Baseline for the Northern California coastal region generated to calculate shoreline change rates using the Digital Shoreline Analysis System version 5.0

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Frequently anticipated questions:

What does this data set describe?

Title:
Baseline for the Northern California coastal region generated to calculate shoreline change rates using the Digital Shoreline Analysis System version 5.0
Abstract:
Sandy ocean beaches are a popular recreational destination, often surrounded by communities containing valuable real estate. Development is on the rise despite the fact that coastal infrastructure is subjected to flooding and erosion. As a result, there is an increased demand for accurate information regarding past and present shoreline changes. 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 open-ocean sandy shores of the conterminous United States and parts of Alaska and Hawaii as part of the Coastal Change Hazards programmatic focus, formerly 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 this national scale 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.
In this release, three new tidal datum-based mean high water (MHW) shorelines extracted from 2009/2010/2011, 2015, and 2016 lidar elevation data are included in the analysis (coverage not necessarily continuous statewide). The full range of shoreline data is 1852 to 2016. The proxy-datum bias correction has been applied on a transect-by-transect basis to reconcile offsets between the MHW shorelines and proxy-based HWL shorelines for the entire California coastal region which is divided into three subregions: Northern California (NorCal), Central California (CenCal), and Southern California (SoCal). In the previous report (Hapke et al., 2006), the proxy-datum bias correction was only applied to regional shoreline averages.
This shoreline change update for California reports proxy-datum bias corrected rates when that information was computed while extracting shoreline positions from lidar data. In areas where the methods for delineating shorelines did not include computing bias correction values, the rates are reported without that correction. The proxy-datum bias concept is explained further in Ruggiero and List (2009) and in the process steps of the metadata file associated with the transect rates.
  1. How might this data set be cited?
    U.S. Geological Survey, 20240112, Baseline for the Northern California coastal region generated to calculate shoreline change rates using the Digital Shoreline Analysis System version 5.0: data release DOI:10.5066/P94J0K7Z, U.S. Geological Survey, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole, MA.

    Online Links:

    This is part of the following larger work.

    Kratzmann, Meredith G., Farris, Amy S., and Himmelstoss, Emily A., 2024, National Shoreline Change—A GIS compilation of vector shorelines and associated shoreline change data from the 1800s to 2010s for the coast of California: data release DOI:10.5066/P94J0K7Z, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details:
    suggested citation: Kratzmann, M.G., Farris, A.S., and Himmelstoss, E.A., 2024, National Shoreline Change—A GIS compilation of vector shorelines and associated shoreline change data from the 1800s to 2010s for the coast of California: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P94J0K7Z.
  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?
    West_Bounding_Coordinate: -124.409386
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: -122.968378
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: 41.998937
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: 38.230138
  3. What does it look like?
    https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/file/get/64add8d8d34e70357a29326b?name=BG_Norcal_baseline.jpg&allowOpen=true (JPEG)
    Map view of data
  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
  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 (1)
    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_1984.
      The semi-major axis of the ellipsoid used is 6378137.000000.
      The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/298.257224.
  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?
    Norcal_baseline
    Table containing attribute information associated with the data set for Norcal. (Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
    FID
    Internal feature number used as a unique identifier of an object within a table primarily used in shapefiles. (Source: Esri) Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated.
    Shape
    Feature geometry. (Source: Esri) Coordinates defining the features.
    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:unlimited
    Shape_Leng
    Length of feature in meter units (UTM zone 10N, WGS 84) (Source: Esri)
    Range of values
    Minimum:0
    Maximum:unlimited
    Entity_and_Attribute_Overview:
    The entity and attribute information provided here describes the tabular data associated with the dataset. Please review the individual attribute descriptions for detailed information.
    Entity_and_Attribute_Detail_Citation: U.S. Geological Survey

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: Meredith G. Kratzmann
    384 Woods Hole Road
    Woods Hole, MA
    USA

    508-548-8700 (voice)
    508-457-2310 (FAX)
    mkratzmann@contractor.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 each subregion: Northern California (Oregon border to Tomales Bay), Central California (Tomales Bay to El Capitán State Beach), and Southern California (El Capitán State Beach to the border with Mexico). This baseline layer serves as the starting point for orthogonally-oriented transects generated 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: 2020 (process 1 of 5)
    A baseline was constructed with respect to the time series of shoreline positions using standard editing tools in Esri's ArcMap v10.7. The midshore baseline was positioned to conform to the overall orientation of the shorelines alongshore. This was done so that the transects, which are generated by the Digital Shoreline Analysis System from the baseline, would intersect roughly perpendicular to the general trend of the shorelines. This process step and all subsequent process steps were performed by the same person - Meredith G. Kratzmann Person who carried out this activity:
    Meredith G. Kratzmann
    U.S. Geological Survey
    384 Woods Hole Road
    Woods Hole, MA
    USA

    508-548-8700 (voice)
    508-457-2310 (FAX)
    mkratzmann@contractor.usgs.gov
    Date: 2020 (process 2 of 5)
    The baseline shapefile was imported into a personal geodatabase in ArcCatalog v10.7 by right-clicking on the geodatabase > Import for use with the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) software to perform rate calculations
    Date: 2020 (process 3 of 5)
    The baseline feature class was used as the input within the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) software to generate transects and perform rate calculations.
    Date: 2020 (process 4 of 5)
    The baseline feature class was exported from a personal geodatabase to a shapefile in ArcCatalog v10.7 by performing a right-mouse click on the data layer > export > to shapefile (single).
    Date: 2020 (process 5 of 5)
    The baseline shapefile was projected in ArcToolbox v10.7 > Data Management Tools > Projections and Transformations > Project. parameters: input projection - UTM zone 10N (NorCal, CenCal) or 11N (SoCal) (WGS 84); output projection- geographic coordinates (WGS 84); transformation = none.
  3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?
    Kratzmann, Meredith G., 2024, National Shoreline Change—Summary Statistics of Shoreline Change From the 1800s To the 2010s for the Coast of California: data report 1187, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details: Data report associated with data release DOI:10.5066/P94J0K7Z.
    Himmelstoss, Emily A., Farris, Amy S., Henderson, Rachel E., Kratzmann, Meredith G., Ergul, Ayhan, Zhang, Ouya, and Zichichi, Jessica L., 2018, Digital Shoreline Analysis System (version 5.0): U.S. Geological Survey Software: software release version 5.0, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

    Online Links:

    Himmelstoss, Emily A., Henderson, Rachel E., Kratzmann, Meredith G., and Farris, Amy S., 2018, Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) Version 5.0 User Guide: Open-File Report 20181179, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

    Online Links:

    Hapke, Cheryl J., Reid, David, Richmond, Bruce M., Ruggiero, Peter, and List, Jeff, 2006, National Assessment of Shoreline Change Part 3: Historical Shoreline Change and Associated Coastal Land Loss Along Sandy Shorelines of the California Coast: Open-File Report 2006-1219, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

    Online Links:

    Ruggiero, Peter, and List, Jeffrey H., 200909, Improving Accuracy and Statistical Reliability of Shoreline Position and Change Rate Estimates: Journal of Coastal Research vol. 255, Coastal Education and Research Foundation, n/a.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details: pp. 1069-1081

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

  1. How well have the observations been checked?
    The attributes in this layer are based on the requirements for use within the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) software.
  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?
  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?
    This baseline file is complete and contains the baseline segment(s) used to cast transects along sections of the coastal region where shoreline position data were available to calculate either a short- or long-term rate.
  5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?
    Each polyline has a unique identification attribute (ID). This field is used by the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) to designate the alongshore order of baselines, if more than one baseline exists.

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 Public domain data from the U.S. Government are freely redistributable with proper metadata and source attribution. Please recognize the U.S. Geological Survey as the originator of the dataset. These data are not to be used for navigation.
  1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)
    U.S. Geological Survey - GS ScienceBase
    Denver Federal Center, Building 810, Mail Stop 302
    Denver, CO
    United States

    1-888-275-8747 (voice)
    sciencebase@usgs.gov
  2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set? The dataset contains the polyline baselines used for the analysis of shoreline data (SHP and other shapefile components), browse graphic, and the FGDC CSDGM 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 for other purposes, nor on all computer systems, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty. Although these data have been processed successfully on a computer system at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the display or utility of the data for other purposes, nor on all computer systems, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty. The USGS or the U.S. Government shall not be held liable for improper or incorrect use of the data described and/or contained herein.
  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-Jan-2024
Metadata author:
Meredith G. Kratzmann
U.S. Geological Survey
384 Woods Hole Road
Woods Hole, MA
USA

508-548-8700 (voice)
508-457-2310 (FAX)
whsc_data_contact@usgs.gov
Contact_Instructions:
The metadata contact email address is a generic address in the event the person is no longer with USGS.
Metadata standard:
FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001-1998)
This page is <https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/catalog/whcmsc/SB_data_release/DR_P94J0K7Z/Norcal_baseline_metadata.faq.html>
Generated by mp version 2.9.51 on Tue Oct 15 09:53:07 2024