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

Description: The interactions of waves and currents near an inlet influence sediment and alter seafloor bedforms, especially during winter storms. As part of the Cross-Shore and Inlets (CSI) Processes project, instrumented platforms were deployed at two sites near Matanzas Inlet between January 24 and April 13, 2018. Matanzas Inlet is a natural, unmaintained inlet on the Florida Atlantic coast that is well suited to study inlet and cross-shore processes. The study sites were located offshore of the surf zone, in a line perpendicular to the coast in 9 and 15 meters of water depth. An instrumented seafloor platform was deployed at each site to measure ocean currents, wave motions, acoustic and optical backscatter, temperature, salinity and pressure with emphasis on quantifying the forcing for sediment transport and response near the seabed. Sonars mounted on the platform at the shallow site recorded how the seafloor bedforms responded to forcing conditions. A surface buoy was deployed at each site; the larger buoy at the deeper site supported meteorological measurement of local atmospheric conditions during the study, and both buoys measured near surface water temperature and salinity.

Duration: Jan. – Apr. 2018

USGS Principal Investigator: J.C. Warner

Publications:

Martini, M.A., Montgomery, E.T., Suttles, S.E., and Warner, J.C., 2021, Summary of oceanographic and water-quality measurements offshore of Matanzas Inlet, Florida, 2018: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2021–1014, 21 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20211014.

Suttles, S.E., De Meo, O.A., Martini, M.A., and Warner, J.C., 2024, Grain-size analysis data from sediment samples in support of oceanographic and water-quality measurements in the nearshore zone of Matanzas Inlet, Florida, 2018: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9X7VIN2.

Field Activity Reports: 2018-026-FA, 2018-032-FA.

Revision History:

• June, 2019, original release

Please use the following citation when referencing this dataset:

Suttles, S.E., Warner, J.C., Montgomery, E.T. and Martini, M.A., 2019, Oceanographic and Water Quality measurements in the Nearshore Zone at Matanzas Inlet, Florida, January – April, 2018: U.S. Geological Survey data release https://doi.org/10.5066/P9GKB537.