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Coastal Vulnerability to Sea-Level Rise:
A Preliminary Database for the U.S. Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf of Mexico
Coasts
U.S. Geological Survey
Digital Data Series - 68 |
Introduction
This CD-ROM is being released to
allow users to access the digital data used in the following U.S. Geological Survey
Open-File Reports:
Thieler, E.R., and Hammar-Klose, E.S., 1999. National Assessment
of Coastal Vulnerability to Future Sea-Level Rise: Preliminary Results
for the U.S. Atlantic Coast.
U.S. Geological Survey, Open-File Report 99-593, 1 sheet.
Thieler, E.R., and Hammar-Klose, E.S., 2000. National Assessment
of Coastal Vulnerability to Future Sea-Level Rise: Preliminary Results
for the U.S. Pacific Coast.
U.S. Geological Survey, Open-File Report 00-178, 1 sheet.
Thieler, E.R., and Hammar-Klose, E.S., 2000. National Assessment
of Coastal Vulnerability to Future Sea-Level Rise: Preliminary Results
for the U.S. Gulf of Mexico Coast.
U.S. Geological Survey, Open-File Report 00-179, 1 sheet.
These reports are provided in
Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) format, making them suitable
for both viewing and printing. Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0, a free PDF viewer, is
available for down
load at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readermain.html.
In addition, the data used in the
generation of these reports are included in geographic format as
ArcExplorer projects, ArcView shape files and ArcInfo export files. The
ArcExplorer projects require the installation of ESRI's ArcExplorer 1.1,
available for download at http://www.esri.com/software/arcexplorer/index.html.
In addition, an ArcExplorer User Guide is available at the same
site. More information on ArcExplorer and other ESRI products is
available at http://www.esri.com.
This CD-ROM (Compact Disc-Read Only Memory) has been produced in accordance with the ISO 9660 CD-ROM Standard and is therefore capable of being read on any computing
platform that has appropriate CD-ROM driver software installed. Access to the data and information contained on this CD-ROM was developed using the HyperText Markup Language
(HTML) utilized by the World Wide Web (WWW) project. Development of the CD-ROM documentation and user interface in HTML allows a user to access the information by using a
variety of WWW information browsers (e.g. NCSA Mosaic, Netscape) to facilitate browsing and locating information and data. To access the information contained on this disk with a
WWW client browser, open the file 'index.htm' at the top level directory of this CD-ROM with your selected browser. The HTML documentation is written utilizing some HTML 3.0
enhancements. The disk should be viewable by all WWW browsers but may not properly format on some older WWW browsers.
Background
The goal of this
project is to quantify, at the National scale, the relative susceptibility
of the Nation's coast to sea- level rise through the use of a coastal
vulnerability index (CVI). This initial
classification is based upon the variables coastal geomorphology,
regional coastal slope, tidal range, wave height, historical rates of
relative sea-level rise and shoreline erosion and accretion rates. The
combination of these variables furnishes a broad overview of regions where physical changes are
likely to occur due to sea-level rise.
The coastal vulnerability index
provides insight into the relative potential of coastal change due
to future sea-level rise. The maps and data presented here can be
viewed in at least two ways: 1. as a base for developing a more complete
inventory of variables influencing the coastal vulnerability to future
sea-level rise to which other elements can be added as they become
available; and 2. as an example of the potential for assessing coastal
vulnerability to future sea-level rise using objective criteria.
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