Coastal Services Center

Current Projects

Needs Assessment and Social Science Tools Coordination and Technical Assistance

Surveys, needs assessments, and other social science-related tools are useful in gathering information and making informed decisions about coastal issues. The NOAA Coastal Services Center provides coastal managers and communities with technical assistance in the use of social science tools. Projects include assessing NOAA Coastal Services Center customer needs, at a regional level, for becoming resilient to natural hazards in the Northeast, looking at the impacts of climate change on the West Coast, and meeting the needs of the Pacific Island communities. This project provides technical assistance with survey design and analysis, and for the facilitation of meetings, workshops, and stakeholder engagement in projects across the country. Products will include the development of an economics primer and other guidance documents. (ongoing)

National Estuarine Research Reserve Social Science Fellowships

This fellowship program brings social science skills to the nation’s National Estuarine Research Reserves. The NOAA Coastal Services Center provides training and technical assistance consultation to fellows and participating research reserves on an as-needed basis.

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)

Coastal Management Fellowship

Assistance was provided to these states through the Coastal Management Fellowship program. Postgraduate students selected as fellows receive professional, on-the-job education and training, while the states receive specific technical assistance for their coastal regulatory programs. Fellows spend two years at the host agency working on substantive state-level coastal issues that pertain to federal management policies and regulations. All states with federally approved coastal zone management programs, as well as states developing such programs for approval, are eligible to submit a project proposal to receive a fellow. (2008 update)

Coastal and Marine Habitat Classification and Assessment

The Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard is an ecosystem-oriented framework for the identification, inventorying, and description of coastal and marine habitats and biodiversity. This structure provides a way to synthesize data so that habitats can be characterized and reported in a standard way, and data and information can be aggregated and evaluated across regional and national landscapes and seascapes. This effort will result in an analytical tool that provides managers with essential knowledge of habitat type and location, and access to habitat data sources. The focus for 2008 includes a habitat data inventory for the Gulf of Mexico, a seagrass status and trends report for Alabama, and additional sediment analyses data and classification within the Gulf of Mexico. (ongoing)

West Coast Ecosystem-Based Management Network

A number of programs are working to implement ecosystem-based management principles. The first steps toward this goal include identifying organizations with similar goals and issues, and identifying ways in which these organizations can work together. A pilot project along the West Coast will be used to address needs in this region and develop similar proposals for the rest of the nation’s coast. Support by the NOAA Coastal Services Center will include finding appropriate partners, helping to build a collaborative network among these participants, scoping common issues, and identifying existing tools, information, and research, including social science information, available to meet these needs. (2008-2010)

San Francisco Bay Sub tidal Habitat Goals Project

This collaborative effort with regional partners will result in the development of restoration and management goals for the bay's subtidal habitats, and will be part of a broader effort to create an ecosystem-based management vision for the region. This work is an opportunity to improve the coordination of research, restoration, and resource management activities in the area. (2006-2009)

Northern California Conservation: Linking Land and Sea

This project supports state and local efforts to strengthen the conservation and restoration of Northern California’s Humboldt Bay and its surrounding watersheds using an ecosystem management approach. Center activities include the development and delivery of benthic habitat data for the bay, technical assistance as needed with geographic information system (GIS) tools and data management and application, and support for the partner-led development of natural resource management goals for the system. A social assessment will be undertaken to help participants understand the sociological factors that influence community support for coastal conservation. (2006-2009)

Shoreline Data Development, Visualization, and Delivery

The Center’s constituents have identified shoreline data as a priority need, and they look to the Center for related information and guidance. This project addresses that need by continuing to make historical data available for measuring shoreline change, by coordinating with the National Geodetic Survey (NGS) in its efforts to improve the NOAA Shoreline Data Explorer, and by supporting NGS in its efforts to create a one-NOAA shoreline presence on the Web by identifying and explaining the origin and intended uses of NOAA and other federal shoreline data. The project also applies outcomes of the Center-sponsored Shoreline Change Conferences by working with the shoreline change community to develop guidebooks or other resources for coastal managers. In California, the project creates geographic information system (GIS) technical capacity to provide state partners with the foundation for addressing shoreline erosion and other natural hazards. (2008 update)

Digital Coast: Legislative Atlas

This Web-based legislative mapping tool provides coastal resource managers with easy access to coastal legislative data and information. In 2008 the Legislative Atlas team will add additional legislative information for the three regions represented in the atlas—Hawaii, California, and the Gulf of Maine. This added information includes both federal and state regulations. The legislative query tool will also be redesigned according to user input. (2008 update)

N-SPECT Applications

The Nonpoint-Source Pollution and Erosion Comparison Tool (N-SPECT) is a geographic information system (GIS)-based screening tool that models basic hydrologic processes, including overland flow, erosion, and nonpoint source pollution for watersheds. In 2008, assistance will be given to Puerto Rico and the states of California, Hawaii, and Texas as they use N-SPECT to estimate runoff in various land cover scenarios. Staff members also work with the Environmental Protection Agency and private-sector groups that want to use N-SPECT with their programs. (2008 update)

High-Resolution Land Cover

The Center’s Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP) develops high-resolution data that complements the C-CAP regional land cover products by providing information that managers can use to address more site-specific management issues. In 2008, this high-resolution work focuses on the completion of impervious surface products for the main eight islands of Hawaii, high-resolution land cover maps for the counties of Oahu and Maui, and continued work with the National Estuarine Research Reserve System and other partners as they explore new ways to use these data. The data were obtained via contracts with various remote sensing companies. (2008 update)

C-CAP Land Cover and Change Data

The Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP) is a nationally standardized database of land cover and change data within the coastal regions of the U.S. C-CAP products inventory coastal intertidal areas, wetlands, and adjacent uplands with the goal of monitoring natural and human-induced changes in these habitats on a one-to-five year cycle. Key efforts in 2008 include land cover and change maps and products developed with private-sector remote sensing contractors for the Great Lakes, Northeast, Pacific, and Caribbean Island regions. (2008 update)

Remote Sensing Training

The NOAA Coastal Services Center provides seminars and courses that demonstrate the use of remote sensing technology in a geographic information system (GIS) environment. For 2008, training will potentially be held in California, Florida, South Carolina, and Virginia and may be scheduled in other states. Training leaders also will coordinate with Center partners, such as the Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials (NEMO) Network and the National Association of Counties, to provide remote sensing technology and tools training for their constituents. (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)

Coastal Storms Program Decision-support Tool

An on-line decision-support tool will combine hazard-related real-time and forecast information and planning data into a mapping interface that identifies coastal storm impacts and hazard risks, as well as ways to mitigate damages from hazards. It will help emergency managers and the public monitor coastal storms and identify and mitigate location-specific hazards. (2004-2007)

Coastal Storms Program Protecting Communities in Southern California

The Coastal Storms Program, a cross-NOAA program, is developing tools and models and launching new oceanic and atmospheric observation platforms along the coastal region of the bight of Southern California. The new tools and information include ecological assessments of aquatic impacts from stormwater runoff, an atmospheric profiler, digital elevation model, precipitation atlas, and decision-support tool. Together, these tools will benefit communities and emergency managers by equipping them to better prepare for and mitigate the effects of coastal hazards. (2005-2008)

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 http://www.csc.noaa.gov/crs/cwq/nspect.html. (ongoing)

Northern California Conservation: Linking Land and Sea

Along the northern California coast, large stretches of contiguous undeveloped coastline remain, making this a valuable area for land and marine conservation. The Center sponsored a needs assessment to characterize the needs of the region's coastal and marine conservation community, including their professional, sociopolitical, and technical capacities and requirements. Assessment results pointed to data needs, including the need for data assembly and access, as well as data gaps, particularly for nearshore marine habitat. The needs assessment is driving current data efforts for the Humboldt Bay area, including an inventory of available benthic habitat data and subsequent collection of priority data gaps. (2006-2008)

Ocean Protection Council

Staff from the Center is placed with the California State Coastal Conservancy to aid in the development and operation of the nascent California Ocean Protection Council (COPC), which acts as a regional ocean governance organization. The aim is to increase the state’s ability to protect ocean and coastal resources. See www.resources.ca.gov/copc for additional information. (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)

San Francisco Bay Subtidal Habitat Goals

This collaborative effort with regional partners which includes the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, California State Coastal Conservancy, San Francisco Estuary Project, and NOAA’s Office of Habitat Conservation is developing research, restoration, and management goals for the bay's subtidal habitats. The Subtidal Habitat Goals Project is part of a broader effort to create an ecosystem-based management vision for San Francisco Bay and its watershed. (2006-2008)

Understanding Coastal Resource Management

The Center will work with other parts of NOAA to evaluate the ability of Northeast and West Coast communities to identify and address the issue of hazard resilience. By synthesizing the regional results of the Section 309 Assessments and Strategies, and evaluating relevant management and policy tools at the state and regional level, the organization will gain a better sense of how to assist the coastal resource management community in building capacity to address hazard resilience. Recommendations from this assessment will be used to plan future work in the area. (ongoing)

Topographic Change Mapping

High-resolution topographic and bathymetric data sets are being collected to fill the need of the coastal resource management community for accurate, timely information in the coastal regions. The project acquires and distributes airborne-derived topographic and bathymetric data (including seamless topo/bathy data), derived information products, and analysis tools for constituents of the Center. Visit www.csc.noaa.gov/crs/tcm/. (ongoing)

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)

Regional Ocean Governance Support

Regional ocean governance is a strategy for managing ocean and coastal resources in a more holistic ecosystem-based manner. Operating across local, state, and federal jurisdictional boundaries, the process is coordinated by regional ocean governing bodies, providing the framework, mechanisms, and incentives that state and federal agencies need to coordinate their management efforts. The NOAA Coastal Services Center offers support for two regional ocean governing bodies: the Northeast Regional Ocean Council and the West Coast Governor's Agreement on Ocean Health. (ongoing)

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

BeachData Volunteer Database Entry Tool

This tool is an Internet-based data entry system designed to allow volunteer beach observers to enter detailed field observations of the conditions of California beaches into a searchable database.

Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (NMS) Marine Reserve Process

The Center provided facilitation services to a multistakeholder marine reserve working group established by the Sanctuary Advisory Council of the Channel Islands NMS. The purpose of this effort was to create a consensual agreement on the establishment of marine reserves, or “no-take” areas, in the Channel Islands NMS. In addition, the Center provided technical support in the development of a GIS-based decision-support tool for the process. This GIS application helps consolidate and integrate the best available ecological and socioeconomic information, as well as local knowledge of the area.

Coastal California Land Cover and Change Data

This project maps terrestrial land cover in coastal watershed environments and identifies changes in these areas. The project relies on satellite multispectral imagery as the primary information source. These data are used to distinguish major land cover classes, and previous images are being studied to locate areas that changed over time. For this project, the data will be acquired according to the Center’s Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP) methods.

Coastal Management Fellowship

A Coastal Management Fellow worked with the California Coastal Commission to conduct a project designed to expand the use of geographic information systems (GIS) for coastal management in California. The project led the way toward the integrated use of GIS tools and data necessary for various regulatory, enforcement, planning, and natural resource management activities.

Coastal Management Fellowship

A Coastal Management Fellow worked with the California Coastal Commission to develop information and evaluation tools for an objective examination of beach nourishment projects throughout the state. Criteria and a methodology were established to evaluate and prioritize the suitability of sites for beach nourishment projects.

Coastal Management Fellowship

A Coastal Management Fellow worked with the California Coastal Commission on a project entitled “Creation of a Habitat Inventory and Information System to Facilitate Wetland Preservation and Restoration in Central and Northern California.” The project identified significant wetlands in three counties using existing data, remote sensing, and development of an integrated GIS-based data structure.

Coastal Management Fellowship

A Coastal Management Fellow is working with the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission on a project entitled "Development of a Water Quality Monitoring Program for Marinas in the San Francisco Bay." The project involves collaboration with key federal, state, and local environmental protection and management agencies and organizations to develop a scientifically-based, volunteer water quality monitoring program for marinas in San Francisco Bay. The fellow is monitoring and evaluating several pilot monitoring projects at selected marinas to make recommendations for continued water quality monitoring at marinas throughout the Bay.

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 California is available.

El Niño in San Francisco Bay

NOAA hosted a workshop for property owners, marine operators, resource managers, and members of the general public on the potential effects of El Niño in the San Francisco Bay area. The workshop presented real-world needs and responses to El Niño by local maritime and environmental managers, summaries of the El Niño phenomenon, predictions and possible effects from a panel of experts, and a roundtable discussion of preparation and response strategies based on questions raised by presenters and workshop attendees.

Global Positioning System Resources in the San Francisco Bay Area

NOAA hosted a day of workshops, demonstrations, and exhibits to educate resource managers, engineers, marine safety experts, surveyors, developers, petroleum facility operators, and the public about employing Global Positioning System (GPS) resources in the Bay area. Concurrent workshops focused on the application of GPS and geographic information systems to a wide range of resource management issues, including oil spill response, maritime safety, and resource delineation.

Hamilton Wetlands Restoration Workshop

Accurate knowledge of tidal and terrestrial elevations is critical in the restoration of degraded or destroyed wetlands. NOAA convened a conference to present methodologies for obtaining this information to managers and practitioners involved in wetland restoration in the San Francisco Bay area. Results from a NOAA pilot study, contributing toward a restoration project on the former Hamilton Army Airfield, were presented to illustrate these methodologies and to help establish realistic expectations for the limitations of these methodologies.

Hydrographic Data Acquisition and Integrated Spatial Data Model

This project is developing high-resolution, digital seafloor bathymetry data suitable for classification and delineation of benthic habitats. These data will be included in a Web site populated with marine mapping products, modeling mapping tools, and geographic information system themes pertinent to the California Department of Fish and Game and other public groups. This information will help these organizations assess habitat quality and improve sampling strategies.

Kelp Forest Restoration Project

This project aided in the restoration and protection of kelp forests in southern California by educating and involving residents, businesses, teachers, and students. Kelp is a critical marine habitat that once covered hundreds of acres in this region and provided food and shelter for hundreds of species of marine life. This project was funded by a special project grant from the Center.

Marine Information System (MarIS)

MarIS is a simple, wizard-driven tool that allows users with limited knowledge of geographic information systems (GIS) to access, view, and analyze spatial data and generate standard map layouts for presentations, reports, or press releases. MarIS was designed specifically for the National Marine Sanctuary's management plan review processes.

Needs Assessment Training

Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) served as the local host for a two-day workshop that focused on methods and tools to assess the needs of a target audience. Participants included representatives from regional NERRs and other local partners. Networking and resource sharing opportunities were enhanced through discussions.

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.

Public Issues and Conflict Management

The California Sea Grant College Program hosted a three-day Public Issues and Conflict Management workshop in May 2001. Aimed at Sea Grant extension agents and coastal resource managers, the workshop is designed to build skills in public issues management, including meeting management and planning, collaborative processes and decision making, and media relations.

Salmonid Recovery Planning Information Resource

This information resource is a digital compilation of data and tools that will help coastal resource managers design and implement recovery plans for coho salmon and steelhead trout within the watersheds of San Mateo and Santa Cruz Counties in California. By integrating physical, ecological, and socioeconomic information from these counties with interactive tools, this resource will help coastal managers and land-use planners characterize species, watersheds, and recovery issues in their areas. Managers can also use the resource to identify and prioritize habitat restoration projects and address large-scale, long-term planning and management functions.

San Francisco Bay/Elkhorn Slough Area Land Cover CD-ROM

This CD-ROM includes land cover change data for the central California coast, 40 additional spatial data layers, and a means for coastal resource managers to display these map layers. This study was particularly significant because, through natural processes and urbanization, California has lost 75 percent of its original coastal wetlands. The area of study includes San Francisco Bay and the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve. For this project, the data were acquired according to the Center’s Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP) methods.

San Francisco Bay/Elkhorn Slough Area Land Cover and Change Data

This project mapped terrestrial land cover in coastal watershed environments and identified changes in these areas that occurred between 1986 and 1993. The project relied on satellite multispectral imagery as the primary information source. These data were used 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.

San Francisco Bay Footprint Project

Through community input from a series of public workshops, the Bay Area Footprint Project will develop a comprehensive smart growth strategy for the entire San Francisco Bay region. The San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission is hosting a number of workshops for this purpose. The Center is one of a number of partners in this effort.

San Francisco Bay Partnership

Dredging and development activities in the San Francisco Bay are affecting eelgrass and other subtidal habitats. To help manage and restore these habitats, this partnership project aims to interpret advanced seafloor mapping data, gather supporting historical and ancillary habitat and species information, focus habitat and eelgrass assessment surveys, and apply a multiagency geographic information system (GIS) database and mapping project framework. The Center is helping to determine habitat types for natural resource management and suggest management and restoration strategies for seagrasses.

San Francisco International Airport Panel

San Francisco International Airport wanted to build new runways out into the bay to address increasing air traffic congestion. Because the proposed runways would constitute one of the largest single fills ever of the bay, federal and state regulatory agencies asked NOAA to form an impartial, independent science panel to identify key questions that the permitting process must address. The panel conducted internal workshops and presented its findings to the public in 1999; a peer review process began in January 2001. A public meeting to discuss the results of the review was conducted, and a proceedings document was prepared for the airport and the Bay area regulatory agencies.

Southern California Wetlands Recovery Project

The Center is supporting the Southern California Wetlands Recovery Project (WRP) by developing GIS-based tools for prioritizing wetland restoration and conservation options in the five southern counties of coastal California (San Diego, Orange, Los Angeles, Ventura, and Santa Barbara). Analyses of riparian areas are being done across the region to identify areas with high ecological value and to examine the costs and benefits of using land-use and land-cover data collected at different spatial scales to map riparian vegetation. The project is also developing conceptual models that examine the habitat, hydrology, and biogeochemistry functions of wetlands within their landscape context. The WRP is a multiagency effort within California and is led by the California Coastal Conservancy.

Spatial Data Compilation for the Joint California Management Plan Review Process

This compilation of over 70 spatial data layers was developed to support National Marine Sanctuary management plan review processes. The GIS databases provide the sanctuary advisory committees with the ability to analyze spatial data to help them address the issues raised during the review process.

Topographic Change Mapping

High-resolution Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) measurements of coastal beach topography were made during fall 1997 and spring 1998. These measurements can be used for beach change studies and are available to the public. The mapping includes data from before and after the El Niño season.

Watershed Analysis Tool for Environmental Review

This effort produced an Internet-accessible analytical tool for managing polluted runoff across political boundaries. A major stumbling block to managing polluted runoff is the inability of management agencies to exchange and geographically rectify electronic data. Data from different agencies are often incompatible because of differences in hardware, software, map scales, coordinate systems, and data structures. This tool overcomes these challenges. This project was conducted by the California Coastal Commission under a grant from the Center.