Emily A Himmelstoss
Emily Himmelstoss is a geologist serving as the Associate Program Coordinator for Science for the Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program. She supports the scientific direction and priorities of the Program within the Natural Hazards Mission Area.
Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS)
Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS)
Computer Software for Calculating Shoreline Change (or positional change of a boundary over time)
Coastal Change Hazards Portal
Coastal Change Hazards Portal
An accessible mapping interface to visualize and access the portfolio of Coastal Change Hazards assessments of extreme storm, coastal erosion, and sea-level change impact data.
Career History
Emily has been with the U.S. Geological Survey for more than 20 years. She began as technical support staff and progressed to project and program-level leadership roles. She has contributed to various marine and coastal research projects, starting with processing shipboard geophysical data along the inner continental shelf to leading multiple coastal projects supported by both appropriated and reimbursable funds. Her work has focused on measuring how natural forces and human actions have influenced the evolution of coastal beaches.
- Fifteen years leading the development of the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) software, an open-access tool used to measure positional change. The tool has a global user base and more than 50k downloads.
- Twelve years contributing to national-scale projects assessing coastal change and developing the USGS Coastal Change Hazards (CCH) portal, facilitating access to coastal change hazard assessments.
- Served as a member of the Coastal Change Hazards Leadership Team comprised of research scientists, data experts, and science communicators to establish a collaborative framework for advancing coastal change hazards science, fostering collaborative project development, and aligning coastal research and products with programmatic requirements and stakeholder needs.
- Steering committee member of the State of Our Nation’s Coast project designed to make discovery and communication of CCH scientific data more effective, efficient, and meaningful for coastal hazards planning and preparedness. This project implemented iterative user engagement that resulted in the development of the Coastal Science Navigator.
- Designed and co-led a cross-center Technical Capabilities and Applications project designed to provide technical expertise, methodologies, and data visualization support to ensure the sustainability of coastal change hazards assessment products at regional to national scales. Additionally, this project actively supports initiatives that promote data sharing among research projects and coordinates a cross-center technical cooperative that serves as a valuable resource across the Program.
Science and Products
Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS)
Software for calculating positional boundary change over time The Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) version 6 is a standalone application that calculates shoreline or boundary change over time. The GIS of a user’s choice is used to prepare the data for DSAS. Like previous versions, DSAS v.6 enables a user to calculate rate-of-change statistics from multiple historical shoreline positions...
State of Our Nation's Coast
Discover USGS products, tools, and data with the Coastal Science Navigator! The Coastal Science Navigator serves as a gateway to USGS Coastal Change Hazards resources and assists users in finding products and tools that will meet their specific needs.
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...
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
Science and Products
Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS)
Software for calculating positional boundary change over time The Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) version 6 is a standalone application that calculates shoreline or boundary change over time. The GIS of a user’s choice is used to prepare the data for DSAS. Like previous versions, DSAS v.6 enables a user to calculate rate-of-change statistics from multiple historical shoreline positions...
State of Our Nation's Coast
Discover USGS products, tools, and data with the Coastal Science Navigator! The Coastal Science Navigator serves as a gateway to USGS Coastal Change Hazards resources and assists users in finding products and tools that will meet their specific needs.
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...
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