Jenna Brown, PhD
Biography
Science and Products
Remote Sensing Coastal Change
We use remote-sensing technologies—such as aerial photography, satellite imagery, and lidar (laser-based surveying)—to measure coastal change along U.S. shorelines.
Video Remote Sensing of Coastal Processes
Video observations of the coast are used to monitor a range of coastal processes, for example changes in the shoreline position, both seasonally and due to long-term effects such as sea-level rise, and instances of beach and dune erosion during extreme storm events.
Field observations of alongshore runup variability under dissipative conditions in presence of a shoreline sandwave
Video measurements of runup were collected at low tide along several profiles covering an alongshore distance of 500 m. The morphology displayed a complex shape with a shoreline sandwave in the lower beach face of about 250 m long mirrored in the inner sandbar. Wave conditions were stationary and moderate (offshore height of 2 m and...
Senechal, Nadia; Coco, Giovanni; Plant, Nathaniel G.; Bryan, Karin R.; Brown, Jennifer; MacMahan, Jamie
Eyes on the Coast—Video Cameras Help Forecast Coastal Change
USGS scientists have installed video cameras pointed at beaches on the coasts of western Florida and central California. They’re analyzing the videos to measure features of the beach and ocean so they can improve coastal-change forecasts.
Eyes on the Coast—Video Cameras Help Forecast Coastal Change
Coastal communities count on beaches for recreation and for protection from large waves, but beaches are vulnerable to threats such as erosion by storms and flooding. Whether beaches grow, shrink, or even disappear depends in part on what happens just offshore. How do features like shifting sandbars affect waves, currents, and the movement of sand from the beach to offshore and back?