Shoreline for the Timbalier Islands, 1887

Metadata also available as - [Outline] - [Parseable text]

Frequently-anticipated questions:

What does this data set describe?
    Title: Shoreline for the Timbalier Islands, 1887
    Abstract:
    The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Coastal Research Laboratory in the Department of Geology and Geophysics at the University of New Orleans (UNO) and the Center for Coastal Energy and Environmental Resources at Louisiana State University (LSU), is investigating the processes of coastal erosion and wetland loss in Louisiana (Sallenger and others, 1987; Sallenger and Williams 1989; Penland and others, 1992).

    Building on the USGS Louisiana Barrier Island Study (Williams and others, 1992), this data layer depicts the shoreline as it stood in 1887.

    The Timbalier Islands are located about 100 km south-southwest of New Orleans. This barrier island shoreline is 30 km long and extends east from Cat Island Pass to Raccoon Pass. The Timbalier Islands represent a flanking barrier island system developed from the reworking and erosion of an abandoned distributary of the Lafourche delta complex within the Mississippi River delta plain (Penland and others, 1988). Island evolution is driven by predominant longshore sediment transport and storm overwash, causing the island arc to migrate to the north and west. The present configuration of the Timbalier Islands consists of Timbalier Island to the west, Timbalier Shoal, and East Timbalier Island to the east. Timbalier Shoal, located between the two islands within Little Pass Timbalier, is a transient area of moving sand, which is subaerial for some periods of measurement. The Gulf shoreline of East Timbalier Island has been armored by a rock seawall with a second seawall constructed landward in an attempt to protect oil and gas facilities on the bayside.

    In order to quantify shoreline changes since January 21, 1988, new vertical aerial mapping photography was acquired on December 9, 1996 The methods and transects used by McBride and others (1992) were used to insure data compatibility of the new measurements and analysis

  1. How should this data set be cited?

    Reid, Jamey M. , 2003, Shoreline for the Timbalier Islands, 1887: U.S. Geological Survey, Coastal and Marine Geology Program, Woods Hole Field Center, Woods Hole, MA.

    Online Links:

    This is part of the following larger work.

    Williams, S.J., Reid, J.M., Cross, V., and Polloni, C., 2003, Coastal Erosion and Wetland Change in Louisiana: Selected USGS Products: Digital Data Series DDS-79, U.S. Geological Survey, Coastal and Marine Geology Program, Woods Hole Field Center Woods Hole, MA.

    Online Links:

  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?

    West_Bounding_Coordinate: -90.476599
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: -90.258948
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: 29.075174
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: 29.035965

  3. What does it look like?

  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?

    Calendar_Date:
    Currentness_Reference: ground condition

  5. What is the general form of this data set?

    Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: vector digital data

  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?

    1. How are geographic features stored in the data set?

      This is a Vector data set. It contains the following vector data types (SDTS terminology):

      • String (350)

    2. What coordinate system is used to represent geographic features?

      Horizontal positions are specified in geographic coordinates, that is, latitude and longitude. Latitudes are given to the nearest 0.000000. Longitudes are given to the nearest 0.000000. Latitude and longitude values are specified in Decimal degrees.

      The horizontal datum used is North American Datum of 1983.
      The ellipsoid used is Geodetic Reference System 80.
      The semi-major axis of the ellipsoid used is 6378137.000000.
      The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/298.257222.

  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?

    tb1887

    FID
    Internal feature number. (Source: ESRI)

    Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated.

    Shape
    Feature geometry. (Source: ESRI)

    Coordinates defining the features.

    ENTITY

    LAYER

    LEVEL

    ELEVATION

    COLOR

    MSLINK_DMR

Who produced the data set?

  1. Who are the originators of the data set? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)

  2. Who also contributed to the data set?

  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?

    University of New Orleans
    c/o Paul Connor, Jr
    Dept. of Geology & Geophysics, Pontchartrain Institute, CRM Bldg. Room 343
    New Orleans, LA 70148
    USA

    (504) 280-1030 (voice)
    (504) 280-4022 (FAX)
    pfconnor@crl.uno.edu

Why was the data set created?
To release data that was originally intended to be published in a paper atlas in a digital format.

To up-date the shoreline change analysis by McBride and others (1992) and Penland and others (1998) for Timbalier Island to 1996.

How was the data set created?
  1. From what previous works were the data drawn?

  2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?

    (process 1 of 2)
    The projection was defined as UTM and converted to Geographic NAD 83.

    Person who carried out this activity:

    U.S. Geological Survey
    c/o Jamey M. Reid
    IT Specialist (Data Management)
    Woods Hole Field Center
    Woods Hole, MA 025453-1598
    USA

    (508) 548-8700 x 2204 (voice)
    (508) 457-2310 (FAX)
    jreid@usgs.gov

    (process 2 of 2)
    Metadata was created for the new shapefile.

    Person who carried out this activity:

    U.S. Geological Survey
    c/o Jamey M. Reid
    IT Specialist (Data Management)
    Woods Hole Field Center
    Woods Hole, MA 025453-1598
    USA

    (508) 457-2204 (voice)
    (508) 457-2310 (FAX)
    jreid@usgs.gov

    Data sources used in this process:
    • ci_south1855.shp

    Data sources produced in this process:

    • ci_south1855.shp.xml

How reliable are the data; what problems remain in the data set?
  1. How well have the observations been checked?

  2. How accurate are the geographic locations?

  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?

  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?

  5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?

How can someone get a copy of the data set?
Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?

Access_Constraints: None
Use_Constraints: None

  1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)

    U.S. Geological Survey
    c/o S. Jeffress Williams
    Geologist
    Woods Hole Field Center
    Woods Hole, MA 02543-1598
    USA

    (508) 457-2383 (voice)
    (508) 457-2310 (FAX)
    jwilliams@usgs.gov

  2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set?

    Downloadable Data

  3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?

    Although this data set has been used by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), no warranty, express or implied, is made by the USGS as to the accuracy of the data and/or related materials. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the USGS in the use of these data or related materials.

  4. How can I download or order the data?

Who wrote the metadata?
Dates:
Last modified: 25-Jul-2003

Metadata author:
U.S. Geological Survey
c/o Jamey M. Reid
IT Specialist (Data Management)
Woods Hole Field Center
Woods Hole, MA 025453-1598
USA

(508) 548-8700 x 2204 (voice)
(508) 457-2310 (FAX)
jreid@usgs.gov

Metadata standard:
FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001-1998)

Metadata extensions used:

Generated by mp version 2.7.3 on Wed Aug 06 09:23:37 2003