Scientific Research

High-resolution light detection and ranging (lidar) elevation data were acquired along the north coast of Alaska between 2009 and 2012. The lidar acquisition, from Icy Cape, Alaska to the United States/Canadian border, comprised approximately 11,000 km2. The airborne lidar data were acquired in support of the U.S. Geological Survey Coastal and Marine Geology Program. The purpose of this lidar...

Coastal topographic and bathymetric (topobathymetric) data with high spatial resolution (1-meter or better) and high vertical accuracy are needed to assess the vulnerability of Pacific Islands to climate change impacts, including sea-level rise. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports, low-lying atolls in the Pacific Ocean are extremely vulnerable to king tide events...

The USGS Coastal National Elevation Database Applications Project organized a workshop in cooperation with the College of Staten Island-City University of New York to discuss storm surge modeling and get input from scientists across a broad community. The workshop, held on April 22-23, 2014 on the College of Staten Island campus, is part of a larger project intended to enhance topobathymetric...

The accuracy with which coastal topography has been mapped directly affects the reliability and usefulness of elevation-based sea-level rise vulnerability assessments. Recent research has shown that the qualities of the elevation data must be well understood to properly model potential impacts. The cumulative vertical uncertainty has contributions from elevation data error, water level data...

The Coastal National Elevation Database Applications Project supports scientific research and applications assessing restoration, redevelopment, and protection projects in the Hurricane Sandy impact areas along New Jersey and New York coastal beaches.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Geospatial Program's 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) aims to collect new light detection and ranging (lidar) data over the same areas on an 8-year return cycle. Between lidar surveys, there may be significant differences in bare- and non-bare earth heights due to both natural and human-induced geomorphic changes that occur. Therefore, research methods are...

Scientific research and applications assessing coastal landscape change and vulnerability are critical for applications such as shoreline mapping, hydrodynamic modeling, coastal vulnerability, and coastal geomorphology studies. However, very little ground truth data are available within the intertidal zone and adjacent beaches.

Defining near-shore water depth (bathymetry) is problematic because ships cannot operate close to the shore while collecting acoustic bathymetric soundings. Alternatively, optical green laser lidar sensors have been used to collect bathymetric points, however, these types of lidar acquisitions are costly for the footprint collected and are subject to bathymetric inaccuracies in turbid water...

This study explores the feasibility of using high-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) constructed from airborne light detection and ranging (lidar) surveys to develop an automated procedure to extract levee longitudinal elevation profiles for both federal levees in Atchafalaya Basin and local levees in Lafourche Parish, south Louisiana. This approach can successfully accommodate abrupt...

This image is a topobathymetric elevation model of a part of the Mississippi River in New Orleans, Louisiana, and is an example of inland bathymetry in the northern Gulf of Mexico. This regional topobathymetric elevation model includes airborne light detection and ranging (lidar) point clouds, hydrographic surveys, side-scan sonar surveys, and multibeam surveys obtained from USGS, NOAA, the State...

The northern Gulf of Mexico coast of the United States has been identified as highly vulnerable to sea-level rise (SLR), based on a combination of physical and societal factors. Vulnerability of human populations and infrastructure to projected increases in sea level is a critical area of uncertainty for communities in the extremely low-lying and flat northern gulf coastal zone. A rapidly growing...

Seacliff erosion is a serious hazard with implications for coastal management, infrastructure, and residential dwellings; seacliff erosion is often estimated using successive hand digitized cliff tops or bases to assess cliff retreat. Traditionally the recession of the cliff top or cliff base is obtained from aerial photographs, topographic maps, or in situ surveys. The availability of high...