Coastal Services Center

Current Projects

Gulf Coast Services Center Coordination

A full range of intensive NOAA services is needed in the Gulf Coast, hence the creation of the regional office of the NOAA Coastal Services Center, the NOAA Gulf Coast Services Center. While the office is small, staff members reach throughout NOAA and other agencies to bring to the Gulf the products and services most needed. The vision for the Gulf Coast Services Center is to provide technical expertise, financial assistance, training, and capacity building to local and state coastal resource and emergency management agencies. (ongoing)

Efforts include implementation of the Gulf of Mexico Alliance’s “Governors’ Action Plan for Healthy and Resilient Coasts,” providing support to the Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System, and collaborating closely on projects with the proposed Northern Gulf of Mexico Cooperative Institute. High-priority management and administration issues for the Gulf include hazards and coastal storms, integrated ocean observing systems, mapping and change analysis, community resilience, and outreach, education, and training of coastal managers.

Social Assessment Technical Assistance

This project will document cultural and historical sites and practices related to traditional lifestyles, including fishing and timber harvesting, and identify social and cultural factors that influence community support for coastal conservation. Specifically, the project will develop characterizations describing reciprocal relationships between communities and natural resources in Humboldt Bay, California, and Carabelle, Florida. Also, a regional roundtable of natural resource management professionals, applied social scientists, and allied stakeholders will convene to identify cultural and historical sites, practices, and values, as well as related data gaps and applied social science approaches necessary to integrate social and cultural information into ecosystem-based management decision-making. (2007-2008)

Climate Demonstration Project

While climate is an important factor for all coastal communities, coastal officials often don’t know where to access climate information or how to incorporate this information into their decision-making processes. Two pilot websites were developed for the Southeast to address this issue—one for recreation and tourism (www.cormp.org/climate/) and another for recreational and commercial fishing (www.coastalclimate.org). The content and utility of these sites will be reviewed in 2008, as well as the possibility of a pilot project for Pacific shellfish growers (www.nanoos-shellfish.org). (2005-2009)

Collaboration with NOAA Fisheries

The NOAA Coastal Services Center and NOAA Fisheries’ Office of Habitat Conservation (OHC) partner to help coastal managers and communities implement ecosystem-based management practices for coastal habitat conservation and restoration. Technical support and seed funding may be provided to support practitioners and professionals in collaborative habitat restoration and conservation planning. In 2008, the Center and OHC are hosting a workshop on barrier removal to achieve tidal hydrology restoration in the Southeast region. It will provide an opportunity for the restoration community to share lessons learned. From this workshop, technical guidance will be developed to enhance tidal hydrology restoration. (ongoing)

Geospatial Collaboration with the National Weather Service

The NOAA Coastal Services Center partners with the National Weather Service (NWS) to improve the geospatial display and delivery of products and services related to weather, water, and climate. The focus for 2008 includes inland flood severity mapping, geospatial technical support to the National Hurricane Center, technical support to the Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service, techniques to serve NWS data in geographic information system (GIS) formats for easier customer access and use, and new tools and education for local emergency management personnel. The flood-severity-inundation map libraries will be implemented and available for 35 Gulf Coast regions and 17 locations in North Carolina, with additional pilot locations being developed. (2008 update)

Coastal Hazards Risk and Impact Assessment Toolkit

Through a portfolio, or toolkit, of products and services, the NOAA Coastal Services Center will help local communities analyze their coastal hazard risks and impacts from hurricanes and coastal storms, inundation, flooding, and shoreline change. The toolkit will include mapping tools and templates, training, visualization techniques, methodologies and best practices, and data resources, as well as marketing materials and the NOAA Coastal Services Center’s coastal hazards outreach plan. (ongoing)

Coastal Inundation Project

Coastal managers have expressed needs for more information about inundation: what it is, what can cause it, where and when it might be an issue, and how to better interpret available models and maps. The Center’s Coastal Inundation Project is working toward addressing those needs by developing an inundation primer, by working with the inundation modeling community on improving communications, and by developing example visualizations of inundation model results to help managers better understand and convey the impacts of coastal inundation. (2005-2009)

Harmful Algal Blooms

The Harmful Algal Bloom Bulletin helps coastal resource managers decide where to focus their sampling efforts and prepare for these blooms. The information is e-mailed twice a week to registered users with natural resource management responsibilities, and a public advisory is posted on the website. Activities in 2008 are focused on updating the data display system to allow visualization of satellite imagery, field observations, autonomous underwater vehicle data, and wind and current data from buoys. These data will be used to provide information on the location, extent, and potential for development, movement, or health impacts of blooms. (The Center works in partnership with many organizations to produce the bulletin.) The bulletin covers Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. (2008 update)

Benthic Habitat Mapping and Classification

The Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS) provides a consistent and universally applicable coastal habitat inventory system. This project will link CMECS to ongoing mapping efforts in an effort to evaluate its usefulness as an analytical tool in establishing a habitat baseline and monitoring ecosystem changes. Mapping projects for 2007 in Texas and Florida include developing a “crosswalk” that will demonstrate where specific habitat types would reside within the CMECS framework. Similar activities may be developed in Rhode Island and California. (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. (2007)

Climate Demonstration Projects

Two pilot coastal climatology Web sites have been developed: one for recreation and tourism (www.cormp.org/climate) and one for recreational and commercial fishing (www.coastalclimate.org). Efforts will focus on outreach for these sites, including examples explaining how the sites can be used by their respective audiences based on client needs. (2005-2007)

Digital Coast: Legislative Atlas

Users will be able to point to places on the map in the project area and find information about local, state, and federal policies, as well as legislation and jurisdictional boundaries pertinent to these locations. (ongoing)

Geospatial Support to National Weather Service (NWS)

The NOAA Coastal Services Center is providing expertise to the National Weather Service primarily in the field of geospatial technology and is helping NWS provide new products to the Center’s primary constituency, the coastal resource managers of the nation. Products and services include flood severity mapping, hurricane forecast products, decision-support tools, and general geospatial technical support to the NWS. (ongoing)

Harmful Algal Blooms

Harmful algal blooms are responsible for serious public health problems and shellfish harvesting closures in the Gulf of Mexico every year. Satellite imagery, field observations, and buoy data are used to provide information on the location, extent, and potential for bloom development or movement. The resulting Harmful Algal Bloom Bulletin helps coastal resource managers decide where to focus sampling efforts and prepare for these blooms. Public advisories are also posted in the bulletin. Visit www.csc.noaa.gov/crs/habf/. (ongoing)

Nonpoint Source Pollution and Erosion Comparison Tool (N-SPECT) Applications

N-SPECT is a GIS-based tool that allows users to input various development scenarios and predict impacts to water quality. Staff is working with coastal resource managers in these states to implement this technology. Visit www.csc.noaa.gov/crs/cwq/nspect.html. (ongoing)

Needs Assessment and Social Science Tools

Surveys, needs assessments, and other social science-related tools are useful in gathering information and making informed decisions. The NOAA Coastal Services Center provides coastal managers and communities with technical assistance in conducting such activities to ensure quality results and usable information. (ongoing)

Storm Surge Product Development

A recent needs assessment focused on the need for tools and information to help coastal communities prepare for and learn about storm surge. Numerous activities are being undertaken to address this need. The NOAA Coastal Services Center is playing an important role by providing users with hazards information, hazards visualization and forecasting enhancements, mitigation strategies, and information about risk-wise behavior. (2005-2008)

NOAA Regional Collaboration Support

NOAA is furthering its commitment to providing relevant products and services to the nation. The NOAA Coastal Services Center has one or more members on five of the eight regional teams (Gulf of Mexico, North Atlantic, Pacific, Western, and Southeast and Carribean) developed to keep attuned to customer needs and deliver applicable NOAA products and services. The Center also serves on two of NOAA's four priority area task teams (hazard-resilient communities, and outreach and communications). (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

Alabama Hazard Mitigation Training

The Center conducted a three-day hazard mitigation training workshop in southern Alabama. The purpose of the workshop was to help build local capacity for developing a regional coastal hazard mitigation plan. Training sessions addressed risk and vulnerability assessment, mitigation planning, mitigation funding opportunities, developing public-private partnerships, and community education and awareness.

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.

Coastal Hazards GIS for Alabama

The Center helped the State of Alabama develop a local Coastal Erosion and Hazard Mitigation Plan by providing geographic information system (GIS) design assistance. Using this type of system, data from disparate sources can be viewed simultaneously, providing a much clearer picture of the overall condition of the study area. The system integrated hazard identification data such as storm surge inundation maps, floodplain maps, and erosion data, as well as more commonly used data layers such as those for land use and socioeconomic information. The project served as a “beta test” for local risk and vulnerability assessment projects throughout the U.S.

Coastal Ocean Habitat Project

The Coastal Ocean Habitat Project generated Center data products that utilized satellite observations of U.S. coastal waters. A retrospective satellite product for the northern Gulf of Mexico was produced during 2000.

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 State of Alabama will be available beginning in 2003.

Harmful Algal Bloom Project

This project is developing information systems to help coastal resource managers control shellfish harvesting closures and issue public health alerts. A harmful algal bloom e-mail bulletin and a near real-time information system on the Internet are available to managers.

Needs Assessment Training

Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) served as a local host for this workshop. Participants in the two-day training included staff from other southeast NERR sites, Sea Grant, the National Estuary Program, and state coastal management programs. The goals of this training are to familiarize participants with terminology, tools, and methods and to help them understand how and when to use needs assessments.

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.

Shoreline Data Rescue

GIS-compatible shoreline data sets that include high-resolution contemporary and historic shorelines are available from the Center’s Web site. The source of the historic shoreline data is NOAA t-sheet charts dating from the 1800s. This information is most frequently used to measure shoreline change.

Topographic Change Mapping

High-resolution Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) measurements of coastal beach topography were made during 1998. These measurements can be used for beach change studies and are available to the public.