My work has focused on historical shoreline change analysis and the impact of geologic processes and human activities on the form and history of coastal beaches. I have over fifteen years of experience guiding the development and testing of the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) software, which is used globally in support of critical coastal decision-making.
I have participated in a national-scale project assessing Coastal Change Hazards, specifically working to compile a consistent database of historical shoreline positions that were used along with the DSAS software to compute shoreline change rates at 50-meter intervals for the open coastal waters of the United States. These data and the new understanding of coastal change patterns it described have been widely used to further scientific research and coastal management objectives.
Since 2012 I have been part of a team developing the USGS Coastal Change Hazards (CCH) portal. This website provides an accessible mapping interface for federal and state agencies, NGOs, municipalities, and private citizens to visualize and access the portfolio of CCH assessments of extreme storm, coastal erosion and sea-level change impact data.
I am currently working with a team of research scientists, data experts, and science communicators to develop an iterative user engagement strategy designed to inform how we communicate our science products through a co-design process with stakeholders during development. The intent of this effort is to make discovery and communication of our scientific data more effective, efficient, and meaningful for coastal hazards planning and preparedness.
Science and Products
Massachusetts Integrated Coastal Studies (MICS)
Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS)
Long-Term Coastal Change
Empowering decision-makers: A dynamic web interface for running Bayesian networks
Science and Products
- Science
Massachusetts Integrated Coastal Studies (MICS)
Coastal erosion, intense storm events and sea-level rise pose threats to coastal communities and infrastructure. Managers and scientists often lack the high-resolution data needed to improve estimates of sediment abundance and movement, shoreline change, and seabed characteristics that influence coastal vulnerability. To address these and other needs the U.S. Geological Survey, in partnership with...Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS)
Computer Software for Calculating Shoreline Change (or positional change of a boundary over time) The Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) v5 software is an add-in to Esri ArcGIS desktop (10.4-10.7+) that enables a user to calculate rate-of-change statistics from multiple historical shoreline positions. It provides an automated method for establishing measurement locations, performs rate...Long-Term Coastal Change
Goals of this task include developing and improving coastal-change assessments and supporting long-term planning and decision making to ensure sustainable coastal economies, infrastructure, and ecosystems.Empowering decision-makers: A dynamic web interface for running Bayesian networks
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists are at the forefront of research that is critical for decision-making, particularly through the development of models (Bayesian networks, or BNs) that forecast coastal change. The utility of these tools outside the scientific community has been limited because they rely on expensive, technical software and a moderate understanding of statistical analyses. W - Data
- Publications
- Web Tools
- Software