Current Projects
IOOS Applications
The Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) captures and delivers ocean-related data, making more data available to a wider audience. The goal of the IOOS Applications project is to demonstrate and promote the real-world value of IOOS data and the benefits of machine-to-machine data interoperability. Four projects are underway that demonstrate IOOS applications: the Chesapeake Bay Oyster Larvae Tracker (CBOLT), the Oregon Coastal Inundation Tool, the harmful algal bloom bulletin, and the coastal climatology project. This application project will showcase these tools to show how IOOS data are being used to make a difference. (ongoing)
NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office Support
The goal of this project is to ensure that the remote sensing needs for the Chesapeake Bay and Mid-Atlantic region are identified, gathered, communicated, and met. The project reviews regional remote-sensing product validation requirements and identifies development opportunities that integrate remote-sensing data with other data sets and decision-support tools in the Chesapeake region. (ongoing)
Topographic and Bathymetric Applications
The NOAA Coastal Services Center provides information about the availability of topographic and bathymetric data sets and assists coastal managers in working with these sets—particularly in relation to storm surge and inundation modeling. The focus for 2008 is to develop a data inventory for Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia and to develop guidance documents describing the coastal management applications of topography and bathymetry. (ongoing)
Climate and Weather Impacts on Society and the Environment 2 (CWISE2)
Organizations involved in this four-year cooperative agreement will study the physical, socioeconomic, and ecosystem impacts of sea-level variability and change. These organizations will also develop decision-support resources to help communities from Texas to Maryland increase resilience to impacts of erosion and inundation in a scenario of sea-level change. (ongoing)
Integrated Ocean Observing System Applications
The NOAA Coastal Services Center is working with data providers to ensure that ocean data is available and useful to the widest possible audience. This project involves four efforts that use ocean observing system data: the Chesapeake Bay Oyster Larvae Tracker (CBOLT), the Oregon Coastal Inundation Tool, the harmful algal bloom bulletin, and the coastal climatology project. These tools and their development will be shared with others in the hope of increasing the use of ocean data throughout the coastal zone. (2006-2008)
NOAA Fisheries' Community-Based Restoration Program and Cooperative Habitat Protection Program
The common goal of these two programs is to help practitioners and coastal managers implement ecosystem-based management practices to increase the number of habitat acres restored or conserved. The Center has particular expertise in the planning aspects. For 2007–2008, the project will involve the development of information resources and tools that improve and enhance shoreline restoration and protection in the Chesepeake Bay. (ongoing)
Regional Coastal Water Quality
Coastal water quality and nonpoint-source pollution are priority watershed issues for coastal communities. Participation from the Center’s regional staff play an important role in many of these efforts. In California, staff provides key support for the development of a statewide water quality education and technical assistance organization, the California Water and Land Use Partnership. Staff in the mid-Atlantic initiated the Chesapeake Bay Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials (NEMO) program in partnership with the National NEMO Network and Center for Watershed Protection. In the Northeast, an assessment of the existing efforts in the Gulf of Maine watershed is being undertaken to help the organization decide how to focus its efforts more strategically. (2006-2008)
NOAA Regional Collaboration Support
NOAA regional collaboration is an effort to improve NOAA products, services, partnerships, and stakeholder relations. The effort is led by eight newly established regional teams and four national priority area task teams. These teams work together to represent NOAA’s regional and national capabilities. They provide the coordination necessary for NOAA to address regionally distinct priorities and its own national priorities of hazard-resilient communities, integrated ecosystem assessments, integrated water resource services, and outreach and communication. The NOAA Coastal Services Center currently has one or more members on five of the eight regional teams (Gulf of Mexico, North Atlantic, Pacific, Western, and Southeast and Caribbean) and two of four priority area task teams (hazard-resilient coastal communities and outreach and communications). This includes leadership of the Pacific region, the Southeast and Caribbean region, the New England sub-region of the North Atlantic, and the hazard-resilient coastal communities priority area task teams. (ongoing)
Land Cover Mapping
Nothing provides a big picture view of land cover status better than these maps, which are developed using remote sensing technology.
The NOAA Coastal Services Center has baseline land cover data for most of the coastal zone. The goal is to update the imagery every five years
to also provide a means of detecting change or trends. The data is available free of charge from csc.noaa.gov/landcover.
Completed Projects
Bathymetric Survey of Chincoteauge Bay
The Maryland Geologic Survey is conducting systematic hydrographic surveys in the Maryland portion of Chincoteague Bay. The Center is using the hydrographic survey data to develop a detailed bathymetric model of coastal bays, which will serve as an accurate baseline for comparison with future surveys. This model data can also serve as a useful guide for managing navigation channels and boating activities. This cooperative agreement will produce the first set of detailed bathymetric data for Chincoteague Bay, which is essential for state and local agencies' navigation and resource management.
Beach Nourishment on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the U.S.
This project helps state and local governments along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the U.S. make informed decisions about the nourishment of beaches by consolidating the best scientific and technical information and tools for evaluating and understanding beach nourishment into one source. This resource is a user-friendly Web site that includes relevant information and tools from the fields of coastal geology, engineering, economics, law and policy, and the biological sciences.
Chesapeake Bay Land Cover and Change Data
This prototype project mapped terrestrial land cover in coastal watershed environments and identified changes in these areas that occurred between 1984 and 1989. The project relied on satellite multispectral imagery as the primary information source. These data were statistically analyzed and interpreted to distinguish major land cover classes, and previous images were studied to locate areas that changed over time. For this project, the data were acquired according to the Center’s Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP) methods.
Coastal Management Fellowship
A Coastal Management Fellow worked with the Maryland Coastal Zone Management Division to aid in developing policy response options for sea level rise. The project goals were to determine Maryland’s current ability to respond to sea level rise, to increase public awareness of coastal hazard issues related to sea level rise, and to enhance the state’s ability to plan for this issue.
Coastal Management Fellowship
A Coastal Management Fellow worked with the Maryland Coastal Zone Management Division on a project entitled “Designing a Comprehensive and Regional Approach for Shore Erosion Control in the State of Maryland.” The project focused on the development of a comprehensive shore protection plan and an effort to increase the public’s understanding of coastal erosion processes.
CZMA Bibliographies
The Center's library has cataloged NOAA's Coastal Zone Information Center collection, produced by state coastal management programs under the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA). This collection contains documents that span a number of coastal topics and includes brochures, management plans, and legislative information. A bibliography of this information for the Chesapeake Bay area will be available beginning in 2003.
Maryland Coastal Bays Sensitive Areas Management Plan
The purpose of this grant is to continue the Maryland Coastal Bays Sensitive Areas Initiative by focusing on development of a management plan and public outreach and input. The goal is to create a management plan that will provide preferred alternatives for balancing sensitive aquatic resources with water-based activities in Maryland's coastal bays, while increasing public awareness of the sensitive resources in the bays.
Ocean Color Applications Project
Through this project, processing and classification techniques were developed to evaluate coastal water quality and biological and geologic variables based on remote sensing data from satellite or aircraft. Data on the bio-optical characteristics of diverse U.S. coastal waters were collected. These data are used to validate satellite measurements used for ocean color data products.
Protected Areas GIS (PAGIS)
The PAGIS project brought compatible geographic information systems (GIS), geographic data management, and Internet capabilities to each of the nation’s 25 Estuarine Research Reserves and 13 Marine Sanctuaries. Through PAGIS, the reserves and sanctuaries also developed advanced data sets, underwent extensive training, and found innovative ways to make the most effective use of their new data and technological capabilities.
Sensor Testbed
This project supported the initiation of a national testbed program that fosters the development and application of new and improved in situ sensors, platforms, and telemetry systems for coastal and ocean monitoring. Program administration, planning, and some primary technical functions were conducted at a central facility. Field activities were carried out among a national network of collaborating institutions, facilities, and sites.
Topographic Change Mapping
High-resolution Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) measurements of coastal beach topography were made during 1996, 1997, and 1998. These measurements can be used for beach change studies and are available to the public.
