Monica Palaseanu-Lovejoy, PhD
Monica Palaseanu-Lovejoy is a Research Geographer at GMEG Science Center. Since joining the USGS in 2006, Monica has devoted her career to studying coastal environments and more. Presently her research focuses on erosion and landslides in coastal cliffs and bluffs, structure from motion using satellite imagery, and satellite derived bathymetry.
Monica has a BS and MS in Geology and Geophysics from the University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania, a MS in Environmental
Science and Policy from the University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, and a PhD in Geography from the University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom. Monica has devoted her career to studying coastal environments and specializes in spatial statistics and exploratory data analysis, GIS technologies, remote sensing, primarily lidar, satellite imagery and structure-from-motion, and geospatial data.
Monica has investigated and analyzed impacts of extreme storm events in the Gulf of Mexico, focusing on land loss, vulnerability and sea-level rise, as well as sea cliffs / bluff erosion and episodic land-slides in California and northern slope of Alaska. Currently she is a task lead for the USGS Coastal National Elevation Database (CoNED) Applications Project.
Her research focus is environmental modelling, with a specialization in exploratory spatial data analysis, spatial statistics and modelling, Monte Carlo simulation and Bayesian modelling, pattern and cluster analysis as well as GIS, and remote sensing, including lidar and structure-from-motion. One of her strengths is population distribution analysis and linking patterns and trends to probable factors influencing or generating the data.
CURRENT RESEARCH FOCUS
- Coastal geomorphology, erosion, sea-level rise, land loss, impact of extreme storm events
- Structure-from-motion photogrammetry as alternative for mapping topography in remote areas, and rapid response to extreme events
- Vegetation analysis and metrics extraction using discrete and wave-form lidar point clouds
- Societal costs of sea level rise inundation
Science and Products
Task 3-Coastal Transect Mapping and Landform Change
Structure From Motion
Levee Crest Elevation Profiles
Cliff Metric Development and Analysis
Evaluation and testing of standardized forest vegetation metrics derived from lidar data
Collecting Elevation Data to Understand Climate Change Effects in the Marshall Islands
Science and Products
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Task 3-Coastal Transect Mapping and Landform Change
The area encompassed by Task 3 includes various coastal regions of the Great Lakes, with initial focus on several sites with coastal erosion hazards along the east margin of Lake Michigan. The objectives of Task 3 are listed as follows: 1) Improve automatic procedures of extracting cliff tops and toes; 2) Conduct sensitivity assessment of the automatic procedure of extracting cliff tops and toes...Structure From Motion
Coastal topographic and bathymetric (topobathymetric) data with high spatial resolution (1-meter or better) and high vertical accuracy are needed to assess the vulnerability of Pacific Islands to climate change impacts, including sea-level rise. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports, low-lying atolls in the Pacific Ocean are extremely vulnerable to king tide events...Levee Crest Elevation Profiles
This study explores the feasibility of using high-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) constructed from airborne light detection and ranging (lidar) surveys to develop an automated procedure to extract levee longitudinal elevation profiles for both federal levees in Atchafalaya Basin and local levees in Lafourche Parish, south Louisiana. This approach can successfully accommodate abrupt...Cliff Metric Development and Analysis
Seacliff erosion is a serious hazard with implications for coastal management, infrastructure, and residential dwellings; seacliff erosion is often estimated using successive hand digitized cliff tops or bases to assess cliff retreat. Traditionally the recession of the cliff top or cliff base is obtained from aerial photographs, topographic maps, or in situ surveys. The availability of high...Evaluation and testing of standardized forest vegetation metrics derived from lidar data
The USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) is managing the acquisition of lidar data across the Nation for high resolution mapping of the land surface, useful for multiple applications. Lidar data is initially collected as 3-dimensional “point clouds” that map the interaction of the airborne laser with earth surface features, including vegetation, buildings, and ground features. Generally the product ofCollecting Elevation Data to Understand Climate Change Effects in the Marshall Islands
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports that low-lying atolls (ring-shaped islands or island chains made of coral) in the Pacific Ocean are extremely vulnerable to high tide events (“king tides”), storm surge, tsunamis, and sea-level rise. The Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) spreads over 29 atolls and has a population of over 50,000 people with homes and communities that may b - Data
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