Data

Lifespan of salt marshes in Massachusetts (MA) are calculated using conceptual marsh units defined by Ackerman and others (2022). The lifespan calculation is based on estimated sediment supply and sea-level rise (SLR) predictions after Ganju and others (2020). Sea level predictions are local estimates which correspond to the 0.3, 0.5, and 1.0 meter increase in Global Mean Sea Level (GMSL...

Management efforts of the tidally-restricted Herring River in Wellfleet, MA include research to understand pre-restoration sediment conditions. Submerged multiparameter sondes that measure optical turbidity were deployed at four sites landward and seaward of the Herring River restriction. Periodically, the sites were visited and additional turbidity measurements were collected with a...

In 2021 and 2022, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center (SPCMSC) and the USGS New York Water Science Center (NYWSC), on behalf of SPCMSC, conducted sediment sampling and ground penetrating radar (GPR) surveys at Point O' Woods and Ho-Hum Beach (NYWSC, 2021) and Watch Hill, Long Cove, and Smith Point (SPCMSC, 2022), Fire Island...

The National Park Service (NPS), in collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), recognizes the need to quantify the sediment budget of the barrier islands within the Gulf Islands National Seashore (GINS) to understand the coastal processes affecting island resiliency. To achieve this goal, identifying and quantifying the physical parameters that drive long-term change is...

In 2016, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted ground penetrating radar (GPR) surveys and sediment sampling at Fire Island, New York to characterize and quantify spatial variability in the subaerial geology (Forde and others, 2018). These surveys, in combination with historical data, allowed for a preliminary reconstruction of the barriers long-term evolution. In 2021, scientists...

Restoration in the tidally restricted Herring River Estuary in Wellfleet, MA benefits from understanding pre-restoration sediment transport conditions. Submerged sensors were deployed at four sites landward and seaward of the Herring River restriction to measure water velocity, water quality, water level, waves, and seabed elevation. These data will be used to evaluate sediment dynamics...

Coastal resources are increasingly impacted by erosion, extreme weather events, sea-level rise, tidal flooding, and other potential hazards related to climate change. These hazards have varying impacts on coastal landscapes due to the numerous geologic, oceanographic, ecological, and socioeconomic factors that exist at a given location. Here, an assessment framework is introduced that...

Low-altitude (80 and 100 meters above ground level) digital images were taken over an area of the Plum Island Estuary and Parker River National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in Massachusetts using 3DR Solo unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) on November 14, 2017 and March 28, 2019. These images were collected as part of an effort to document marsh stability over time and quantify sediment movement...

In June 2022, the U.S. Geological Survey, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management, collected high-resolution geophysical data, in Nantucket Sound to understand the regional geology in the vicinity of Horseshoe Shoal. This effort is part of a long-term collaboration between the USGS and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to map the State’s waters, support...

These data are a part of the effort to map geologic substrates of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary region off Boston, Massachusetts. The overall goal is to develop high-resolution (1:25,000) interpretive maps, based on multibeam sonar data and seabed sampling, showing surficial geology and seabed sediment dynamics. The work was conducted in collaboration with the Stellwagen...

The Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere-Wave-Sediment Transport (COAWST Warner and others, 2019; Warner and others, 2010) model was used to simulate three-dimensional hydrodynamics and waves to study salinity intrusion in the Delaware Bay estuary for 2019. Salinity intrusion in coastal systems is due in part to extreme events like drought or low-pressure storms and longer-term sea level rise...

These data map in high detail surficial cross-sections of North Core Banks, a barrier island in Cape Lookout National Seashore, NC, in October 2022. U.S. Geological Survey field efforts are part of an interagency agreement with the National Park Service to monitor the recovery of the island from Hurricanes Florence (2018) and Dorian (2019). Three sites of outwash, overwash, and pond...