Christine J. Kranenburg

Land Loss Due to Recent Hurricanes in Coastal Louisiana, U.S.A.

ABSTRACT Palaneasu-Lovejoy, M.; Kranenburg, C.; Barras, J.A., and Brock, J.C., 2013. Land loss due to recent hurricanes in coastal Louisiana, U.S.A.. In: Brock, J.C.; Barras, J.A., and Williams, S.J. (eds.), Understanding and Predicting Change in the Coastal Ecosystems of the Northern Gulf of Mexico, Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 63, pp. 97–109, Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. The aim of this study is to improve estimates of wetland land loss in two study regions of coastal Louisiana, U.S.A., due to the extreme storms that impacted the region between 2004 and 2009. The estimates are based on change-detection-mapping analysis that incorporates pre and postlandfall (Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav, and Ike) fractional-water classifications using a combination of high-resolution (<5 m) QuickBird, IKONOS, and GeoEye-1, and medium-resolution (30 m) Landsat Thematic Mapper satellite imagery. This process was applied in two study areas: the Hackberry area located in the southwestern part of chenier plain that was impacted by Hurricanes Rita (September 24, 2005) and Ike (September 13, 2008), and the Delacroix area located in the eastern delta plain that was impacted by Hurricanes Katrina (August 29, 2005) and Gustav (September 1, 2008). In both areas, effects of the hurricanes include enlargement of existing bodies of open water and erosion of fringing marsh areas. Surge-removed marsh was easily identified in stable marshes but was difficult to identify in degraded or flooded marshes. Persistent land loss in the Hackberry area due to Hurricane Rita was approximately 5.8% and increased by an additional 7.9% due to Hurricane Ike, although this additional area may yet recover. About 80% of the Hackberry study area remained unchanged since 2003. In the Delacroix area, persistent land loss due to Hurricane Katrina measured approximately 4.9% of the study area, while Hurricane Gustav caused minimal impact of 0.6% land loss by November 2009. Continued recovery in this area may further erase Hurricane Gustavs impact in the absence of new storm events.

Depth Calibration and Validation of the Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar, EAARL-B

ABSTRACT Wright, C.W.; Kranenburg, C.; Battista, T.A., and Parrish, C., 2016. Depth calibration and validation of the Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar, EAARL-B. In: Brock, J.C.; Gesch, D.B.; Parrish, C.E.; Rogers, J.N., and Wright, C.W. (eds.), Advances in Topobathymetric Mapping, Models, and Applications. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue, No. 76, pp. 4–17. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. The original National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar (EAARL), was extensively modified to increase the spatial sampling density and improve performance in water ranging from 3–44 m. The new (EAARL-B) sensor features a 300% increase in spatial density, which was achieved by optically splitting each laser pulse into 3 pulses spatially separated by 1.6 m along the flight track and 2.0 m across-track on the water surface when flown at a nominal altitude of 300 m. Improved depth capability was achieved by increasing the total peak laser power by a factor of 10, and incorporating a new “deep-water” receiver, optimized to exclusively receive refracted and scattered light from deeper water (15–44 m). Two clear-water missions were conducted to determine the EAARL-B depth calibration coefficients. The calibration mission was conducted over the U.S. Navys South Florida Testing Facility (SFTF), an established lidar calibration range located in the coastal waters southeast of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. A second mission was conducted over Lang Bank, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. The EAARL-B survey was spatially and temporally coincident with multibeam sonar surveys conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ship Nancy Foster. The NOAA depth data range from 10–100 m, whereas the EAARL-B captured data from 0–41 m. Coefficients derived from the SFTF calibration mission were used to correct the EAARL-B data from both missions. The resulting calibrated EAARL-B data were then compared with the original reference dataset, a jet-ski-based single beam sonar dataset from the SFTF site, and the deeper NOAA data from St. Croix. Additionally, EAARL-B depth accuracy was evaluated by comparing the depth results to International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) standards. Results show good agreement between the calibrated EAARL-B data and all three reference datasets, with 95% confidence levels well within the maximum allowable total vertical uncertainty for IHO Order 1 surveys.

EAARL-B submerged topography—Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, 2014

ASCII XYZ point cloud data for a portion of the submerged environs of Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, was produced from remotely sensed, geographically referenced elevation measurements collected on March 11, 19, and 21, 2014 by the U.S. Geological Survey, in collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Coral Reef Conservation Program. Elevation measurements were collected over the area using the second-generation Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar (EAARL-B), a pulsed laser ranging system mounted onboard an aircraft to measure ground elevation, vegetation canopy, and coastal topography. The system uses high-frequency laser beams directed at the Earths surface through an opening in the bottom of the aircrafts fuselage. The laser system records the time difference between emission of the laser beam and the reception of the reflected laser signal in the aircraft. The plane travels over the target area at approximately 55 meters per second at an elevation of approximately 300 meters, resulting in a laser swath of approximately 240 meters with an average point spacing of 0.5?1.6 meters. The nominal vertical elevation accuracy expressed as the root mean square error (RMSE) is 13.5 centimeters. A peak sampling rate of 15?30 kilohertz results in an extremely dense spatial elevation dataset. More than 100 kilometers of coastline can be surveyed easily within a 3- to 4-hour mission. When resultant elevation maps for an area are analyzed, they provide a useful tool to make management decisions regarding land development.

Archive of bathymetry data collected at Cape Canaveral, Florida, 2014

The Cape Canaveral Coastal System (CCCS) is a prominent feature along the Southeast U.S. coastline and is the only large cape south of Cape Fear, North Carolina. Most of the CCCS lies within the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and included in its boundaries are the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS), NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC), and a large portion of Canaveral National Seashore. The actual promontory of the modern cape falls within the jurisdictional boundaries of the CCAFS. These various agencies have ongoing concerns related to erosion hazards and vulnerability of the system including critical infrastructure, habitats, and recreational and cultural resources. The USGS conducted a bathymetric mapping survey August 18-20, 2014, in the Atlantic Ocean offshore of Cape Canaveral, Florida (USGS Field Activity Number 2014-324-FA). The study area covered an area extending south from Port Canaveral, Florida, to the northern end of the KSC property and from the shoreline to about 2.5 km offshore. Bathymetric data were collected with single-beam sonar- and lidar-based systems. Two jet skis and a 17-ft outboard motor boat equipped with the USGS SANDS hydrographic system collected precision sonar data. The sonar operations were conducted in three missions, one on each day, with the boat and jet skis operating concurrently. The USGS airborne EAARL-B mapping system flown in a twin engine plane was used to collect lidar data. The lidar operations were conducted in three missions, one in the afternoon of August 19, 2015, and two more in the morning and afternoon of August 20, 2014. The missions were synchronized such that there was some temporal and spatial overlap between the sonar and lidar operations. Additional data were collected to evaluate the actual water clarity corresponding to lidars ability to receive bathymetric returns. This dataset serves as an archive of processed single-beam and lidar bathymetry data collected at Cape Canaveral, Florida, in 2014 (in XYZ comma delimited, ASCII and shapefile format). Also included in this archive are Geographic Information System (GIS) data products: gridded map data (in ESRI binary and ASCII grid format), and a color-coded bathymetry map (in PDF format).The Cape Canaveral Coastal System (CCCS) is a prominent feature along the Southeast U.S. coastline and is the only large cape south of Cape Fear, North Carolina. Most of the CCCS lies within the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and included in its boundaries are the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS), NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC), and a large portion of Canaveral National Seashore. The actual promontory of the modern cape falls within the jurisdictional boundaries of the CCAFS. These various agencies have ongoing concerns related to erosion hazards and vulnerability of the system including critical infrastructure, habitats, and recreational and cultural resources. The USGS conducted a bathymetric mapping survey August 18-20, 2014, in the Atlantic Ocean offshore of Cape Canaveral, Florida (USGS Field Activity Number 2014-324-FA). The study area covered an area extending south from Port Canaveral, Florida, to the northern end of the KSC property and from the shoreline to about 2.5 km offshore. Bathymetric data were collected with single-beam sonar- and lidar-based systems. Two jet skis and a 17-ft outboard motor boat equipped with the USGS SANDS hydrographic system collected precision sonar data. The sonar operations were conducted in three missions, one on each day, with the boat and jet skis operating concurrently. The USGS airborne EAARL-B mapping system flown in a twin engine plane was used to collect lidar data. The lidar operations were conducted in three missions, one in the afternoon of August 19, 2015, and two more in the morning and afternoon of August 20, 2014. The missions were synchronized such that there was some temporal and spatial overlap between the sonar and lidar operations. Additional data were collected to evaluate the actual water clarity corresponding to lidars ability to receive bathymetric returns. This dataset serves as an archive of processed single-beam and lidar bathymetry data collected at Cape Canaveral, Florida, in 2014 (in XYZ comma delimited, ASCII and shapefile format). Also included in this archive are Geographic Information System (GIS) data products: gridded map data (in ESRI binary and ASCII grid format), and a color-coded bathymetry map (in PDF format).