Overview Field Activity Collections System (FACS) Log

Topic
Information
USGS Activity ID i.e. YYPRJ## *
11CCH04
Other ID (if any)
XSTORMS.h20080830i
Organization(s)/Program
U. S. Geological Survey, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center
Project/Theme
Extreme Storm Coastal Change Hazards
Area of Operation
Ocracoke Inlet, North Carolina, to Virginia Beach, Virginia
Principal Investigator(s)
K.L.M. Morgan and D. Krohn
Information Specialist(s)
K.K. Guy
Activity Type
Oblique Aerial Photo Survey
Scientific Purpose/Goals
Post-Hurricane Irene survey to document the storm impact on the coast.
Platform
Piper Navajo Chieftain, tail number N2KK
Starting Date
August 30, 2011
Starting Port/Location
St. Petersburg, Fla.
Ending Date
August 31, 2011
Ending Port/Location
St. Petersburg, Fla.
Equipment Used
Nikon D1X camera, Two Panasonic Toughbook computers (CF-52 & CF-52), Two Optima Bluetop Batteries (D34M), Garmin GPS 18 PC, Nikon CoolPix 6000.
Information to be Derived (e.g., Grain Size, Depth to Basement)
Analysis of coastal change due to extreme storms
Summary of Activity and Data Gathered
2688 oblique aerial photos
Notes (include staff, shop time etc)
August 30, 2011: The crew met at 7:00 at the hanger on August 30, 2011, for final equipment preparation and pilot and crew briefings.  They departed St Petersburg (SPG) at 8:00 am and transited to Grand Strand Airport, Myrtle Beach, S.C. (CRE) to refuel.  The Survey began at Ocracoke Inlet, and continued north along the coast, shooting out of the left side of the aircraft, to Nags Head, N.C.  Due to active military operations and bad weather along the coast we were unable to start any further south along the North Carolina coast. The flight landed at Norfolk International Airport to overnight.

August 31, 2011: In the morning, the USGS crew met a camera crew from The Discovery Channel who would be filming a small portion of the coast near Rodanthe, N.C. and Pea Island NWR. It was decided that we would fly one portion of the coast twice, between Rodanthe and the Pea Island Ranger Station, once for the Discovery crew and again for the USGS crew.  The flight left Norfolk at approximately 10:30 and flew along the coast of the mouth of Chesapeake Bay before continuing south, shooting out of the right side of the aircraft.  The survey ended at Ocracoke Inlet, due to active military operations.  We landed at Grand Strand Airport, refueled and headed back to St Petersburg, landing about 4:45 pm.

The crew collected 2600 images on the Nikon D1X and 88 on the Nikon Coolpix P6000.  Images were shot out of the left side of the aircraft using the door window with the window tinting removed on August 30 and out of the right-side window on August 31, also with the tinting removed. The Coolpix images were mostly shot out the front or in the interior of the aircraft.  The Coolpix was also used for many of the setup images.