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In October 1996, Aircraft Laser Beach Mapping missions
were conducted from Delaware to South Carolina using a NOAA DeHavilland
Twin Otter aircraft. These mission overflights were conducted over
a number of critical coastal sections, as shown in the
beach mapping survey extent.
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Below are individual maps detailing the coastal regions covered during the
October 1996 missions:
October 4th flight:
Assateague Island, Virginia and Maryland
October 9th flight:
Assateague Island to Cape Henlopen, Delaware
October 10th flight:
Virginia Beach, Virginia to Oregon Inlet, North Carolina
October 11th flight:
Wallops Island, Virginia
October 12th flight:
Cape Henry, Virginia to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina
October 13th flight:
New River Inlet, North Carolina to Cape Fear, North Carolina
October 15th flight:
North Island, South Carolina to Little River Inlet, South Carolina
October 16th flight:
Seabrook Island, South Carolina to Bull Island, South Carolina
In Fall 1997, Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM) overflights were conducted for the entire Atlantic coastal region covered during the October 1996 overflights, in addition to areas southward of Seabrook Island, South Carolina to Georgia. This provides a complete beach mapping survey from Cape Henlopen, Delaware to Savannah, Georgia. Also, ATM overflights were conducted for three segments of the Pacific coast establishing a pre-El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) baseline survey.
In summer or fall 1998, a post-ENSO ATM survey will be conducted for the Pacific coastal regions covered during the fall 1997 overflights allowing for survey comparisons and analysis of coastal change and cliff retreat during an El Nino event.
For specific east and west coast flight trajectory information and ground survey locations for all fall 1996 and 1997 ATM missions, visit our web page (http://www.csc.noaa.gov/crs/) for up to date information.
With these ATM overflights concluded, there exists the potential to map the entire U.S. coastline in approximately 1800 km annual segments. Assuming 1800 kilometer (km) flight segments, this would result in the establishment of a national coastal topographic baseline survey allowing storm impact assessments and coastal processes analysis.
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