Category-4 Hurricane Charley came ashore on the southwest coast of Florida on Friday, August 13, 2004. The USGS, NASA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are cooperating in a research project investigating coastal change that occurred during Hurricane Charley. On August 15, aerial video and still photography were acquired from Venice to Marco Island, Florida. On August 16, coastal topography and bathymetry of the same region were surveyed using NASA’s EAARL (Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar), a laser mapping system. These data will be compared to an earlier survey conducted in June 2004 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) using CHARTS (Compact Hydrographic Airborne Rapid Total Survey). The comparison will detect the magnitude and spatial variability of coastal changes such as beach erosion, overwash deposition, and island breaches. These data will be used to develop and test predictive models of coastal impacts from severe storms. The data will be made available to local, state and federal agencies for purposes of disaster recovery and erosion mitigation. |
