Abstract
Within the past two decades, Alabama’s coastline along the Gulf of Mexico was significantly altered by both natural and anthropogenic processes. Tropical cyclones, such as Hurricanes Ivan (September 2004) and Katrina (August 2005), caused unprecedented damage to habitat, recreational beaches, and infrastructure. Large-scale beach nourishment projects were completed in response to these large-scale erosional events and normal seasonal erosion events, such as passage of frontal systems. The Coastal Resources Program of the Geological Survey of Alabama collects, develops, archives, and disseminates episodic and temporal shoreline change data through the beach monitoring project, funded through the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Lands Division, Coastal Section. Methods of research include the collection, development, and dissemination of high-resolution coastal imagery and supporting thematic layers, shoreline change analyses (high resolution surveying techniques, aerial photographic interpretations, and statistics), and use of the Environmental Systems Research Institute Inc. ArcGIS® platform, Version 10.8 to model airborne laser altimetry and historic shoreline vectors. This research helps to further understand and document these erosional events and the resiliency of Alabama beaches as they respond to natural processes and human-induced change. Research presented will include an overview of data the Geological Survey of Alabama collects, develops, models, and disseminates. Emphasis will be placed on episodic and temporal dynamics of the beach environment and its natural resiliency from erosional events of coastal dune systems.
