasks:
- Derive shorelines from historical and modern sources with a focus on estuarine and wetland shorelines. Sources for shorelines include:
- Topographic sheets (t-sheets)
- Aerial imagery
- Satellite imagery
- Light detection and ranging (LIDAR)
- Field derived global positioning system (GPS) data
- Calculate shoreline change rates
- Develop novel remote sensing techniques to map wetland and estuarine shoreline position
Explore the diverse array of CCH projects:
- Coastal Climate Impacts
- Geologic Mapping
- Coastal National Elevation Database Applications Project
- Coastal Alaska Processes and Hazards
- Estuarine Processes, Hazards, and Ecosystems
- Coastal Habitats in Puget Sound 2.0
- Biogeochemical Drivers of Wetland Persistence and Feedbacks on Coastal Hazards
- Sediment Transport Coastal Environments
- Sea-Level Rise Hazards and Decision Support
- Coastal Sediment Availability and Flux Project
- National Assessment of Coastal Change Hazards
- Coastal Model Applications and Field Measurements
- Estuarine and Marsh Geology Research Project
- Past, Present, and Future Coral Reefs
- Cross-Shore and Inlets Processes Project
- Remote Sensing Coastal Change
- Geologic and Morphologic Evolution of Coastal Margins
- Barrier Island Comprehensive Monitoring
Read more about related science:
Estuarine and MaRsh Geology Research Project
Remote Sensing Coastal Change
Sediment Transport in Coastal Environments
Coral Reef Project
Coastal Climate Impacts
Coastal Habitats in Puget Sound
Climate impacts to Arctic coasts
Coastal Sediment Availability and Flux (CSAF)
Sea-Level Rise Hazards and Decision Support
National Assessment of Coastal Change Hazards
Climate impacts to Arctic coasts, recent activities
Estuarine Processes, Hazards, and Ecosystems
Geologic Mapping of the Massachusetts Seafloor
Historical Shorelines for Fire Island and Great South Bay, New York (1834 to 1875): Georeferenced Topographic Sheets and Vector Digital Data
Shoreline Change Analysis for the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Mississippi Alabama: 1848 to 2017
Shoreline Change Analysis of Coastal and Estuarine Shorelines in Barnegat and Great Bays, NJ: 1839 to 2012
A GIS Compilation of Vector Shorelines and Associated Shoreline Change Data for Breton Island, Louisiana: 1869-2014
Coastal wetland shoreline change monitoring: A comparison of shorelines from high-resolution WorldView satellite imagery, aerial imagery, and field surveys
Analysis of shoreline and geomorphic change for Breton Island, Louisiana, from 1869 to 2014
Links to U.S. Geological Survey geonarratives showing estuarine shorelines and rates of change for three study areas are below.
New study from SPCMSC compares wetland shoreline change analysis methods
SPCMSC Research Ecologist Kathryn Smith and team publish a new paper, “Coastal Wetland Shoreline Change Monitoring: A Comparison of Shorelines from High-Resolution WorldView Satellite Imagery, Aerial Imagery, and Field Surveys”
- Overview
The goal of the estuarine shoreline change project is to define shoreline positions for historical and modern wetland shorelines and calculate rates of change along the U.S. East and Gulf coasts.
Overview:
Coastal wetlands serve as buffer zones between marine and terrestrial environments that protect upland environments and inland communities from waves, storms, sea level rise, and episodic flooding. Wetlands also provide habitat for commercially and ecologically important species, are an important component of global carbon budgets and are popular destinations for recreational activities like hunting, fishing, and hiking. Many coastal wetlands are in ecologically and economically important estuaries and are at severe risk to habitat loss from increasing urbanization, climate change, sea level rise, and storms.
Marsh shoreline inundation during high tide north of a marsh sampling site around Middle Bay in the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Mississippi. As sea level rises, coastal wetlands can maintain area by accreting vertically by accumulating sediment or organic matter resulting in elevation gain and/or migrating horizontally toward the upland by converting upland forests to wetlands (also known as upland transgression). Shoreline change, also called the linear regression rate (LRR), is calculated using the slope of the linear trend between three or more shoreline positions over time. Shoreline change rates can be used for evaluating living shoreline resources, decision-making for future resource planning, and restoration planning for both protected and open-ocean shorelines. Shoreline change rates, upland transgression, and vertical accretion are critical components for long-term marsh development and evaluating whether wetland habitats will persist under rising sea level or result in habitat loss. In addition, tropical storms impact coastal wetlands by changing the rate of shoreline erosion and vertical accretion. Evaluating both short- and long-term coastal hazards are critical steps in the coastal management and planning process.
In the past, shoreline change research has focused primarily on sandy beach shorelines, however understanding wetland shoreline change is equally as important due the diverse estuarine habitats at risk from habitat loss and expanding coastal communities under increasing threat from sea level rise and storms. This information can also be used for making decisions regarding living shoreline projects, protected species habitat management, land-use planning, and coastal restoration. For more information on the importance of, and the methodology used to study shoreline change, see the USGS National Shoreline Change geonarrative.
Project tasks:
- Derive shorelines from historical and modern sources with a focus on estuarine and wetland shorelines. Sources for shorelines include:
- Topographic sheets (t-sheets)
- Aerial imagery
- Satellite imagery
- Light detection and ranging (LIDAR)
- Field derived global positioning system (GPS) data
- Calculate shoreline change rates
- Develop novel remote sensing techniques to map wetland and estuarine shoreline position
Explore the diverse array of CCH projects:
- Coastal Climate Impacts
- Geologic Mapping
- Coastal National Elevation Database Applications Project
- Coastal Alaska Processes and Hazards
- Estuarine Processes, Hazards, and Ecosystems
- Coastal Habitats in Puget Sound 2.0
- Biogeochemical Drivers of Wetland Persistence and Feedbacks on Coastal Hazards
- Sediment Transport Coastal Environments
- Sea-Level Rise Hazards and Decision Support
- Coastal Sediment Availability and Flux Project
- National Assessment of Coastal Change Hazards
- Coastal Model Applications and Field Measurements
- Estuarine and Marsh Geology Research Project
- Past, Present, and Future Coral Reefs
- Cross-Shore and Inlets Processes Project
- Remote Sensing Coastal Change
- Geologic and Morphologic Evolution of Coastal Margins
- Barrier Island Comprehensive Monitoring
- Science
Read more about related science:
Estuarine and MaRsh Geology Research Project
The goal of the Estuarine and MaRsh Geology (EMRG) Research Project is to study how and where short- and long-term marsh and estuarine coastal processes interact, how they influence coastal accretion or erosion, and how they pre-condition a marsh’s resiliency to storms, sea-level change, and human alterations along the northern Gulf of Mexico (Grand Bay and Point aux Chenes, Mississippi and St...Filter Total Items: 18Remote Sensing Coastal Change
We use remote-sensing technologies—such as aerial photography, satellite imagery, structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry, and lidar (laser-based surveying)—to measure coastal change along U.S. shorelines.Sediment Transport in Coastal Environments
Our research goals are to provide the scientific information, knowledge, and tools required to ensure that decisions about land and resource use, management practices, and future development in the coastal zone and adjacent watersheds can be evaluated with a complete understanding of the probable effects on coastal ecosystems and communities, and a full assessment of their vulnerability to natural...Coral Reef Project
Explore the fascinating undersea world of coral reefs. Learn how we map, monitor, and model coral reefs so we can better understand, protect, and preserve our Nation's reefs.Coastal 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...Coastal Habitats in Puget Sound
A Pacific Northwest icon, Puget Sound is the second-largest estuary in the United States. Its unique geology, climate, and nutrient-rich waters produce and sustain biologically productive coastal habitats. These same natural characteristics also contribute to a high quality of life that has led to growth in human population and urbanization. This growth has played a role in degrading the Sound...Climate impacts to Arctic coasts
The Arctic region is warming faster than anywhere else in the nation. Understanding the rates and causes of coastal change in Alaska is needed to identify and mitigate hazards that might affect people and animals that call Alaska home.Coastal Sediment Availability and Flux (CSAF)
Sediments are the foundation of coastal systems, including barrier islands. Their behavior is driven by not only sediment availability, but also sediment exchanges between barrier island environments. We collect geophysical, remote sensing, and sediment data to estimate these parameters, which are integrated with models to improve prediction of coastal response to extreme storms and sea-level rise...Sea-Level Rise Hazards and Decision Support
The Sea-Level Rise Hazards and Decision-Support project assesses present and future coastal vulnerability to provide actionable information for management of our Nation’s coasts. Through multidisciplinary research and collaborative partnerships with decision-makers, physical, biological, and social factors that describe landscape and habitat changes are incorporated in a probabilistic modeling...National Assessment of Coastal Change Hazards
The National Assessment of Coastal Change Hazards (NACCH) project develops hindcast, real-time, and forecast assessments of the magnitude or probability of coastal landscape change in response to persistent processes (e.g., shoreline change), extreme storms (e.g., Hurricane Sandy), and sea level rise. This effort depends on parallel collection of long- and short-term observations of coastal change...Climate impacts to Arctic coasts, recent activities
USGS activities related to the project, "Climate Impacts to Arctic Coasts."Estuarine Processes, Hazards, and Ecosystems
Estuarine processes, hazards, and ecosystems describes several interdisciplinary projects that aim to quantify and understand estuarine processes through observations and numerical modeling. Both the spatial and temporal scales of these mechanisms are important, and therefore require modern instrumentation and state-of-the-art hydrodynamic models. These projects are led from the U.S. Geological...Geologic Mapping of the Massachusetts Seafloor
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM) is conducting geologic mapping of the sea floor to characterize the surface and shallow subsurface geologic framework within the Massachusetts coastal zone. The long-term goal of this mapping effort is to produce high-resolution geologic maps and a Geographic Information System (GIS) that will... - Data
Historical Shorelines for Fire Island and Great South Bay, New York (1834 to 1875): Georeferenced Topographic Sheets and Vector Digital Data
Topographic sheets (t-sheets) produced by the National Ocean Service (NOS) during the 1800s provide the position of past shorelines. The shoreline data can be vectorized into a geographic information system (GIS) and compared to modern shoreline data to calculate estimates of long-term shoreline rates of change. Many t-sheets were scanned and digitized by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdminShoreline Change Analysis for the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Mississippi Alabama: 1848 to 2017
Throughout the northern Gulf of Mexico, marsh shorelines are eroding due to wave attack, sea-level rise and subsidence. Shoreline erosion results in net marsh loss when transgression rates at the marsh-water edge exceed upland-marsh migration. Coastal marsh serves important ecologic and economic functions, such as providing habitat, absorbing floodwaters and storm surges, and coastal carbon sequesShoreline Change Analysis of Coastal and Estuarine Shorelines in Barnegat and Great Bays, NJ: 1839 to 2012
Shoreline erosion is a significant issue for many coastal states, and as coastal populations continue to grow, these data will become increasingly important for managing coastal habitats and communities. The data presented here include compiled vectorized shorelines and transects with shoreline change rates for both estuarine and open-ocean shorelines in Barnegat and Great Bays, New Jersey. ShorelA GIS Compilation of Vector Shorelines and Associated Shoreline Change Data for Breton Island, Louisiana: 1869-2014
Many barrier islands in the United States are experiencing substantive erosion and elevation loss due to storm surge, waves, and sea-level changes; this is particularly true for the deltaic barrier system in Louisiana. Breton Island is located near the mouth of the Mississippi River in the southern end of the Chandeleur Island chain in southeast Louisiana. This report expands on previous geomorphi - Publications
Coastal wetland shoreline change monitoring: A comparison of shorelines from high-resolution WorldView satellite imagery, aerial imagery, and field surveys
Shoreline change analysis is an important environmental monitoring tool for evaluating coastal exposure to erosion hazards, particularly for vulnerable habitats such as coastal wetlands where habitat loss is problematic world-wide. The increasing availability of high-resolution satellite imagery and emerging developments in analysis techniques support the implementation of these data into shorelinAnalysis of shoreline and geomorphic change for Breton Island, Louisiana, from 1869 to 2014
Many barrier islands in the United States are eroding and losing elevation substantively because of storm surge, waves, and sea-level changes. This is particularly true for the deltaic barrier system in Louisiana. Breton Island is near the mouth of the Mississippi River at the southern end of the Chandeleur barrier island chain in southeast Louisiana. This report expands on previous geomorphic stu - Web Tools
Links to U.S. Geological Survey geonarratives showing estuarine shorelines and rates of change for three study areas are below.
- News
New study from SPCMSC compares wetland shoreline change analysis methods
SPCMSC Research Ecologist Kathryn Smith and team publish a new paper, “Coastal Wetland Shoreline Change Monitoring: A Comparison of Shorelines from High-Resolution WorldView Satellite Imagery, Aerial Imagery, and Field Surveys”