Publications

A team of scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, collected 92 line-kilometers of dual-frequency single-beam bathymetry data in the tidal creeks, bayous, and coastal areas near Weeks Bay, southwest Louisiana. Limited bathymetry data exist for these tidally and meteorologically influenced shallow-water estuarine environments. In order...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducts baseline and storm response photography missions to document and understand the changes in vulnerability of the Nation's coasts to extreme storms. On July 13, 2013, the USGS conducted an oblique aerial photographic survey from Breton Island, Louisiana, to the Alabama-Florida border, aboard a Cessna 172 flying at an altitude of 500 feet (ft) and

As part of the Barrier Island Evolution Research Project, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center conducted nearshore geophysical surveys off the northern Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana, in July and August of 2012. The objective of the study is to better understand barrier island geomorphic evolution, particularly storm-related...

Planktic foraminifer Globigerinoides ruber ( G. ruber), due to its abundance and ubiquity in the tropical/subtropical mixed layer, has been the workhorse of paleoceanographic studies investigating past sea-surface conditions on a range of timescales. Recent geochemical work on the two principal white G. ruber (W) morphotypes, sensu stricto (ss) and sensu lato (sl), has hypothesized...

The geologic evolution of barrier islands is profoundly influenced by the nature of the deposits underlying them. Many researchers have speculated on the origin and evolution of Cat Island in Mississippi, but uncertainty remains about whether or not the island is underlain completely or in part by deposits associated with the past growth of the Mississippi River delta. In part, this is...

Northern Gulf of Mexico (NGoM) loggerheads (Caretta caretta) make up one of the smallest subpopulations of this threatened species and have declining nest numbers. We used satellite telemetry and a switching state-space model to identify distinct foraging areas used by 59 NGoM loggerheads tagged during 2010–2013. We tagged turtles after nesting at three sites, 1 in Alabama (Gulf Shores...

The composition and content of asphaltenes in spilled and original wellhead oils from the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) incident provide information on the amount of original oil lost and the processes most responsible for the losses within the first 80 days of the active spill. Spilled oils were collected from open waters, coastal waters and coastal sediments during the incident. Asphaltenes...

From July 23 - 31, 2012, the U.S. Geological Survey conducted geophysical surveys to investigate the geologic controls on barrier island framework and long-term sediment transport along the oil spill mitigation sand berm constructed at the north end and just offshore of the Chandeleur Islands, La. (figure 1). This effort is part of a broader USGS study, which seeks to better understand...

This Data Series Report contains lidar elevation data collected from September 5 to October 11, 2012, for the barrier islands of Alabama, Mississippi and southeast Louisiana, including the coast near Port Fourchon. Most of the data were collected September 5–10, 2012, with a reflight conducted on October 11, 2012, to increase point density in some areas. Point cloud data—data points...

This Data Series Report contains lidar elevation data collected February 6, 2012, for Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana. Point cloud data in lidar data exchange format (LAS) and bare earth digital elevation models (DEMs) in ERDAS Imagine raster format (IMG) are available as downloadable files. The point cloud data—data points described in three dimensions—were processed to extract bare earth...

In collaboration with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center collected over 487 line kilometers (> 300 miles) of high-resolution geophysical data around Cat Island, Mississippi, to improve understanding of the island's geologic evolution and identify potential sand resources for coastal...

The U.S. Geological Survey anchored a sediment trap in the northern Gulf of Mexico to collect time-series data on sediment flux from 2008 to 2012. There are continuous measurements of total mass flux and organic carbon flux (ogC) at 7–14 day resolution from 2008 to 2012. The flux of calcium carbonate (CaCO3), particulate nitrogen (nitro), and biogenic silica (Opal) were also measured...