Other ID: NASA Wallops
Status: Completed
Organization(s): USGS, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Funding Program(s): Coastal Sediment Availability and Flux - CSAF (GX.25.MN00.M0Y60.00)
Principal Investigator(s): Jennifer Miselis, Daniel Ciarletta
Affiliate Investigator(s):
Information Specialist(s): Julie Bernier, Chelsea Stalk
Data Type(s): Location-Elevation: Navigation, Seismics: Sub Bottom Profiler, Sonar: Sound Velocity, Sonar: Single Beam, Sonar: Multibeam
Scientific Purpose/Goals: Collect bathymetry to initialize hydrodynamic model and acquire new seismic data to connect with existing offshore lines. This data will be used to help evaluate impacts of shoreface engineering activities on system ecogeomorphology.
Vehicle(s): Ford Expedition Green, Ford F-250 Stone Grey, Chevy Suburban Silver, Ford F-350 Dually White (GSA)
Start Port/Location:
End Port/Location:
Start Date: 2024-05-29
End Date: 2024-06-18
Equipment Used: SP80 GNSS Receiver, GPS Backpack, Valeport SWiFT SVP, Castaway-CTD, Chirp 512i, Chirp 216, ODOM-Echotrac CV-100, Multibeam Bathymetry System
Information to be Derived: bathymetry, seismic profiles SubFAN identifiers: 24BIM01 = WVR1/Shark 24BIM02 = WVR2/Chum 24BIM03 = 512i Chirp Sled navigation/bathymetry 24BIM04 = Sallenger MBES and 512i Layback navigation All seismic acquisition will be collected under the larger FAN 2024-310-FA regardless of system.
Summary of Activity and Data Gathered: Field activity was completed on June 15, 2024. Shoreface singlebeam bathymetric data out to 4 m depth were acquired across the lengths of Wallops, Assawoman, and the emergent Gargatha islands, as well as along the northern tip of Metompkin Island and within the north and south channels of Gargathy Inlet. Adjacent MBES data were also acquired beyond 4 m depth, filling in bathymetry between areas covered by shallow singlebeam data and offshore MBES data acquired from earlier surveys. CHIRP seismic lines oriented parallel, perpendicular, and obliquely to shore were also acquired in tandem with MBES data. Additionally, seven sediment samples were acquired from Assawoman and Wallops islands, including one sample taken from an exposed marsh platform on the beach of Assawoman Island and six samples taken from the anthropogenically created lagoon and inlet complex on northern Wallops Island.
Staff: Erin Lyons, Christopher Bemelmans, Benjamin Galbraith, Billy Reynolds, Andrew Farmer, Sabrina Levinson, Sydney Nick
Affiliate Staff:
Notes:
Location:
Chincoteague Inlet; Wallops Island; Assawoman Island; Gargathy Inlet; shoreface; offshore; Virginia
| Boundaries | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| North: 37.91820112 | South: 37.76311555 | West: -75.55503845 | East: -75.35041809 |
Platform(s):
Honda SxS 700-4 UTV |  Personal Water Craft (Blue WVR2 - Chum) |  Personal Water Craft (White WVR1 - Shark) |  Sallenger |  22-ft Twin Vee (R/V G. Hill) | UTV Trailer |
Bemelmans, C.C., Stalk, C.A., Ciarletta, D.J., Miselis, J.L., 2025, Coastal Multibeam Bathymetry and Backscatter Data Collected in June 2024 From Wallops and Assawoman Islands, Virginia: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P14SGUMT.
Forde, A.S., Stalk, C.A., Ciarletta, D.J., Miselis, J.L., 2025, Chirp Sub-Bottom Profile Geophysical Data Collected in 2024 From Wallops Island and Assawoman Island, Virginia: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P1NZ6CC2.
Lyons, E.O., Bernier, J.C., Nick, S.K., Ciarletta, D.J., Miselis, J.L., 2025, Coastal Single-Beam Bathymetry and Beach Elevation Data Collected in 2024 From Wallops and Assawoman Islands, Virginia: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P1HFYGE6.
| Survey Equipment | Survey Info | Data Type(s) | Data Collected |
|---|---|---|---|
| SP80 GNSS Receiver | --- | Benchmarks Navigation | Wallops_Island_2024_ WGS84_UTM18N_Tracklines (Single-beam bathymetry and beach elevation tracklines in WGS84 (G2139) UTM18N ellipsoid ) 2024-310-FA_nav (Navigation data for the entire survey, 1000-shot-interval locations, start of line locations, and data dictionary ) |
| GPS Backpack | --- | Navigation Profiles Transects | Wallops_Island_2024_Beach_ WGS84_UTM18N_xyz (Beach elevation data points (xyz) in WGS84 (G2139) UTM18N ellipsoid) Wallops_Island_2024_Beach_NAD83_ FIPS4502_NAVD88_G18_xyz (Beach elevation data points (xyz) in NAD83 FIPS4502 and NAVD88 (orthometric height) with respect to the GEOID18 model) |
| Valeport SWiFT SVP | --- | Sound Velocity | |
| Castaway-CTD | --- | Sound Velocity | |
| Chirp 512i | --- | Sub Bottom Profiler | |
| Chirp 216 | --- | Sub Bottom Profiler | 2024-310-FA_segy (Digital chirp sub-bottom trace data) 2024-310-FA_seisimag (Processed sub-bottom profile images) 2024-310-FA_gis (Sub-bottom profile data geospatial files and data dictionary) |
| ODOM-Echotrac CV-100 | --- | Single Beam | Wallops_Island_2024_SBES_ WGS84_UTM18N_xyz. (Single-beam bathymetry data points (xyz) in WGS84 (G2139) UTM18N ellipsoid) Wallops_Island_2024_SBES_NAD83_ FIPS4502_NAVD88_G18_xyz (Single-beam bathymetry data points (xyz) in NAD83 FIPS4502 and NAVD88 (orthometric height) with respect to the GEOID18 model ) |
| Multibeam Bathymetry System | --- | Multibeam | Wallops_2024_MBES_xyz (Processed elevation point data (xyz) as derived from a 1-meter grid provided in both WGS84 (G2139) ellipsoid and NAD83 NAVD88 Virginia South State Plane Coordinate System GEOID18) Wallops_2024_MBES_Backscatter (Processed acoustic intensity backscatter mosaic, derived from the 1-meter grid, provided as a 32-point GeoTIFF in WGS84 (G2139) ellipsoid) |
