Benthic Habitat Morphodynamics-Using Remote Sensing to Quantify Storm-Induced Changes in Nearshore Bathymetry and Surface Sediment Texture at Assateague National Seashore

Abstract

This study utilizes repeated geoacoustic mapping to quantify the morphodynamic response of the nearshore to storm-induced changes. The aim of this study was to quantitatively map the nearshore zone of Assateague Island National Seashore (ASIS) to determine what changes in bottom geomorphology and benthic habitats are attributable to storm events including hurricane Sandy and the passage of hurricane Joaquin. Specifically, (1) the entire domain of the National Parks Service offshore area was mapped with side-scan sonar and multibeam bathymetry at a resolution comparable to that of the existing pre-storm survey, (2) a subset of the benthic stations were resampled that represented all sediment strata previously identified, and (3) newly obtained data were compared to that from the pre-storm survey to determined changes that could be attributed to specific storms such as Sandy and Joaquin. Capturing event specific dynamics requires rapid response surveys in close temporal association of the before and after period. The time-lapse between the pre-storm surveys for Sandy and our study meant that only a time and storm integrated signature for that storm could be obtained whereas with hurricane Joaquin we could identify impacts to the habitat type and geomorphology more directly related to that particular storm. This storm impacts study provides for the National Park Service direct documentation of storm-related changes in sediments and marine habitats on multiple scales: From large scale, side-scan sonar maps and interpretation of acoustic bottom types, to characterize as fully as possible habitats from 1 to 10 m up to many kilometer scales, as well as from point benthic samples within each sediment stratum and these results can help guide management of the island resources.

Copernicus Sentinel imagery for more risk-resilient historic cities in coastal zones: contribution to the monitoring of Albenga archaeological site and delta of river Centa

“…Specific examples on the use of Sentinel-2 data, often integrated with SAR techniques, can be found in the study of flooding events affecting Bosra WHS and Sergiopolis site in Syria (Tapete and Cigna 2020) or in a study on monitoring soil erosion of Paphos WHS situated at south-west coastal area of Cyprus (Cuca and Agapiou 2017). When considering the estimation of how extreme flooding events effect nearshore areas, literature suggests remote sensing as essential data source for evaluation of effects on nearshore bathymetry due to storm-induced changes (Trembanis et al 2019), while in Alicandro et al (2019), authors evaluate a series of algorithms for shoreline detection (and its possible variations) on highresolution imagery.…”

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“…I am grateful to all the colleagues who played a role in the drafting of this Special Issue [4][5][6][7][8][9][10], as they have allowed a good overview of all multiscale remote sensing techniques (high resolution images, photogrammetry, SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar), GNSS, etc.) and a whole array of methods and techniques for the processing, analysis and discussion of multitemporal remotely sensed data.…”