|
Track: Oceanography, Coastal Zone, Marine Resources
Charles Van Dusen
Applied Geographics, Inc
100 Franklin St 7th Fl
Boston, MA 02110
Telephone: 617-292-7125
Fax: 617-292-7911
E-mail: dusen@appgeo.com
Vector-Based Shoreline Change Analysis
Historic shoreline change illustrates the dynamic nature of many stretches of sandy beaches and barrier islands. Much of the development on barrier islands or near sandy beaches faces the inevitable natural disasters exacerbated by global warming and sea-level rise. Substantial economic resources are directed at maintaining and preserving this development that has been placed in harms way. Evaluating the fluctuations in the shoreline can assist government and planners in the issuing of permits and in the emergency response process. A series of C programs integrated with ArcInfo software has provided these figures for Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management. The approach used for evaluating shoreline fluctuations used a database spanning nearly 150 years of shoreline delineations compiled from a variety of sources. The results are being used to manage development in hazardous coastal areas.
|
|
