A Shoreline Morphology Monitoring Program for Coastal Washington
Presentation Abstract
Understanding the influence of natural and anthropogenic stressors and impacts on shorelines in Puget Sound is facilitated by data that permits analysis across spatial and temporal scales. In much of coastal Washington, though, shoreline data sets that are accurate, accessible and that cut across multiple time steps simply do not exist. This gap relegates our understanding of how shorelines have changed over time in Puget Sound to the realm of anecdote. As a consequence it also limits management effectiveness since the link between action and consequence in shoreline environments is often clouded with uncertainty.
In order to address this gap Washington Sea Grant began a pilot program to measure season or annual beach morphology data at a number of sites in the Strait of Juan de Fuca starting in 2011. The program is designed to be long-term, and specifically to understand how shorelines respond to sea level rise and variability. In this poster presentation we will discuss the design of the program, and also share preliminary results from a selection of sites.
Session Title
Long term studies reveal the complex dynamics and interconnectivity of the physical, geomorphic, biological systems of Salish Sea shorelines and how these systems interact with social and political systems
Conference Track
Shorelines
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2016 : Vancouver, B.C.)
Document Type
Event
Start Date
2016 12:00 AM
End Date
2016 12:00 AM
Location
2016SSEC
Type of Presentation
Poster
Genre/Form
conference proceedings; presentations (communicative events); posters
Contributing Repository
Digital content made available by University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Shorelines--Monitoring--Washington (State)--Puget Sound
Geographic Coverage
Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.); Puget Sound (Wash.)
Rights
This resource is displayed for educational purposes only and may be subject to U.S. and international copyright laws. For more information about rights or obtaining copies of this resource, please contact University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225-9103, USA (360-650-7534; heritage.resources@wwu.edu) and refer to the collection name and identifier. Any materials cited must be attributed to the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference Records, University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Type
Text
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
A Shoreline Morphology Monitoring Program for Coastal Washington
2016SSEC
Understanding the influence of natural and anthropogenic stressors and impacts on shorelines in Puget Sound is facilitated by data that permits analysis across spatial and temporal scales. In much of coastal Washington, though, shoreline data sets that are accurate, accessible and that cut across multiple time steps simply do not exist. This gap relegates our understanding of how shorelines have changed over time in Puget Sound to the realm of anecdote. As a consequence it also limits management effectiveness since the link between action and consequence in shoreline environments is often clouded with uncertainty.
In order to address this gap Washington Sea Grant began a pilot program to measure season or annual beach morphology data at a number of sites in the Strait of Juan de Fuca starting in 2011. The program is designed to be long-term, and specifically to understand how shorelines respond to sea level rise and variability. In this poster presentation we will discuss the design of the program, and also share preliminary results from a selection of sites.
Comments
see http://coastnerd.blogspot.com/2014/04/tracking-new-shorelines.html for more information