Seafloor Elevation Change From 2016 to 2017 at Looe Key, Florida Keys-Impacts From Hurricane Irma

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center conducted research to quantify bathymetric changes at Looe Key coral reef near Big Pine Key, Florida, within a 19.7 square-kilometer area following Hurricane Irma in September 2017. USGS staff used light detection and ranging (lidar)-derived data acquired by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) between July 21 and November 21, 2016 (NOAA OCM Partners, 2016) and USGS multibeam data collected between December 12 and December 17, 2017 (USGS, 2019) to assess change in seafloor elevation and structure that occurred after the passage of Hurricane Irma. An elevation change analysis between the 2016 NOAA lidar data and the 2017 multibeam data was performed to quantify and map impacts to seafloor elevation and to determine elevation and volume change statistics for ten habitat types found at Looe Key. Data were collected under Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary permit FKNMS-2016-068.

For more information see: Fredericks, J.J., Reynolds, B.J., Farmer, A.S., Yates, K.K., and Zawada, D.G., 2019, Multibeam bathymetry data collected in December 2017, February and March 2018 at Looe Key, the Florida Keys: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9P2V7L0.

For more information see: OCM Partners, 2019: 2016 NOAA NGS Topobathy Lidar DEM: Florida Keys Outer Reef Block 01 from 2016-07-21 to 2016-11-21: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, https://inport.nmfs.noaa.gov/inport/item/48373.

Note: This data release was versioned on November 17, 2020. Please see the Suggested Citation section for details.