Coastal Erosion

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Introduction

Coastal erosion is a significant climate risk that refers to the process by which coastlines gradually wear away due to the impact of natural forces such as waves, tides, and currents, as well as human activities. It can result in the loss of protective beachfronts, increased flooding, and damage to coastal ecosystems and infrastructure. Understanding and monitoring coastal erosion is crucial for coastal management, planning, and mitigation strategies. The USGS National Shoreline Change project contributes to this understanding by providing critical data on shoreline positions and changes over time.[1]


How climate change impact coastal erosion?

Detailed Description

More storms and higher seas from climate change create more winds, waves, and floods, leading to coastal erosion. Hurricanes can wash away sandy barrier islands, leaving coastlines and islands unprotected from future storm surges. Waves and winds can carry away beach sand little by little, shrinking scenic beaches and exposing human infrastructure to tides and storms. Beaches in South Carolina, Virginia, Louisiana, and Texas have lost more than two meters of shoreline a year over the last century, with costal erosion estimates for much of the country expected to increase in coming decades (LINK). Learn more about USGS work on coastal erosion.   

Dataset Overview

storm-tide monitoring: https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/water-science-school/science/storm-tide-monitoring#overview

  • storm events database by NOAA: https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/stormevents/
  • severe weather data inventory by NOAA https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/severe-weather-data-inventory view https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/maps/swdi/
  • usgs total water level and coastal change forecast viewer: https://coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes/research/twlviewer/
  • https://marine.usgs.gov/coastalchangehazardsportal/ has long and short-term shoreline changes, sea level rise.

Ocean data

  • Daily OISST by NCEI: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/optimum-interpolation-sst
  • NOAA digital coast: https://coast.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/tools/flood-exposure.html

Damage and Loss

  • https://nowcoast.noaa.gov/
  • NOAA digital coast summarizes the useful tools for coastal data https://coast.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/tools/
  • sea level rise viewer by NOAA: The data and maps illustrate potential coastal flooding impact areas and relative depth associated with different scales of sea level rise, as well as potential changes in marsh and other land cover types based on inundation levels. It can be used as a screening-level tool for management decisions. Data download
  • https://coast.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/data/home.html contains a lot of useful data as well as download.
  • digital coast socioeconomic data: https://coast.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/data/
  • digital coast infrastructure data: https://coast.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/data/
  • data.gov: https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/?metadata_type=geospatial
  • Local coastal erosion maps for different scenarios of sea level rise and frequency of storms: https://ourcoastourfuture.org/hazard-map/ https://coast.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/tools/ocof.html
  • community level wildfire risk https://wildfirerisk.org/explore/

Comprehensive mapping tools:

  • https://coast.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/data/.html contains a lot of useful data as well as download.
  • coastal flood exposure mapper: https://coast.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/tools/flood-exposure.html This online visualization tool supports communities that are assessing their coastal hazard risks and vulnerabilities. The tool creates a collection of user-defined maps that show the people, places, and natural resources exposed to coastal flooding. It contains hazard layers (FEMA flood zone, storm surge, sea level rise, and coastal flood hazard composite, ), societal, infrastructure, and ecosystem exposure.
  • https://nar.headwaterseconomics.org/ contains a lot of socioeconomic statistics by county and state
  • Data access viewer: https://coast.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/tools/dav.html This online tool allows a user to search for and download lidar, imagery, and land cover data by user-defined geography. Once found, the data can be downloaded with an easy-to-use checkout interface. Users can select from multiple file formats, projections, and datums.
  • Flood event viewer: https://coast.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/tools/fev.html This interactive map provides viewable and downloadable flood event data from the U.S. Geological Survey's Short-Term Network (STN) database.
  • Climate change indicators by EPA: https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/oceans
  • tide and currents NOAA: https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/map/index.html
  • sea level tracker: https://coast.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/tools/curve.html
  • climate explorer: https://coast.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/tools/climate-explorer.htmlThis tool projects climate conditions in the United States over the coming decades. The information is derived from global climate models and is available for counties and county equivalents for all U.S. states and territories.
  • climate hazard characteristics based on historical data: https://livingatlas.arcgis.com/assessment-tool/explore/map https://coast.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/tools/cmra.html


The USGS National Shoreline Change offers valuable lidar-derived data on mean high water shorelines and associated changes, specifically focusing on the North Carolina coast. This dataset is a vital resource for documenting coastal change and aiding in the management and preservation of vulnerable coastal zones.[2]

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2017 lidar shoreline extents for each region of coastal North Carolina [3]

Publication Information

  • Publication Date: 2023-10-23
  • Citation:
Bartlett, M.K., Farris, A.S., Weber, K.M., and Henderson, R.E., 2023, USGS National Shoreline Change — 2017 lidar-derived mean high water shoreline and associated shoreline change data for coastal North Carolina: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9HYNUNV.

Summary

The USGS has compiled shoreline data for over two decades, creating a record of historical shoreline positions to monitor and analyze national shoreline evolution. The most recent dataset encompasses a newly extracted mean high water (MHW) shoreline from lidar data in 2017 and provides rates of change for both long-term and short-term assessments.[4]

Subregions Covered

  • Northern North Carolina (NCnorth)
  • Central North Carolina (NCcentral)
  • Southern North Carolina (NCsouth)
  • Western North Carolina (NCwest)

Contact Information

  • Point of Contact: Marie K Bartlett
  • Authors: Marie K Bartlett, Amy Farris, Kathryn M Weber, Rachel E. Henderson
  • Publisher: U.S. Geological Survey
  • Data Owner: Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
  • USGS Program: Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program
  • Distributor: U.S. Geological Survey - ScienceBase

Attached Files

  • [Insert link to the file here NC_shoreline_2017.PNG] - "2017 lidar shoreline extents for each region of coastal North Carolina" (thumbnail, 2.98 MB, image/png)

Related Resources

Communities & Tags

  • USGS Data Release Products
  • Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
  • Tags: coastal processes, erosion, geospatial datasets, shoreline accretion

Additional Information

  • Provenance: On 20231024, V. Cross removed redundant zip files from each data page.
  • Identifiers: doi:10.5066/P9HYNUNV

References

  1. ↑ USGS DSAS Project, US Geological Survey.
  2. ↑ Dataset Citation, U.S. Geological Survey data release.
  3. ↑ https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/file/get/64de3810d34e5f6cd5533c78?f=__disk__ed%2Fc5%2Fdb%2Fedc5db482275f91576ae44129d869fcc1854cbde&allowOpen=true
  4. ↑ Dataset Summary, U.S. Geological Survey data release.
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