Offshore baseline for the northern Alaska coastal region generated to calculate shoreline change rates along exposed coastlines between Point Barrow and Icy Cape for the time period 1947 to 2012

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Frequently anticipated questions:

What does this data set describe?

Title:
Offshore baseline for the northern Alaska coastal region generated to calculate shoreline change rates along exposed coastlines between Point Barrow and Icy Cape for the time period 1947 to 2012
Abstract:
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 along the north coast of Alaska is chronic, widespread, may be accelerating, and is threatening defense and energy-related infrastructure, natural shoreline habitats, and Native communities. There is an increased demand for accurate information regarding past and present shoreline changes across the United States. To meet these national needs, the Coastal and Marine Geology Program of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is compiling existing reliable historical shoreline data along sandy shores of the conterminous United States and parts of Alaska and Hawaii under the National Assessment of Shoreline Change project. There is no widely accepted standard for analyzing shoreline change. Existing shoreline data measurements and rate calculation methods vary from study to study and prevent combining results into state-wide or regional assessments. The impetus behind the National Assessment project was to develop a standardized method of measuring changes in shoreline position that is consistent from coast to coast. The goal was to facilitate the process of periodically and systematically updating the results in an internally consistent manner.
  1. How might this data set be cited?
    U.S. Geological Survey, 2015, Offshore baseline for the northern Alaska coastal region generated to calculate shoreline change rates along exposed coastlines between Point Barrow and Icy Cape for the time period 1947 to 2012: Open-File Report 2015-1030, U.S. Geological Survey, Coastal and Marine Geology Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Santa Cruz and Menlo Park, CA.

    Online Links:

    This is part of the following larger work.

    Gibbs, Ann E., 2015, National Assessment of Shoreline Change: A GIS Compilation of Vector Shorelines and Associated Shoreline Change Data for the North Coast of Alaska, U.S.-Canadian Border to Icy Cape: Open-File Report 2015-1030, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

    Online Links:

  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?
    West_Bounding_Coordinate: -161.956935191
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: -156.478282888
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: 71.3906930822
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: 70.2876270518
  3. What does it look like?
  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?
    Calendar_Date: 2014
    Currentness_Reference:
    publication date
  5. What is the general form of this data set?
    Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: vector digital data
  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 (9)
    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 0.0196081946. Longitudes are given to the nearest 0.0572891920. Latitude and longitude values are specified in Decimal seconds. The horizontal datum used is D_WGS_1984.
      The ellipsoid used is WGS_1984.
      The semi-major axis of the ellipsoid used is 6378137.0.
      The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/298.257223563.
  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?
    Attribute Table
    Table containing attribute information associated with the data set. (Source: Producer defined)
    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:9
    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)
    • U.S. Geological Survey
  2. Who also contributed to the data set?
  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: Ann E. Gibbs
    Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
    Santa Cruz, CA
    USA

    831-460-7540 (voice)
    831-427-4748 (FAX)
    agibbs@usgs.gov

Why was the data set created?

This dataset includes a reference baseline used by the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) to calculate rate-of-change statistics for the north coast of Alaska from the U.S.-Canadian border to Icy Cape. This baseline layer serves as the starting point for all transects cast by the DSAS application. The transects intersect each shoreline and establish measurement points used to calculate shoreline-change rates.

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: 2013 (process 1 of 6)
    Baselines were constructed offshore from the time series of shoreline positions using standard editing tools in Esri ArcMap v. 10.1 The baselines were positioned to conform to changes in the combined orientation of the shorelines alongshore. This was done so that the transects, which are generated by the Digital Shoreline Analysis System v 4.3 from the baseline, would intersect perpendicular to the general trend of the shorelines.
    Date: 18-Oct-2014 (process 2 of 6)
    The baseline feature class was exported from a personal geodatabase to a shapefile in ArcCatalog (v.10.1) by performing a right-mouse click on the data layer > export > to shapefile (single).
    Date: 18-Dec-2013 (process 3 of 6)
    The baseline shapefile was projected in Esri's ArcToolbox (v.10.1) > Data Management Tools > Projections and Transformations > Feature > Project. parameters: input projection - UTM zone XN (NAD83; where X is the corresponding UTM Zone); output projection- geographic coordinates (WGS 84) using the Geographic Transformation WGS_1984_(ITRF00)_To_NAD_1983.
    Date: 07-Feb-2017 (process 4 of 6)
    Keywords section of metadata optimized for discovery in USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Data Catalog. Person who carried out this activity:
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: Alan O. Allwardt
    Contractor -- Information Specialist
    2885 Mission Street
    Santa Cruz, CA

    831-460-7551 (voice)
    831-427-4748 (FAX)
    aallwardt@usgs.gov
    Date: 26-Apr-2018 (process 5 of 6)
    Added keywords from Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS) to metadata. Person who carried out this activity:
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: Alan O. Allwardt
    Contractor -- Information Specialist
    2885 Mission Street
    Santa Cruz, CA

    831-460-7551 (voice)
    831-427-4748 (FAX)
    aallwardt@usgs.gov
    Date: 19-Oct-2020 (process 6 of 6)
    Edited metadata to add keywords section with USGS persistent identifier as theme keyword. No data were changed. Person who carried out this activity:
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: VeeAnn A. Cross
    Marine Geologist
    384 Woods Hole Road
    Woods Hole, MA

    508-548-8700 x2251 (voice)
    508-457-2310 (FAX)
    vatnipp@usgs.gov
  3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?
    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: Open-File Report 2015-1030, U.S. Geological Survey, Coastal and Marine Geology Program, Santa Cruz, CA.

    Online Links:

    Thieler, E.R., Himmelstoss, E.A., Zichichi, J.L., and Ergul, A., 2009, Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) version 4.0 - An ArcGIS extension for calculating shoreline change: Open-File Report 2008-1278, U.S. Geological Survey, Coastal and Marine Geology Program, Woods Hole, MA.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details: Current version at time of use was 4.3

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 (USGS Open-File Report 2008-1278). 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?
    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?
    This baseline file is complete and contains all baseline segments used to cast transects along sections of the north coast of Alaska, between the U.S.-Canadian border and Icy Cape, 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: None
Use_Constraints:
This information is not intended for navigational purposes. Read and fully comprehend the metadata prior to data use. Uses of these data should not violate the spatial resolution of the data. Where these data are used in combination with other data of different resolution, the resolution of the combined output will be limited by the lowest resolution of all the data. Acknowledge the U.S. Geological Survey in products derived from these data. Share data products developed using these data with the U.S. Geological Survey. This database has been approved for release and publication by the Director of the USGS. Although this database has been subjected to rigorous review and is substantially complete, the USGS reserves the right to revise the data pursuant to further analysis and review. Furthermore, it is released on condition that neither the USGS nor the United States Government may be held liable for any damages resulting from its authorized or unauthorized use. Although this Federal Geographic Data Committee-compliant metadata file is intended to document these data in nonproprietary form, as well as in ArcInfo format, this metadata file may include some ArcInfo-specific terminology.
  1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)
    U.S. Geological Survey
    Attn: Ann E. Gibbs
    Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
    Santa Cruz, CA
    CA

    831-460-7540 (voice)
    831-427-4748 (FAX)
    agibbs@usgs.gov
  2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set? EastChukchi_exposed_baselines.shp
  3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?
    This information is not intended for navigational purposes. This database has been approved for release and publication by the Director of the USGS. Although this database has been subjected to rigorous review and is substantially complete, the USGS reserves the right to revise the data pursuant to further analysis and review. Furthermore, it is released on condition that neither the USGS nor the United States Government may be held liable for any damages resulting from its authorized or unauthorized use. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof.
  4. How can I download or order the data?
    • Availability in digital form:
      Data format: This WinZip file contains the baseline shapefile for use generating transects within the Digital Shoreline Analysis System for the Alaska North Coast region from the U.S.-Canadian border to Icy Cape and associated metadata. in format vector digital data (version 9.0) Esri polyline shapefile Size: 0.022
      Network links: http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2015/1030/downloads/EastChukchi_exposed_baselines.zip
    • Cost to order the data: None

  5. What hardware or software do I need in order to use the data set?
    This zip file contains data available in Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri) polyline shapefile format. The user must have ArcGIS or ArcView 3.0 or greater software to read and process the data file. In lieu of ArcView or ArcGIS, the user may utilize another GIS application package capable of importing the data. A free data viewer, ArcExplorer, capable of displaying the data is available from Esri at www.esri.com.

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:
Last modified: 19-Oct-2020
Metadata author:
Ann E. Gibbs
U.S. Geological Survey
Geologist
Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
Santa Cruz, CA
USA

831-460-7540 (voice)
831-427-4748 (FAX)
agibbs@usgs.gov
Metadata standard:
FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001-1998)
This page is <https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/catalog/pcmsc/SeriesReports/OFR/OFR_2015-1030/EastChukchi_exposed_baselines.faq.html>
Generated by mp version 2.9.50 on Tue Sep 21 18:17:53 2021