shoreline, inletLines: Shoreline polygons and tidal inlet delineations: Fire Island, NY, 2014
Dates
Publication Date
2019-06-25
Start Date
2013-11
End Date
2014-06
Citation
Sturdivant, E.J., Zeigler, S.L., Gutierrez, B.T., and Weber, K.M., 2019, Barrier island geomorphology and shorebird habitat metrics–Four sites in New York, New Jersey, and Virginia, 2010–2014: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P944FPA4.
Summary
Understanding how sea-level rise will affect coastal landforms and the species and habitats they support is critical for crafting approaches that balance the needs of humans and native species. Given this increasing need to forecast sea-level rise effects on barrier islands in the near and long terms, we are developing Bayesian networks to evaluate and to forecast the cascading effects of sea-level rise on shoreline change, barrier island state, and piping plover habitat availability. We use publicly available data products, such as lidar, orthophotography, and geomorphic feature sets derived from those, to extract metrics of barrier island characteristics at consistent sampling distances. The metrics are then incorporated into predictive [...]
Summary
Understanding how sea-level rise will affect coastal landforms and the species and habitats they support is critical for crafting approaches that balance the needs of humans and native species. Given this increasing need to forecast sea-level rise effects on barrier islands in the near and long terms, we are developing Bayesian networks to evaluate and to forecast the cascading effects of sea-level rise on shoreline change, barrier island state, and piping plover habitat availability. We use publicly available data products, such as lidar, orthophotography, and geomorphic feature sets derived from those, to extract metrics of barrier island characteristics at consistent sampling distances. The metrics are then incorporated into predictive models and the training data used to parameterize those models. This data release contains the extracted metrics of barrier island geomorphology and spatial data layers of habitat characteristics that are input to Bayesian networks for piping plover habitat availability and barrier island geomorphology. These datasets and models are being developed for sites along the northeastern coast of the United States. This work is one component of a larger research and management program that seeks to understand and sustain the ecological value, ecosystem services, and habitat suitability of beaches in the face of storm impacts, climate change, and sea-level rise.
Zeigler, S.L., Sturdivant, E.J., and Gutierrez, B.T., 2019, Evaluating barrier island characteristics and piping plover (Charadrius melodus) habitat availability along the U.S. Atlantic coast—Geospatial approaches and methodology: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2019–1071, https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20191071.
Zeigler, S.L., Gutierrez, B.T., Sturdivant, E.J., Catlin, D.H., Fraser, J.D., Hecht, A., Karpanty, S.M., Plant, N.G., and Thieler, E.R., 2019, Using a Bayesian network to understand the importance of coastal storms and undeveloped landscapes for the creation and maintenance of early successional habitat: PLoS ONE, v. 14, no. 7, e0209986, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0209986.
The shoreline polygons (fiis14_shoreline.shp) are a generalized delineation of the mean high water (MHW) position on the seaward face of the island and mean tidal level (MTL, average of MHW and mean low water) position on the inland face. They delineate the shoreline for the purposes of this study. These polygons were used to convert the transects to 5-m points and to measure island width, distance to inlet from each transect, and position of the shoreline (see larger work). In addition, the inlet delineation polylines (fiis14_inletLines.shp) use single straight line segments to roughly locate each side of tidal inlets for the barrier island study area. These lines were used (1) to designate the transition between ocean-facing and land-facing sides of the barrier island and (2) to measure the distance to tidal inlet in the 5-m points dataset (see larger work). They were created manually to cross the MHW contour line on each side of a tidal inlet within the study area.
Preview Image
Example shoreline polygon (black) and inlet delineation (red line) overlain o...