Southern Monterey Bay beach studies

After USGS scientist Dan Hoover drove a couple of pass with his all-terrain vehicle (ATV), equipped with gear that collects elevations, on a mostly flat beach in southern Monterey Bay, California. Then he turned to take this photo of his tire tracks. The ATV operator will follow beach elevation features (note the curved tire tracks where Hoover traced the high-water mark), in addition to tracing a grid pattern with about 30 meters between tracks, to get a good 3D representation of the beach surface. The 3D model enables tracking of sand movement between surveys and monitoring of shoreline position over time using a representative elevation contour (typically Mean Sea Level or Mean High Water).