Photo Roundup - December 2022-February 2023

By Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program February 28, 2023

A selection of coastal and ocean videos and photographs from across the USGS.

Sound Waves Newsletter - December 2022-February 2023

Tracking Coastal Change with Photogrammetry

Video Transcript

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Monitoring coastal changes is important for the millions of people that live along coasts in the United States, particularly as climate change hastens coastal erosion by raising sea levels and fueling powerful storms. The USGS uses remote-sensing technologies—such as aerial photography, satellite imagery, structure-from-motion photogrammetry, and lidar (laser-based surveying)—to measure coastal change along U.S. shorelines. Powerful storms in January 2023 caused extensive damage to California’s coasts. USGS photogrammetry data, processed into accurate orthomosaics (essentially numerous photos stitched together) of the coastal landscape, show the erosional effects of these storms.

Sea-floor Mapping by the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Map of the US east coast, displaying sea-floor mapping achievements from 2022 — The year of 2022 was big for the Sea-Floor Mapping Group at the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center! These data were collected as part of a collaborative research program and include data collected by USGS and our partners. As the map shows, sea floor mapping was conducted in the Gulf of Mexico, Chesapeake Bay, Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, Nantucket Sound, and other locations in the Atlantic Ocean.

Changes to the California Coastline from January Storms

1- Santa Cruz West Cliff Drive - Before — Views of the Santa Cruz, California coast before (Sept. 13, 2022) and after (Jan. 5, 2023) the powerful storms of early January 2023. Images show views of the 3-dimensional landscape data derived by USGS photogrammetry techniques.

1 -Santa Cruz West Cliff - After — Views of the Santa Cruz, California coast before (Sept. 13, 2022) and after (Jan. 5, 2023) the powerful storms of early January 2023. Images show views of the 3-dimensional landscape data derived by USGS photogrammetry techniques.

2 - Santa Cruz West Cliff Drive -Before — Views of the Santa Cruz, California coast before (Sept. 13, 2022) and after (Jan. 5, 2023) the powerful storms of early January 2023. Images show views of the 3-dimensional landscape data derived by USGS photogrammetry techniques.

2 - Santa Cruz West Cliff Drive - After — Views of the Santa Cruz, California coast before (Sept. 13, 2022) and after (Jan. 5, 2023) the powerful storms of early January 2023. Images show views of the 3-dimensional landscape data derived by USGS photogrammetry techniques.

Stakeholder Engagement for Natural Hazards Investigations in the Caribbean

Three young women stand behind a table in a window-lit room with brochures on a table

As part of the Stakeholder Engagement for Natural Hazards Investigations in the Caribbean project, Meaghan Emory and Drs. Legna Torres-Garcia and Donya Frank-Gilchrist of the St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center engaged with stakeholders and explored potential partnerships across Caribbean nations and territories to further enhance USGS natural hazards research at the Southeast and Caribbean Disaster Resilience Partnership (SCDRP) annual meeting in Miami, Florida in January 2023.

Patrick Barnard Featured in "Our Beautiful Planet - Saving Our Shores"

Video footage of USGS Research Geologist Patrick Barnard in the field, from the short film "Our Beautiful Planet - Saving Our Shores"

Sediment Transport in San Francisco Bay

Video Transcript

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The Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers deliver half the amount of sediment they did 50 years ago to San Francisco Bay. Just as sea-level rise is accelerating, the demand for sediment is growing. The amount of sediment supplied to estuaries is important to the fate of shallow water habitats, including mudflats and tidal marshes. In San Francisco Bay, U.S. Geological Survey scientists and collaborators are investigating the influence of tides, waves, and water levels on sediment delivery and deposition in wave-exposed tidal salt marshes.

Preview of the New Coastal Change Likelihood Assessment

CCL map and CVI map gif — The CCL is an updated version of the older Coastal Vulnerability Index, first published in 1999. While the original product was focused on change in the next 50-100 years based solely on sea level rise, the new CCL is more near-term, focusing on change over the next decade as a result of multiple coastal hazards. The CCL incorporates significant improvements to the Coastal Vulnerability Index thanks to technological updates and improvements in coastal data source quality and resolution. Specific improvements include (1) expanded coverage of the coastal zone, allowing this assessment to cover inland coastal areas, as well as the coastline; (2) higher resolution predictive decision support datasets and maps that are area-based as opposed to line-based; and (3) using a machine learning approach as opposed to the spatial analysis methods utilized in the Coastal Vulnerability Index. Overall, this means the data in the CCL is more accurate, includes more complex information, better accounts for geological and ecological variability and human development, and the data maps are easier to interpret.

Map of Cape Cod showing coastal change likelihood — The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the National Park Service, developed the Coastal Change Likelihood assessment to determine the future likelihood of coastal change along the Northeast coastline in the next decade. Pictured here is the coastal change likelihood for Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

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