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Explore scientific publications from the USGS St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center.

Filter Total Items: 919

Analysis of bathymetric surveys to identify coastal vulnerabilities at Cape Canaveral, Florida

Cape Canaveral, Florida, is a prominent feature along the Southeast U.S. coastline. The region includes Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, and a large portion of Canaveral National Seashore. The actual promontory of the modern Cape falls within the jurisdictional boundaries of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Erosion hazards res
Authors
David M. Thompson, Nathaniel G. Plant, Mark E. Hansen

Baseline coastal oblique aerial photographs collected from the Virginia/North Carolina border to Montauk Point, New York, October 5-6, 2014

Summary The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducts baseline and storm response photography missions to document and understand the changes in vulnerability of the Nation's coasts to extreme storms (Morgan, 2009). On October 5-6, 2014, the USGS conducted an oblique aerial photographic survey from the Virginia/North Carolina border to Montauk Point, New York, aboard a Cessna 182 at an altitude of 50
Authors
Karen L. M. Morgan

National assessment of nor’easter-induced coastal erosion hazards: mid- and northeast Atlantic coast

Beaches serve as a natural buffer between the ocean and inland communities, ecosystems, and natural resources. However, these dynamic environments move and change in response to winds, waves, and currents. During extreme storms, changes to beaches can be great, and the results are sometimes catastrophic. Lives may be lost, communities destroyed, and millions of dollars spent on rebuilding. During
Authors
Justin J. Birchler, P. Soupy Dalyander, Hilary F. Stockdon, Kara S. Doran

Sedimentological and radiochemical characteristics of marsh deposits from Assateague Island and the adjacent vicinity, Maryland and Virginia, following Hurricane Sandy

The effect of tropical and extratropical cyclones on coastal wetlands and marshes is highly variable and depends on a number of climatic, geologic, and physical variables. The impacts of storms can be either positive or negative with respect to the wetland and marsh ecosystems. Small to moderate amounts of inorganic sediment added to the marsh surface during storms or other events help to abate pr
Authors
Christopher G. Smith, Marci E. Marot, Alisha M. Ellis, Cathryn J. Wheaton, Julie Bernier, C. Scott Adams

Baseline coastal oblique aerial photographs collected from Key Largo, Florida, to the Florida/Georgia border, September 5-6, 2014

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducts baseline and storm response photography missions to document and understand the changes in vulnerability of the Nation's coasts to extreme storms (Morgan, 2009). On September 5-6, 2014, the USGS conducted an oblique aerial photographic survey from Key Largo, Florida, to the Florida/Georgia border (Figure 1), aboard a Cessna 182 at an altitude of 500 feet
Authors
Karen L. M. Morgan

Biological and geochemical data along Indian Point, Vermilion Bay, Louisiana

Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center collected shallow sediment cores and surface samples from a coastal salt marsh environment next to Vermilion Bay in southwest Louisiana in January 2013. The sampling was part of a larger USGS study to gather data for assessing environmental changes over the past 150 years. The objective of the study was to
Authors
Kathryn A. Richwine, Marci E. Marot, Christopher G. Smith, Lisa E. Osterman, C. Scott Adams

Modelling multi-hazard hurricane damages on an urbanized coast with a Bayesian Network approach

Hurricane flood impacts to residential buildings in coastal zones are caused by a number of hazards, such as inundation, overflow currents, erosion, and wave attack. However, traditional hurricane damage models typically make use of stage-damage functions, where the stage is related to flooding depth only. Moreover, these models are deterministic and do not consider the large amount of uncertainty
Authors
H.C.W. van Verseveld, A. R. Van Dongeren, Nathaniel G. Plant, W.S. Jäger, C. den Heijer

Baseline Coastal Oblique Aerial Photographs Collected from Navarre Beach, Florida, to Breton Island, Louisiana, September 1, 2014

Summary The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), as part of the National Assessment for Coastal Change Hazards Project, conducts baseline and storm response photography missions to document and understand the changes in vulnerability of the Nation's coasts to extreme storms (Morgan, 2009). On September 1, 2014, the USGS conducted an oblique aerial photographic survey from Navarre Beach, Florida, to Bret
Authors
Karen L. M. Morgan

Introduction to this special issue on ocean acidification: the pathway from science to policy

Ocean acidification (OA) is a progressive decrease in the pH of seawater over decades, caused primarily by uptake of excess atmospheric CO2 and accompanied by changes in seawater carbonate chemistry. Scientific studies designed to examine the effects of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions on global carbon fluxes have also led to the detection of OA. During the last decade, this phenomenon
Authors
Jeremy T. Mathis, Sarah R. Cooley, Kimberly K. Yates, Phillip Williamson

Transdisciplinary science: a path to understanding the interactions among ocean acidification, ecosystems, and society

The global nature of ocean acidification (OA) transcends habitats, ecosystems, regions, and science disciplines. The scientific community recognizes that the biggest challenge in improving understanding of how changing OA conditions affect ecosystems, and associated consequences for human society, requires integration of experimental, observational, and modeling approaches from many disciplines ov
Authors
Kimberly K. Yates, Carol Turley, Brian M. Hopkinson, Anne E. Todgham, Jessica N. Cross, Holly Greening, Phillip Williamson, Ruben Van Hooidonk, Dimitri D. Deheyn, Zachary C. Johnson

How well can wave runup be predicted? comment on Laudier et al. (2011) and Stockdon et al. (2006)

Laudier et al. (2011) suggested that there may be a systematic bias error in runup predictions using a model developed by Stockdon et al. (2006). Laudier et al. tested cases that sampled beach and wave conditions that differed from those used to develop the Stockdon et al. model. Based on our re-analysis, we found that in two of the three Laudier et al. cases observed overtopping was actually cons
Authors
Nathaniel G. Plant, Hilary F. Stockdon

Baseline coastal oblique aerial photographs collected from Owls Head, Maine, to the Virginia/North Carolina border, May 19-22, 2009

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducts baseline and storm response photography missions to document and understand the changes in vulnerability of the Nation's coasts to extreme storms. On May 19-22, 2009, the USGS conducted an oblique aerial photographic survey from Owls Head, Maine, to the Virginia/North Carolina border aboard a Cessna 207A at an altitude of 500 feet (ft) and approximately 1
Authors
Karen L.M. Morgan, Cheryl J. Hapke, Emily A. Himmelstoss