U.S. Geological Survey Oceanographic Time-Series Data Collection

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Description: Oceanographic and meteorological observations were made at 7 sites on and around the sand ridges offshore of Fire Island NY in winter 2012. Surface wave data, full water column current measurements, and near-bottom beam attenuation, pressure, temperature and salinity observations were collected. An instrumented buoy collected local meteorological data: air temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, wind direction, speed, and gust speed. Our main study area is near the western end of the island where offshore sand ridges extend across the inner continental shelf and connect to the nearshore bar system. These ridges are on the order of 5 to 10 kilometers long and are spaced several kilometers apart, oriented obliquely to the coastline. It is hypothesized that the ridge field modifies surface waves from storms, causing a complex wave pattern that reaches the coastline and influences sediment-transport and coastal-erosion patterns. This study is part of a larger effort in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the National Park Service (NPS) to study coastal processes on Fire Island. For more information about how this research fits with other programs conducted on coastal change, see the US Geological Survey, Coastal and Marine Geology Program, Woods Hole Science Center, Coastal Change Processes Project web site: https://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/project-pages/coastal_change/index.html.

Duration: Jan-Apr 2012

USGS Principal Investigator: J.C. Warner

Publications:

Warner, J.C., List, J., Schwab, B. Voulgaris, G., Armstrong, B.A., and Marshall, N.,2014. Inner-shelf circulation and sediment dynamics on a series of shore-face connected ridges offshore of Fire Island, NY. Ocean Dynamics, December 2014, Volume 64, Issue 12, pp 1767-1781, DOI:10.1007/s10236-014-0781-y.

Schwab, W.C., Baldwin, W.E., Hapke, C.J., Lentz, E.E., Gayes, P.T., Denny, J.F., List, J.H., and Warner, J.C., 2013, Geologic evidence for onshore sediment transport from the inner-continental shelf, —Fire Island, New York: Journal of Coastal Research, v. 29, no. 3, p. 526–544, doi:10.2112/JCOASTRES-D-12-00160.1.

Armstrong, B., Warner, J.C., List,J., Martini, M., Montgomery. E., 2014. Coastal Change Processes Project data report for observations near Fire Island, New York January to April 2012: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2014-1159. (  http://dx.doi.org/10.3133/ofr20141159  )

Martini, M., Warner, J.C., List, J., Armstrong, B., Montgomery, E., Marshall, N., 2012. Observations of ocean circulation and sediment transport experiment offshore of Fire Island, NY. Proceedings of IEEE Oceans 2012 Conference, Hampton Beach, VA. DOI 10.1109.OCEANS.2012.6404791.

Martini, M., Warner, J.C., List, J., Armstrong, B., Voulgaris, G., Schwab, W., 2012, Collecting Ocean-Circulation and Sediment-Transport Data Offshore of Fire Island, New York Sound Waves, February, 2012.

Field Activity Reports: 2012-014-FA.

Revision History

• July 2014 original publication

Please use the following citation when referencing this dataset:

Armstrong, B.N., Warner, J.C., List, J.H., Martini, M.A., Montgomery, E.T., Oceanographic measurements-- Fire Island, NY, offshore, 2012: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://stellwagen.er.usgs.gov/FIREISLAND12.html