Midshore baseline for the exposed eastern Beaufort Sea coast of Alaska (U.S. Canadian Border to the Hulahula River) generated to calculate shoreline change rates

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Frequently anticipated questions:

What does this data set describe?

Title:
Midshore baseline for the exposed eastern Beaufort Sea coast of Alaska (U.S. Canadian Border to the Hulahula River) generated to calculate shoreline change rates
Abstract:
This dataset includes a reference baseline used by the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) to calculate rate-of-change statistics for the exposed, open-ocean coast of Alaska between the U.S. Canadian Border to the Hulahula River for the time period 1947 to 2017. This baseline layer serves as the starting point for all transects cast by the DSAS application and can be used to establish measurement points used to calculate shoreline-change rates.
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. Although this Federal Geographic Data Committee-compliant metadata file is intended to document the dataset in nonproprietary form, as well as in Esri format, this metadata file may include some Esri-specific terminology.
  1. How might this data set be cited?
    Gibbs, Ann E., Ohman, Karin A., Coppersmith, Ryan, and Richmond, Bruce M., 20240911, Midshore baseline for the exposed eastern Beaufort Sea coast of Alaska (U.S. Canadian Border to the Hulahula River) generated to calculate shoreline change rates: data release 10.5066/F72Z13N1, U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Santa Cruz.

    Online Links:

    This is part of the following larger work.

    Gibbs, Ann E., Ohman, Karin A., Coppersmith, Ryan, and Richmond, Bruce M., 2017, National Assessment of Shoreline Change: A GIS compilation of Updated Vector Shorelines and Associated Shoreline Change Data for the North Coast of Alaska, U.S. Canadian Border to Icy Cape (ver. 2.0, September 2024): data release 10.5066/F72Z13N1, U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Santa Cruz, CA.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details:
    Suggested Citation: Gibbs, A.E., Ohman, K.A., Coppersmith, R., and Richmond, B.M., 2017, National Assessment of Shoreline Change: A GIS compilation of updated vector shorelines and associated shoreline change data for the north coast of Alaska, U.S. Canadian border to Icy Cape (ver. 2.0, September 2024): U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/F72Z13N1.
  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?
    West_Bounding_Coordinate: -144.149072
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: -140.997890
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: 70.152668
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: 69.645949
  3. What does it look like?
  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?
    Calendar_Date: 2024
    Currentness_Reference:
    publication date
  5. What is the general form of this data set?
    Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: vector digital data (polyline)
  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?
    1. How are geographic features stored in the data set?
      This is a Vector data set. It contains the following vector data types (SDTS terminology):
      • String (5)
    2. What coordinate system is used to represent geographic features?
      Horizontal positions are specified in geographic coordinates, that is, latitude and longitude. Latitudes are given to the nearest 0.0000001. Longitudes are given to the nearest 0.0000001. Latitude and longitude values are specified in Decimal degrees. The horizontal datum used is WGS_1984.
      The ellipsoid used is WGS 84.
      The semi-major axis of the ellipsoid used is 6378137.0.
      The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/298.257224.
  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?
    Attribute Table
    Table containing attribute information associated with the data set. (Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
    FID
    Index number unique to each record in the attribute table. (Source: Esri) Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated.
    Shape
    Feature geometry (Source: Esri) Coordinates defining the feature.
    ID
    Field required by the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) software. DSAS uses this value to determine the ordering sequence of transects when the baseline feature contains multiple segments. Individual segments are numbered sequentially alongshore. (Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
    Range of values
    Minimum:1
    Maximum:5
    Group
    This is an optional field used by the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) software for data management purposes. The summary report text file that is generated each time rate calculations are run uses the group attribute field to provide rate averages for each group. Here the groups represent coastal sub-region ID as defined in Gibbs and Richmond (2017). (Source: Himmelstoss and others (2021) and Gibbs and Richmond (2017))
    ValueDefinition
    2Hulahula River to the Staines River
    3Staines River to the Sagavanirktok River
    4Sagavanirktok River to the Colville River
    Entity_and_Attribute_Overview:
    The entity and attribute information provided here describes the tabular data associated with the data set. Please review the detailed descriptions that are provided (the individual attribute descriptions) for information on the values that appear as fields/table entries of the data set.
    Entity_and_Attribute_Detail_Citation:
    The entity and attribute information was generated by the individual and/or agency identified as the originator of the data set. Please review the rest of the metadata record for additional details and information.

Who produced the data set?

  1. Who are the originators of the data set? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)
    • Gibbs, Ann E.
    • Ohman, Karin A.
    • Coppersmith, Ryan
    • Richmond, Bruce M.
  2. Who also contributed to the data set?
    U.S. Geological Survey
  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?
    U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
    Attn: PCMSC Science Data Coordinator
    2885 Mission Street
    Santa Cruz, CA

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

Why was the data set created?

The Arctic Coastal Plain of northern Alaska is an area of strategic economic importance to the United States, is home to remote Native American communities, and encompasses unique habitats of global significance. Coastal erosion is a persistent process along most open-ocean shores of the United States and affects both developed and natural coastlines. Along the Arctic coast of Alaska, coastal erosion is widespread and threatens communities, defense and energy-related infrastructure, and coastal habitat. As the coast changes, there are a wide range of ways that change can affect coastal communities, habitats, and the physical characteristics of the coast-including beach erosion, shoreline retreat, land loss, and damage to infrastructure. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is responsible for conducting research on coastal change hazards, understanding the processes that cause coastal change, and developing models to forecast future change. To understand and adapt to shoreline change, accurate information regarding the past and present configurations of the shoreline is essential and a comprehensive, nationally consistent analysis of shoreline movement is needed. To meet this national need, the USGS is conducting an analysis of historical shoreline changes along open-ocean coasts of the United States and parts of the Great Lakes. In Alaska, coastlines sheltered from open-ocean wave conditions by barrier islands are also included in the analysis because of their importance to defense and energy-related infrastructure and to understand the similarities, differences, and linkages in coastal behavior and physical processes acting on exposed and sheltered permafrost coastlines. This dataset is one in a series of regionally focused reports on historical shoreline change. As more data are gathered, periodic updates are made, which provide information that can be used in multidisciplinary assessments of global change impacts.

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: 2024 (process 1 of 3)
    Baselines were constructed midshore from the time series of shoreline positions using standard editing tools in Esri ArcMap v. 10.8.1. The baselines were positioned to conform to changes in the orientation of the historical shorelines also presented in this data release. This was done so that transects, which are generated by the Digital Shoreline Analysis System v. 5.1 from the baseline, would intersect perpendicular to the general trend of the shorelines.
    Date: 2024 (process 2 of 3)
    The baseline feature class was exported from a personal geodatabase to a shapefile in ArcMap v10.8.1 by performing a right-mouse click on the data layer > export > to shapefile (single).
    Date: 2024 (process 3 of 3)
    The data were projected in Esri's ArcToolbox v. 10.8.1 > Data Management Tools > Projections and Transformations > Feature > Project. Parameters: input projection = (NAD_1983_2011_Alaska_Albers); output projection = geographic coordinates (WGS84); transformation = WGS_1984_(ITRF08)_To_NAD_1983. The final shoreline dataset was coded with attribute fields Date_, Year_, Uncy, Default_D, DSAS_Include, Source, Source_a, and Shape_Leng.
  3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?
    Gibbs, A.E., and B.M., Richmond, 2017, National Assessment of Shoreline Change: Summary Statistics for Updated Vector Shorelines and Associated Shoreline Change Data for the North Coast of Alaska, U.S.--Canadian Border to Icy Cape.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details:
    Gibbs, A.E., and Richmond, B.M., 2017, National Assessment of Shoreline Change: Summary Statistics for Updated Vector Shorelines and Associated Shoreline Change Data for the North Coast of Alaska, U.S.--Canadian Border to Icy Cape: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2017�1107, 21 p.
    Gibbs, Ann E., and Richmond, Bruce M., 2015, National Assessment of Shoreline Change--Historical Shoreline Change along the North Coast of Alaska, U.S.--Canadian Border to Icy Cape.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details:
    Gibbs, A.E., and Richmond, B.M., 2015, National assessment of shoreline change�Historical shoreline change along the north coast of Alaska, U.S.�Canadian border to Icy Cape: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2015�1048, 96 p.
    Himmelstoss, Emily A., Henderson, Rachel E., Kratzmann, Meredith G., and Farris, Amy S., 2021, Digital Shoreline Analysis System (version 5.1) User Guide.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details:
    Himmelstoss, E.A., Henderson, R.E., Kratzmann, M.G., and Farris, A.S., 2021, Digital Shoreline Analysis System (version 5.1) User Guide: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2021-1091.
    Himmelstoss, Emily A., Farris, Amy S., Henderson, Rachel E., Kratzmann, Meredith G., Ergul, Ayhan, Zhang, Ouya, Zichichi, Jessica L., and Thieler, E. Robert, 2018, Digital Shoreline Analysis System (version 5.1): U.S. Geological Survey Software.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details:
    Current software at time of use was 5.1. The second link directs to the DSAS project page.

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

  1. How well have the observations been checked?
    The attribute in this layer is based on the requirements for use within the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) software (Himmelstoss and others, 2018). The data have been quality checked.
  2. How accurate are the geographic locations?
    The baseline serves as a reference point for transects cast by the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) software. It does not correspond to any real-world feature.
  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?
    The baseline serves as a reference point for transects cast by the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) software. It does not correspond to any real-world feature.
  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?
    This baseline file is complete and contains all baseline segments used to cast transects where shoreline data are present to calculate a rate of change.
  5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?
    All polylines have a unique identification attribute (ID). This field is used by the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) to designate the alongshore order of baselines if there are more than one. Adjacent baseline segments do not overlap and are not necessarily continuous.

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 - ScienceBase
    Denver Federal Center, Building 810, Mail Stop 302
    Denver, CO

    1-888-275-8747 (voice)
    sciencebase@usgs.gov
  2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set? These data are available in shapefile format contained in a single zip file, which also includes CSDGM FGDC-compliant 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?
  5. What hardware or software do I need in order to use the data set?
    These data are available in a polyline shapefile format. The user must have software to read and process the data components of a shapefile.

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:
Last modified: 12-Sep-2024
Metadata author:
U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
Attn: PCMSC Science Data Coordinator
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/ScienceBase/DR_F72Z13N1/EastBeaufort_exposed_baseline_v2.faq.html>
Generated by mp version 2.9.51 on Thu Sep 12 16:34:39 2024