Introduction

Figure 1. Map showing the baseline coastal oblique survey flight path from Dauphin Island, Alabama, to Breton Island, Louisiana, June 9, 2011. Click in an area box (1–3) to view a detailed map of that area.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), as part of the National Assessment of Storm-Induced Coastal Change Hazards project, conducts baseline and storm-response photography missions to document and understand the changes in vulnerability of the Nation's coasts to extreme storms. On June 9, 2011, the USGS conducted an oblique aerial photographic survey from Dauphin Island, Alabama, to Breton Island, Louisiana (fig. 1), aboard a Beechcraft BE90 King Air aircraft at an altitude of 500 feet (ft) (152 meters (m)) and approximately 1,200 ft (366 m) offshore (fig. 2). This mission was flown to collect baseline data for assessing incremental changes in the beach and nearshore area since previous surveys, flown in January 2011 (Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana, and Breton Island, Louisiana) (K.L.M. Morgan, unpub. data, 2011); July 2010 (Dauphin Island, Alabama) (K.L.M. Morgan, unpub. data, 2010); and September 2008 (Petit Bois Island, Mississippi, to Cat Island, Mississippi) (Morgan, 2016). The data can also be used as a baseline to assess future coastal change.

The photographs in this report are Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) images. The software program ExifTool (version 4.0) was used to add the following to the header of each photo: time of collection, Global Positioning System (GPS) latitude, GPS longitude, keywords, credit, artist (photographer), caption, copyright, and contact information. The photograph locations are an estimate of the position of the aircraft at the time each photograph was taken and do not indicate the location of any feature in the images (see the Navigation Data page). These photographs document the state of the barrier islands and other coastal features at the time of the survey. Pages containing thumbnail images of the photographs, referred to as contact sheets, were created in 5-minute segments of flight time. These segments can be found in figures 3A–3C on the Photographs and Maps page. Photographs can be opened directly with any JPEG-compatible image viewer by clicking on a thumbnail on the contact sheet.

In addition to the photographs, a Google Earth Keyhole Markup Language (KML) file is provided and can be used to view the images by clicking on the marker and then clicking on the thumbnail or the link above the thumbnail. The KML file was created using the photographic navigation files and can be found in the kml folder.

Links to the full-sized images can be found on the Photographs and Maps page and in table 1. KML files, Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) files, images used to produce the Web pages, and a readme file are also included in this report. GPS data collected during the flight are available on the Navigation Data page. The Logs page contains information on the flight and the equipment used.

List of Figures

Figure 1. Map showing the baseline coastal oblique survey flight path from Dauphin Island, Alabama, to Breton Island, Louisiana, June 9, 2011

Figure 2. Diagram of the survey flight acquisition geometry

Figure 3A. Area 1—Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana, to Breton Island, Louisiana (first pass of Chandeleur Islands, La.)

Figure 3B. Area 2—Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana (second pass of Chandeleur Islands, La.)

Figure 3C. Area 3—Dauphin Island, Alabama, to Cat Island, Mississippi

Figure 4. Dauphin Island, Alabama, inset map (Area 3)