Keith Koehler
Telephone: 757-824-1579
Keith.A.Koehler.1@gsfc.nasa.gov

Donna McCaskill
NOAA, Charleston, S.C.
Telephone: 843-740-1272
Dmccaskill@csc.noaa.gov

Marion Fisher
USGS, Reston, Va.
Telephone: 703-648-4583
Mmfisher@usgs.gov

Sept. 8, 1999

RELEASE NO: 99-018

FEDERAL AGENCIES MAPPING N.C. BEACHES FOLLOWING "DENNIS" DESTRUCTION

Scanning 5,000 data points per second, a NASA aircraft will fly over the beaches of North Carolina, Thursday, Sept. 9, surveying changes from Hurricane Dennis? pounding of the shore for more than a week.

The P-3 aircraft will be equipped with a NASA laser topographic mapping instrument to develop detailed maps of the coastline. "Using this technology developed to map polar ice sheets, the laser can map in a day what would take more than a month using traditional surveying methods," said Bill Krabill, NASA project scientist at the Goddard Space Flight Center?s Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va.

The mapping effort is being conducted by NASA, the United States Geological Survey Center for Coastal Geology, St. Petersburg, Fla. (USGS), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration?s Coastal Services Center, Charleston, S.C.

Krabill said, "We have extremely detailed data of these beaches from previous flights dating back to 1997. Using the data from the NASA instruments, federal and state officials will be able to accurately and widely access the damage caused by this tropical storm."

A baseline data mission was conducted in October 1997 and a data flight also was conducted following Hurricane Bonnie in August 1998.

"Across the United States we have built too close to eroding and flood prone shorelines. This research, which is enabled by NASA?s instrumentation, will improve our ability to predict the locations of coastal hazards so that future developments can be more safely sited," said USGS oceanographer Abby Sallenger.

The mapping effort is being accomplished with the NASA Airborne Topographic Mapper flown at an altitude of 1,500 feet. The laser collects 5,000 spot elevations per second as the aircraft travels over the coast at approximately 370 feet per second. Using the laser and a Global Positioning System receiver on the aircraft, researchers are able to survey the beach elevations to an accuracy of four inches.

In addition to the NASA flights, the USGS will conduct aerial photography of the area and land surveys to verify the laser results.

Further information on the NASA topographic mapper and coastal mapping can be obtained at the following web sites:

"http://aol.wff.nasa.gov/aoltm/projects/beachmap"

"http://www.csc.noaa.gov/text/beach.html"

http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/lidar

http://walrus/wr.usgs.gov/research/scarol.html

This text derived from http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/news-release/releases/1999/w99-018.htm

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