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Arnell Forde

Arnell Forde is a Geologist at the St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Science and Products

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Scientists operate scientific sediment coring equipment with a tall metal barrel and tripod on a sandy beach near the water.

Coastal Sediment Availability and Flux (CSAF) Capabilities

As part of the Coastal Sediment Availability and Flux project, we use innovative technology and integrate a variety of techniques to characterize barrier island environments, reconstruct their past history, and predict their future vulnerability.
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Natural Hazards, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center
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Coastal Sediment Availability and Flux (CSAF) Capabilities

As part of the Coastal Sediment Availability and Flux project, we use innovative technology and integrate a variety of techniques to characterize barrier island environments, reconstruct their past history, and predict their future vulnerability.
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A boat operated by USGS staff tows an instrument that collects geophysical data in in the shallow shoreface near the beach

Shoreface Morphology and Geology

Exchanges of sediment between the shoreface and barrier islands allow barrier islands to adjust to changes in water level, such as those associated with storms or sea-level rise. Characterizing shoreface morphology and geology allows us to explore how past and present processes have impacted modern barrier island sediment transport and what that means for future barrier island evolution.
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Natural Hazards, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center
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Shoreface Morphology and Geology

Exchanges of sediment between the shoreface and barrier islands allow barrier islands to adjust to changes in water level, such as those associated with storms or sea-level rise. Characterizing shoreface morphology and geology allows us to explore how past and present processes have impacted modern barrier island sediment transport and what that means for future barrier island evolution.
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A long barrier island, mainly sandy with some vegetation, has a sediment berm placed along the shoreface.

Barrier Island Sensitivity to Changes in Sediment Supply

Observations and models show that maintaining barrier islands requires a balance between sea-level rise and sediment supply. However, most estimates of sediment supply are not based on modern conditions, which could result in less accurate predictions of sediment fluxes. We explore how natural and human alterations impact modern sediment fluxes, or changes, on barrier islands – research that has...
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Natural Hazards, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center
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Barrier Island Sensitivity to Changes in Sediment Supply

Observations and models show that maintaining barrier islands requires a balance between sea-level rise and sediment supply. However, most estimates of sediment supply are not based on modern conditions, which could result in less accurate predictions of sediment fluxes. We explore how natural and human alterations impact modern sediment fluxes, or changes, on barrier islands – research that has...
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An island with sections of short grasses has been covered by a large sand fan that was washed landward by waves.

Storm-Related Barrier Island Morphological Evolution

Storms quickly and dramatically alter barrier island environments by changing adjacent seafloor morphology, eroding beaches, scarping or leveling dunes, and sometimes creating new inlets. Measuring the magnitude of barrier island sediment movement during and after storms allows us to track rates of beach recovery, dune growth, and inlet-related alterations to barrier island sediment supply.
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Natural Hazards, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center
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Storm-Related Barrier Island Morphological Evolution

Storms quickly and dramatically alter barrier island environments by changing adjacent seafloor morphology, eroding beaches, scarping or leveling dunes, and sometimes creating new inlets. Measuring the magnitude of barrier island sediment movement during and after storms allows us to track rates of beach recovery, dune growth, and inlet-related alterations to barrier island sediment supply.
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Photo of Fire Island showing back barrier, dunes, beach, and nearshore environments

Coastal Sediment Availability and Flux (CSAF)

Sediments are the foundation of coastal systems, including barrier islands. Their behavior is driven by not only sediment availability, but also sediment exchanges between barrier island environments. We collect geophysical, remote sensing, and sediment data to estimate these parameters, which are integrated with models to improve prediction of coastal response to extreme storms and sea-level rise...
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Natural Hazards, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center
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Coastal Sediment Availability and Flux (CSAF)

Sediments are the foundation of coastal systems, including barrier islands. Their behavior is driven by not only sediment availability, but also sediment exchanges between barrier island environments. We collect geophysical, remote sensing, and sediment data to estimate these parameters, which are integrated with models to improve prediction of coastal response to extreme storms and sea-level rise...
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Filter Total Items: 17

Archive of Chirp Subbottom Profile Data Collected in 2019 From Rockaway Peninsula, New York

As part of the Coastal Sediment Availability and Flux Project, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center conducted a nearshore geophysical survey to map the shoreface of Rockaway, New York (NY) between September and October of 2019. The objective of the project is to improve the understanding of barrier island geomorphic evolution and the se
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St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

Archive of Digitized Analog Boomer Seismic Reflection Data Collected from the Northern Gulf of Mexico: Intersea 1980

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program (CMHRP) has actively collected geophysical and sedimentological data in the northern Gulf of Mexico for several decades, including shallow subsurface data in the form of high-resolution seismic reflection profiles (HRSP). Prior to the mid-1990s most HRSP data were collected in analog format as paper rolls of continu
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St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

Archive of Chirp Subbottom Profile Data Collected in 2019 From Cedar Island, Virginia

As part of the Coastal Sediment Availability and Flux Project, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center conducted a nearshore geophysical survey to map the shoreface of Cedar Island, Virginia (VA) in August of 2019. The objective of the project is to improve the understanding of barrier island geomorphic evolution and the sediment fluxes th
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St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

Archive of Digitized Analog Boomer Seismic Reflection Data Collected from the Northern Gulf of Mexico: 1982, 1985, 1989, 1991, and 1992

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program (CMHRP) has actively collected geophysical and sedimentological data in the northern Gulf of Mexico for several decades, including shallow subsurface data in the form of high-resolution seismic reflection profiles (HRSP). Prior to the mid-1990s most HRSP data were collected in analog format as paper rolls of continu
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St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

Archive of Chirp Subbottom Profile Data Collected in 2018 From the Northern Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana

As part of the Barrier Island Evolution Research Project, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center conducted a nearshore geophysical survey around the northern Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana, in August of 2017. The objective of the project is to improve the understanding of barrier island geomorphic evolution, particularly storm-related depo
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Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

Archive of Chirp Subbottom Profile Data Collected in 2017 from the Louisiana Chenier Plain

Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center conducted nearshore geophysical surveys around the eastern and western Chenier Plain, Louisiana, in 2017. Data were collected under the Barrier Island Coastal Monitoring (BICM) program, an ongoing collaboration between the State of Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA), the Un
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St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

Archive of Chirp Subbottom Profile Data Collected in June 2018 From Fire Island, New York

Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted a long-term, coastal morphologic-change study at Fire Island, New York, prior to and after Hurricane Sandy impacted the area in October 2012. The Fire Island Coastal System Change project objectives include understanding the morphologic evolution of the barrier island system on a variety of time scales (months to centuries) and resolving
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St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

Archive of Chirp Subbottom Profile Data Collected in 2017 From the Northern Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana

As part of the Barrier Island Evolution Research Project, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center conducted a nearshore geophysical survey around the northern Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana, in August of 2017. The objective of the project is to improve the understanding of barrier island geomorphic evolution, particularly storm-related depo
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Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

Subbottom and Sidescan Sonar Data Acquired in 2015 From Grand Bay, Mississippi and Alabama

Grand Bay Alabama and Mississippi were surveyed between May and June 2015, using an Edgetech chirp 424 subbottom profiler and a Klein 3900 sidescan sonar. The objective was to characterize the geologic framework of recent estuarine sediment accumulation in the bay. This data release includes the raw chirp subbottom Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG Y) data files, sidescan data files in eXt
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Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

Archive of Digitized Analog Boomer Seismic-Reflection Data Collected During U.S. Geological Survey Cruises Erda 92-2 and Erda 92-4 in Mississippi Sound, June and August 1992

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Geology Program has actively collected geophysical and sedimentological data in the northern Gulf of Mexico for several decades, including shallow subsurface data in the form of high-resolution seismic reflection profiles (HRSP). Prior to the mid-1990s most HRSP data were collected in analog format as paper rolls of continuous profiles up to 25
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St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

Archive of Digitized Analog Boomer Seismic Reflection Data Collected during USGS Cruise USFHC in Mississippi Sound and Bay St. Louis, September 1989

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Geology Program has actively collected geophysical and sedimentological data in the northern Gulf of Mexico for several decades, including shallow subsurface data in the form of high-resolution seismic reflection profiles (HRSP). Prior to the mid-1990s most HRSP data were collected in analog format as paper rolls of continuous profiles up to 25
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St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

Archive of Ground Penetrating Radar and Differential Global Positioning System Data Collected in April 2016 from Fire Island, New York

Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted a long-term, coastal morphologic-change study at Fire Island, New York, prior to and after Hurricane Sandy impacted the area in October 2012. The Fire Island Coastal Change project objectives include understanding the morphologic evolution of the barrier island system on a variety of time scales (months to centuries) and resolving storm-
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St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center
Filter Total Items: 28

Shoreface and Holocene sediment thickness offshore of Rockaway Peninsula, New York

During September and October 2019, the U.S. Geological Survey mapped the shoreface and inner continental shelf offshore of the Rockaway Peninsula in New York using high-resolution chirp seismic reflection and single-beam bathymetry geophysical techniques. The results from this study are important for assessing the Quaternary evolution of the Rockaway Peninsula and determining coastal sediment avai
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St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

Ground penetrating radar and differential global positioning system data collected in April 2016 from Fire Island, New York

Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted a long-term coastal morphologic-change study at Fire Island, New York, prior to and after Hurricane Sandy impacted the area in October 2012. The Fire Island Coastal Change project objectives include understanding the morphologic evolution of the barrier island system on a variety of time scales (months to centuries) and resolving storm-r
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St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

Chirp subbottom profile data collected in 2015 from the northern Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana

As part of the Barrier Island Evolution Research project, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center conducted a nearshore geophysical survey around the northern Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana, in September 2015. The objective of the project is to improve the understanding of barrier island geomorphic evolution, particularly storm-related depo
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Natural Hazards, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program

Digitized analog boomer seismic-reflection data collected during U.S. Geological Survey cruises Erda 90-1_HC, Erda 90-1_PBP, and Erda 91-3 in Mississippi Sound, June 1990 and September 1991

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Geology Program has actively collected geophysical and sedimentological data in the northern Gulf of Mexico for several decades, including shallow subsurface data in the form of high-resolution seismic-reflection profiles (HRSP). Prior to the mid-1990s most HRSP data were collected in analog format as paper rolls of continuous profiles up to 25
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St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

Nearshore sediment thickness, Fire Island, New York

Investigations of coastal change at Fire Island, New York (N.Y.), sought to characterize sediment budgets and determine geologic framework controls on coastal processes. Nearshore sediment thickness is critical for assessing coastal system sediment availability, but it is largely unquantified due to the difficulty of conducting geological or geophysical surveys across the nearshore. This study use
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St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

Application of ground penetrating radar for identification of washover deposits and other stratigraphic features: Assateague Island, MD

A combination of ground penetrating radar (GPR) data, core data, and aerial photographs were analyzed to better understand the evolution of two portions of Assateague Island, Maryland. The focus of the study was to investigate the applicability of using GPR data to image washover deposits in the stratigraphic record. High amplitude reflections observed in two shore-perpendicular GPR profiles were
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St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

Raw and processed ground-penetrating radar and postprocessed differential global positioning system data collected from Assateague Island, Maryland, October 2014

Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center acquired sediment cores, sediment surface grab samples, ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) data from Assateague Island, Maryland, in October 2014. The objectives were to identify washover deposits in the stratigraphic record to aid in understanding barrier isla
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St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

Archive of Digital Chirp Subbottom Profile Data Collected During USGS Cruise 14BIM05 Offshore of Breton Island, Louisiana, August 2014

From August 11 to 31, 2014, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), conducted a geophysical survey to investigate the geologic controls on barrier island framework and long-term sediment transport offshore of Breton Island, Louisiana as part of a broader USGS study on Barrier Island Mapping (BIM). Additional details related to this activit
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St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

Archive of ground penetrating radar data collected during USGS field activity 13BIM01—Dauphin Island, Alabama, April 2013

From April 13 to 20, 2013, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center (USGS-SPCMSC) conducted geophysical and sediment sampling surveys on Dauphin Island, Alabama, as part of Field Activity 13BIM01. The objectives of the study were to quantify inorganic and organic accretion rates in back-barrier and mainland marsh and estuarine environments. Variou
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St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

Archive of digital chirp subbottom profile data collected during USGS Cruise 13CCT04 offshore of Petit Bois Island, Mississippi, August 2013

From August 13-23, 2013, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) conducted geophysical surveys to investigate the geologic controls on barrier island framework and long-term sediment transport offshore of Petit Bois Island, Mississippi. This investigation is part of a broader USGS study on Coastal Change and Transport (CCT). These surveys wer
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St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

Archive of digital chirp subbottom profile data collected during USGS cruises 13BIM02 and 13BIM07 offshore of the Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana, 2013

On July 5–19 (cruise 13BIM02) and August 22–September 1 (cruise 13BIM07), 2013, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted geophysical surveys to investigate the geologic controls on barrier island evolution and medium-term and interannual sediment transport along the oil spill mitigation sand berm constructed at the north end and offshore of the Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana. This investigation
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St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

Archive of digital chirp subbottom profile data collected during USGS Cruise 13GFP01, Brownlee Dam and Hells Canyon Reservoir, Idaho and Oregon, 2013

From March 16 - 31, 2013, the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Idaho Power Company conducted a geophysical survey to investigate sediment deposits and long-term sediment transport within the Snake River from Brownlee Dam to Hells Canyon Reservoir, along the Idaho and Oregon border; this effort will help the USGS to better understand geologic processes. This report serves as an archiv
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St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

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