Integration of Processes over Different Spatial and Temporal Scales
This research uses state-of-the-art observations, numerical models, and model-data assimilation techniques to better understand their cumulative effect on coastal change.
Coastal change is driven by processes that vary significantly in both space and time. Beach and shoreline evolution occur due to seasonal changes in summer/winter wave environments, extreme storm events, changes in natural sand supply and transport, alongshore variations in coastal geomorphology (cliffs, sandy beaches, vegetated marshes, engineered vs. non-engineered coastlines) and elevated water levels caused by long-term sea-level rise.
The complexity of coastal change lies, in part, in understanding how these processes interact with each other to shape the Nation's evolving coastal landscape. As part of the National Assessment of Coastal Change Hazards Project (NACCH), the USGS is actively researching methods to integrate the numerous coastal processes that drive and impact coastal change. The goal is to combine advances from the individual research tasks within the NACCH Project (storms, shoreline change and sea-level rise) using state-of-the-art observations, numerical models, and model-data assimilation techniques to better understand their cumulative effect on coastal change.
Objectives
- Develop a generalized methodology to predict short- and long-term coastal change (shoreline and cliff positions and trends) that can be applied at a National scale.
- Identify the coastal change resulting from the cumulative impact of extreme storms versus long-term processes including sea-level rise.
- Relate varying scales of coastal change to the oceanographic processes that drive erosion and accretion.
- Determine the dominant interactions between sandy shorelines, bluffs and cliffs, and varying geomorphic characteristics that impact coastal change.
Below are research tasks and science projects associated with this project.
National Assessment of Coastal Change Hazards
Forecasting Coastal Change
National Assessment of Coastal Vulnerability to Sea Level Rise
Long-Term Coastal Change
This research uses state-of-the-art observations, numerical models, and model-data assimilation techniques to better understand their cumulative effect on coastal change.
Coastal change is driven by processes that vary significantly in both space and time. Beach and shoreline evolution occur due to seasonal changes in summer/winter wave environments, extreme storm events, changes in natural sand supply and transport, alongshore variations in coastal geomorphology (cliffs, sandy beaches, vegetated marshes, engineered vs. non-engineered coastlines) and elevated water levels caused by long-term sea-level rise.
The complexity of coastal change lies, in part, in understanding how these processes interact with each other to shape the Nation's evolving coastal landscape. As part of the National Assessment of Coastal Change Hazards Project (NACCH), the USGS is actively researching methods to integrate the numerous coastal processes that drive and impact coastal change. The goal is to combine advances from the individual research tasks within the NACCH Project (storms, shoreline change and sea-level rise) using state-of-the-art observations, numerical models, and model-data assimilation techniques to better understand their cumulative effect on coastal change.
Objectives
- Develop a generalized methodology to predict short- and long-term coastal change (shoreline and cliff positions and trends) that can be applied at a National scale.
- Identify the coastal change resulting from the cumulative impact of extreme storms versus long-term processes including sea-level rise.
- Relate varying scales of coastal change to the oceanographic processes that drive erosion and accretion.
- Determine the dominant interactions between sandy shorelines, bluffs and cliffs, and varying geomorphic characteristics that impact coastal change.
Below are research tasks and science projects associated with this project.