Simulated coastal fine-grained sediment plumes from beach nourishment near Santa Barbara, California

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Frequently anticipated questions:

What does this data set describe?

Title:
Simulated coastal fine-grained sediment plumes from beach nourishment near Santa Barbara, California
Abstract:
A coupled coastal hydrodynamic and sediment transport model application was constructed using the Delft3D (version 4.04.01) modeling system to simulate dispersal of fine-grained sediment plumes from beach nourishment projects along the coast of Santa Barbara, California. The model consisted of a three-dimensional Delft3D flow model that was 2-way coupled to the spectral wave model, SWAN, computed on a structured curvilinear grid with a spatial resolution that varied between 20 m in the nearshore area near the project site to about 180 m at the seaward extent of the model domain. Dispersal of fine-grained sediment plumes was simulated for two types of nourishment projects including drag and haul (DH) and hydraulic dredging (HD) that are periodically performed to increase the supply of sediment to beaches in the study area. The modeling approach utilized two types of simulations including a series of relatively short (3-day) sensitivity tests to examine variability in plume direction and extent under variations in wind direction, wave height, and sediment settling velocities as well as longer (3 month) hindcasts to simulate sediment dynamics associated with typical nourishment projects using realistic wave and wind conditions. Model input files for both drag and haul (DH) and hydraulic dredging (HD) projects are provided in .zip archives for both sensitivity and hindcast simulations.
Supplemental_Information:
Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
  1. How might this data set be cited?
    Stevens, Andrew W., Warrick, Jonathan A., and Tehranirad, Babak, 20250423, Simulated coastal fine-grained sediment plumes from beach nourishment near Santa Barbara, California: data release DOI:10.5066/P17SJQM3, U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Santa Cruz, California.

    Online Links:

  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?
    West_Bounding_Coordinate: -119.962397
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: -119.709420
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: 34.440484
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: 34.333008
  3. What does it look like?
  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?
    Beginning_Date: 01-Jan-2014
    Ending_Date: 01-Apr-2014
    Currentness_Reference:
    ground condition at time data were collected
  5. What is the general form of this data set?
    Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: various
  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?
    1. How are geographic features stored in the data set?
      Indirect_Spatial_Reference:
      Data were generated within a numerical model scheme. Refer to the model input files for location information.
    2. What coordinate system is used to represent geographic features?
      Grid_Coordinate_System_Name: Universal Transverse Mercator
      Universal_Transverse_Mercator:
      UTM_Zone_Number: 10
      Transverse_Mercator:
      Scale_Factor_at_Central_Meridian: 0.9996
      Longitude_of_Central_Meridian: -117.0
      Latitude_of_Projection_Origin: 0.0
      False_Easting: 500000.0
      False_Northing: 0.0
      Planar coordinates are encoded using row and column
      Abscissae (x-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 20
      Ordinates (y-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 20
      Planar coordinates are specified in Meter
      The horizontal datum used is D_North_American_1983.
      The ellipsoid used is GRS_1980.
      The semi-major axis of the ellipsoid used is 6378137.0.
      The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/298.257222101.
      Vertical_Coordinate_System_Definition:
      Altitude_System_Definition:
      Altitude_Datum_Name: North American Vertical Datum of 1988
      Altitude_Resolution: 0.01
      Altitude_Distance_Units: meters
      Altitude_Encoding_Method:
      Explicit elevation coordinate included with horizontal coordinates
  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?
    Entity_and_Attribute_Overview:
    Model inputs for hydrodynamic and sediment transport models to simulate fine-grained sediment plumes from beach nourishment projects along the coastline near Santa Barbara, CA run using the Delft3D modeling system. Delft3D can be obtained from: https://oss.deltares.nl/. The model input files for each simulation are compressed into separate zip archives. The file names denote the type of beach nourishment project and type of simulation included in the zip archives according to the following scheme: "sb_plume_XXXX_YY.zip", where XXXX denotes whether the simulation and is a "sensitivity" or "hindcast" run and YY denotes the type of nourishment project included in the simulation; "HD" = hydraulic dredging and "DH" = drag and haul.
    Entity_and_Attribute_Detail_Citation:
    See Deltares (2024) for descriptions of the formats and entity information for files contained in the .zip archive.

Who produced the data set?

  1. Who are the originators of the data set? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)
    • Andrew W. Stevens
    • Jonathan A. Warrick
    • Babak Tehranirad
  2. Who also contributed to the data set?
  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?
    PCMSC Science Data Coordinator
    U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
    2885 Mission Street
    Santa Cruz, CA
    USA

    831-427-4747 (voice)
    pcmsc_data@usgs.gov

Why was the data set created?

The hydrodynamic and sediment transport model was constructed to examine the size and extent of suspended-sediment coastal plumes produced by beach nourishment projects with sediment containing significant fine-grained (silt and clay) fractions near Santa Barbara, California. The purpose of this data release is to provide researchers, engineers, and other potential users with model input files that can be used to run the hydrodynamic and sediment transport model using the Delft3D modeling system.

How was the data set created?

  1. From what previous works were the data drawn?
  2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?
    Date: 01-Feb-2023 (process 1 of 4)
    The hydrodynamic and sediment transport model was applied using the Delft3D modeling system (Deltares, 2024) to simulate fine-grained coastal sediment plumes from beach nourishment projects along the southern California coastline near Santa Barbara. The computational model domain consisted of a structured, orthogonal curvilinear grid with an alongshore extent of 22 km and cross-shore extent of 7 km that was incorporated into the project area. The resolution of the grid varied with maximum resolution of 20 m in the nearshore area near the project site to about 180 m at the seaward extent of the model domain. The bathymetry of the model was based on a high resolution (1 m) bathymetric and topographic digital elevation model developed by the USGS Coastal National Elevation Database (CoNED) project (Tyler and Danielson, 2018). The offshore oceanic boundary was forced with astronomic tidal constituents derived from the TPXO 7.2 global tide model (Egbert and Erofeeva, 2002) and lateral open boundaries were defined as zero-velocity Neumann boundaries, which result in no alongshore water level gradients. A static vertical offset of 0.81 m was added to the water levels on the model boundaries to account for the local difference between the vertical datum of the elevation data (North American Vertical Datum of 1988) and local mean sea level based on published tidal datums at NOAA site 9411340 (Santa Barbara). A uniform water density of 1025 kg/m3 was used throughout the model domain and the effects of temperature and salinity variations on circulation were neglected in the present model application. The model included 10 equidistant vertical sigma layers to account for 3D effects, including variations in sediment concentration through the water column. A uniform Chezy roughness of 65 m^(1/2)/s was applied throughout the model domain. The governing equations for the model were solved at 7.5 s intervals and output was requested at hourly intervals for every computational grid point.
    Date: 02-Feb-2023 (process 2 of 4)
    The hydrodynamic and sediment transport model was 2-way coupled to the spectral wave model, SWAN (Booij, Ris, and Holthuijsen, 1999) to simulate wave transformation between the Santa Barbara channel and shoreline using the same curvilinear grid as the flow model. Wave energy was discretized into 24 frequency bins between 0.05 and 1 Hz and 36 directional bins between 0 and 360 degrees. Open boundaries of the wave model were forced with spatially uniform wave parameters fitted with a Jonswap distribution. For hindcast simulations, time-varying boundary conditions were derived from wave observations at NDBC buoy 46053. Wind growth and white capping were based on parameterizations of the energy transfer equations (Komen, Hasselmann, and Hasselmann 1984). Spatially uniform, temporally varying wind forcing based on observations made at NOAA Station 9411340 were applied to the free surface in the hindcast simulations. The JONSWAP bottom friction model with a coefficient of 0.067 m2s-3 and wave breaking based on Battjes and Janssen (1978) with default settings (alpha = 1, gamma =0.73) were used. Convergence criteria were set to 98 percent of cells and a maximum of 15 iterations during the stationary wave simulations. The wave- and flow-models were coupled at hourly intervals.
    Date: 03-Feb-2023 (process 3 of 4)
    Sediment nourishments were added to the model domain within a polygon that was approximately 250 m alongshore and 65 m across shore at elevations between -1.9 and -3.6 m. Two sediment fractions were included in all simulations: (i) a non-cohesive sand with a median diameter of 0.2 mm to represent native beach, shallow nearshore areas, and the coarse-grained fraction of the nourishment sediment, and (ii) a cohesive sediment to represent the fine-grained sediment of the nourishment sediment. All nourishment sediment added in the simulations was composed of 90 percent non-cohesive sand identical to the native sediment and 10 percent fine-grained, cohesive sediment. Transport of the non-cohesive sediment fraction was determined using the Van Rijn and others (1993) transport formula using default settings. Transport of the cohesive sediment was computed with the advection-diffusion solver, and the linear erosion model of Partheniades (1965) was used simulate erosion of cohesive sediment from the seabed. The properties of the cohesive sediment included a settling velocity of 0.25 mm/s, erosion rate coefficient of 0.0025 kg/m2/s, and critical shear stress for erosion of 0.1 Pa. Placement of sediment nourishments for both hydraulic dredging and drag and haul projects were based on real-world project conditions that control sediment placement rates. For both placement types, the rate of sediment delivery was similar with delivery rates of 1840 m3/d and 2070 m3/d for hydraulic dredge and drag and haul placement, respectively. The main difference between the two sediment placement types was that drag and haul was only active for 8 hr/d, while hydraulic placement operations were held constant day and night. This resulted in shorter overall project durations from hydraulic dredge projects for the same volume of sediment. The hindcasts provided in this data release simulated placement and dispersal of a moderate-sized nourishment project, 38,000 m3 (50,000 cubic yards), between January 1 and March 26, 2014, to characterize a typical nourishment project that would result in several weeks of placement operations and experience a range of environmental conditions. Sensitivity models simulate a 3-day period and include nourishments of approximately 1,400 m3 (1,830 cubic yards). The drag and haul scenario delivers the nourishment sediment between 0800 and 1600 hours for the first two days of the simulation while the hydraulic dredging scenario introduces the nourishment over 18 consecutive hours starting 8 hours after the start of the simulation.
    Date: 31-Oct-2024 (process 4 of 4)
    Files needed to run the hydrodynamic and sediment transport models using the Delft3D modeling system were compiled into compressed archives for distribution.
  3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?
    Deltares, 2024, Delft3D-FLOW User Manual (version 4.05): Deltares, Delft, Netherlands.

    Online Links:

    Tyler, D.J., and Danielson, J.J., 2018, Topobathymetric Model for the Southern Coast of California and the Channel Islands, 1930 to 2014: U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia.

    Online Links:

    Egbert, G.D., and Erofeeva, S.Y., 2002, Efficient inverse modeling of barotropic ocean tides: Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, v. 19, p. 183-204, American Meteorological Society, Boston MA.

    Online Links:

    Booij, N., Ris, R.C., and Holthuijsen, L.H., 1999, A Third generation Wave Model for Coastal Regions: 1. Model Description and Validation: Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 104 (C4): 7649–66, American Geophysical Union, Washington DC.

    Online Links:

    Komen, G.J., Hasselmann, S., and Hasselmann, K., 1984, On the Existence of a Fully Developed Wind-Sea Spectrum.

    Online Links:

    Battjes, J., and Janssen, J., 1978, Energy loss and setup due to breaking of random waves..

    Online Links:

    van Rijn, L.C., van der Kaay, T., Nap, E., and van Kampen, A., 1993, Transport of Fine Sands by Currents and Waves.

    Online Links:

    Partheniades, E., 1965, Erosion and Deposition of Cohesive Soils.

    Online Links:

How reliable are the data; what problems remain in the data set?

  1. How well have the observations been checked?
    No formal attribute accuracy tests were conducted.
  2. How accurate are the geographic locations?
    A formal accuracy assessment of the horizontal positional information in the data set has either not been conducted or is not applicable.
  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?
    A formal accuracy assessment of the vertical positional information in the data set has either not been conducted or is not applicable.
  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?
    Dataset is considered complete for the information presented, as described in the abstract. Users are advised to read the metadata for each part of this data release carefully for additional details.
  5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?
    All data falls within expected ranges.

How can someone get a copy of the data set?

Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?
Access_Constraints no access constraints
Use_Constraints USGS-authored or produced data and information are in the public domain from the U.S. Government and are freely redistributable with proper metadata and source attribution. Please recognize and acknowledge the U.S. Geological Survey as the originator(s) of the dataset and in products derived from these data.
  1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)
    U.S. Geological Survey - Coastal and Marine Geoscience Data System
    2885 Mission Street
    Santa Cruz, CA
    USA

    831-427-4747 (voice)
    pcmsc_data@usgs.gov
  2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set? Model input files compatible with windows executable of Delft3D version 4.04.01 are provided in the zip archives. Two types of simulations (sensitivity and hindcast) and two types of sediment placement techniques (hydraulic dredging [HD] and drag and haul [DH]) are included in the .zip archives. Sensitivity runs simulate a 3-day time period with constant wave- and wind-conditions while hindcasts simulate between January 1 and March 26, 2014, using realistic forcing conditions associated with typical nourishment projects. A browse graphic showing an example wave calculation of fine-grained sediment concentration is provided along with associated metadata.
  3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?
    Unless otherwise stated, all data, metadata and related materials are considered to satisfy the quality standards relative to the purpose for which the data were collected. Although these data and associated metadata have been reviewed for accuracy and completeness and approved for release by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the display or utility of the data on any other system or for general or scientific purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty.
  4. How can I download or order the data?
    • Availability in digital form:
      Data format: zipped file folders containing model input files for hydrodynamic and sediment transport model run using Delft3D version 4.04.01 in format various (version Delft3D-FLOW 4.04.01) Size: 7.8
      Network links: https://doi.org/10.5066/P1R9REKP
    • Cost to order the data: None

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:
Last modified: 23-Apr-2025
Metadata author:
PCMSC Science Data Coordinator
U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
2885 Mission Street
Santa Cruz, CA

831-427-4747 (voice)
pcmsc_data@usgs.gov
Metadata standard:
Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001-1998)
This page is <https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/catalog/pcmsc/DataReleases/CMGDS_DR_tool/DR_P17SJQM3/sb_plume_model_input_metadata.faq.html>
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