USGS Open-File Report 2015–1002: Quantification of Shoreline Change Along Hatteras Island, North Carolina—Oregon Inlet to Cape Hatteras, 1978–2002, and Associated Vector Shoreline Data

Quantification of Shoreline Change Along Hatteras Island, North Carolina—Oregon Inlet to Cape Hatteras, 1978–2002, and Associated Vector Shoreline Data

By Cheryl J. Hapke and Rachel E. Henderson

Abstract

Shoreline change spanning twenty-four years was assessed along the coastline of Cape Hatteras National Seashore, at Hatteras Island, North Carolina. The shorelines used in the analysis were generated from georeferenced historical aerial imagery and are used to develop shoreline change rates for Hatteras Island, from Oregon Inlet to Cape Hatteras. A total of 14 dates of aerial photographs ranging from 1978 through 2002 were obtained from the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers Field Research Facility in Duck, North Carolina, and scanned to generate digital imagery. The digital imagery was georeferenced and high water line shorelines (interpreted from the wet/dry line) were digitized from each date to produce a time series of shorelines for the study area. Rates of shoreline change were calculated for three periods: the full span of the time series, 1978 through 2002, and two approximately decadal subsets, 1978–89 and 1989–2002.

First posted May 5, 2015

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St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
600 Fourth Street South
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/

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Suggested citation:

Hapke, C.J., and Henderson, R.E., 2015, Quantification of shoreline change along Hatteras Island, North Carolina—Oregon Inlet to Cape Hatteras, 1978–2002, and associated vector shoreline data: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2015–1002, 13 p., https://dx.doi.org/10.3133/ofr20151002.

ISSN 2331-1258 (online)

Contents

Abstract

Introduction

Data and Methods

Calculation of Shoreline Change Rates

Shoreline Change Uncertainty

Results of Shoreline Change Rate Analysis

Summary

References Cited