USGS bathymetric and hydrodynamic survey of Lake Michigan nearshore near Ogden Dunes/Burns Harbor, Indiana

The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is evaluating the placement of dredged material in the nearshore areas of Lake Michigan as a means to replenish sand at selected beaches. In order to elucidate the physical processes in the nearshore environment that transport and distribute sand to the beach, the USACE-Chicago District and the US Geological Survey (USGS) developed a plan for a beach nourishment study on Lake Michigan near Burns Harbor/Ogden Dunes, Indiana. As part of this plan, the USGS conducted hydrodynamic and bathymetric surveys of the study area before and after placement of dredged material in the nearshore zone. The planned placement of dredge material in the study area occurred between June 15, 2016 and July 15, 2016. A second, unplanned placement of dredge material in the study area was observed on September 8, 2016. On June 2, 2016, the USGS deployed two upward-profiling acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) to the Burns Harbor/Ogden Dunes study area to collect wave/current data. Data was recovered from only one of these upward-profiling ADCPs. Additionally, a series of five bathymetric surveys with a boat-mounted ADCP, two topographic surveys with a Real Time Kinematic differential Global Positioning System (RTK-dGPS), and two bathymetric surveys with a Multibeam Echosounder (MBES) were completed in the study area between June 2016 and November 2016.