Tide Identification and Tabulation Procedure
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Evaluating VDatum in Coastal National Parks Fire Island National Seashore, Gateway National Recreation Area, and Assateague Island National Seashore Natural Resource Report NPS/NCBN/NRR—2016/1148 ON THE COVER Photograph of GPS receiver on a tidal benchmark that collected data for Gateway National Recreation Area. Photograph courtesy of Michael Bradley. Evaluating VDatum in Coastal National Parks Fire Island National Seashore, Gateway National Recreation Area, and Assateague Island National Seashore Natural Resource Report NPS/NCBN/NRR—2016/1148 David Ullman Graduate School of Oceanography University of Rhode Island 215 South Ferry Road Narragansett, RI 02882 Amanda Babson National Park Service, Northeast Region University of Rhode Island 215 South Ferry Road Narragansett, RI 02882 Michael Bradley Environmental Data Center Department of Natural Resources Science University of Rhode Island Kingston, RI 02881 March 2016 U.S. Department of the Interior National Park Service Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Fort Collins, Colorado The National Park Service, Natural Resource Stewardship and Science office in Fort Collins, Colorado, publishes a range of reports that address natural resource topics. These reports are of interest and applicability to a broad audience in the National Park Service and others in natural resource management, including scientists, conservation and environmental constituencies, and the public. The Natural Resource Report Series is used to disseminate comprehensive information and analysis about natural resources and related topics concerning lands managed by the National Park Service. The series supports the advancement of science, informed decision-making, and the achievement of the National Park Service mission. The series also provides a forum for presenting more lengthy results that may not be accepted by publications with page limitations. All manuscripts in the series receive the appropriate level of peer review to ensure that the information is scientifically credible, technically accurate, appropriately written for the intended audience, and designed and published in a professional manner. This report received formal peer review by subject-matter experts who were not directly involved in the collection, analysis, or reporting of the data, and whose background and expertise put them on par technically and scientifically with the authors of the information. Views, statements, findings, conclusions, recommendations, and data in this report do not necessarily reflect views and policies of the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use by the U.S. Government. This report is available in digital format from the Natural Resource Publications Management website (http://www.nature.nps.gov/publications/nrpm/). To receive this report in a format optimized for screen readers, please email [email protected]. Please cite this publication as: Ullman, D., A. Babson, and M. Bradley. 2016. Evaluating VDatum in coastal national parks: Fire Island National Seashore, Gateway National Recreation Area, and Assateague Island National Seashore. Natural Resource Report NPS/NCBN/NRR—2016/1148. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. NPS 622/131818, 615/131818, 646/131818, March 2016 ii Contents Page Figures.................................................................................................................................................... v Tables .................................................................................................................................................... ix Appendices ............................................................................................................................................ xi Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................xiii Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................................ xv 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 1 2. Methods .............................................................................................................................................. 3 2.1 Data Sources ............................................................................................................................. 3 2.2 Data Processing ........................................................................................................................ 4 2.3 Tidal Datum Computation ........................................................................................................ 6 3. Fire Island National Seashore ............................................................................................................ 9 3.1 Data .......................................................................................................................................... 9 3.2 Results ...................................................................................................................................... 9 3.3 FIIS Summary ........................................................................................................................ 22 4. Gateway National Recreation Area .................................................................................................. 25 4.1 Data ........................................................................................................................................ 25 4.2 Results .................................................................................................................................... 25 4.3 GATE Summary ..................................................................................................................... 41 5. Assateague Island National Seashore .............................................................................................. 43 5.1 Data ........................................................................................................................................ 43 5.2 Results .................................................................................................................................... 44 5.3 ASIS Summary ....................................................................................................................... 59 6. Conclusions ...................................................................................................................................... 61 References ............................................................................................................................................ 63 iii Figures Page Figure 2.1. Terminology associated with tidal datums. ........................................................................ 5 Figure 3.1. Water level stations in the Fire Island National Seashore region ..................................... 13 Figure 3.2. Mean sea level in the FIIS region relative to NAVD88 from VDatum ............................ 13 Figure 3.3. Mean tidal range (MHW-MLW) in the FIIS region from VDatum ................................. 14 Figure 3.4. Mean higher high water in the FIIS region relative to NAVD88 from VDatum ................................................................................................................................................ 14 Figure 3.5. Mean high water in the FIIS region relative to NAVD88 from VDatum ......................... 14 Figure 3.6. Mean low water in the FIIS region relative to NAVD88 from VDatum .......................... 15 Figure 3.7. Mean lower low water in the FIIS region relative to NAVD88 from VDatum ................ 15 Figure 3.8. Comparison of datum elevations relative to NAVD88 (z = 0) between observations (blue) and VDatum (red) for the NOAA historical Bayshore site .................................. 16 Figure 3.9. Comparison of datum elevations relative to NAVD88 (z = 0) between observations (blue) and VDatum (red) for the NOAA historical Patchogue site ................................ 16 Figure 3.10. Comparison of datum elevations relative to NAVD88 (z = 0) between observations (blue) and VDatum (red) for the NOAA historical Smith Point site .............................. 17 Figure 3.11. Comparison of datum elevations relative to NAVD88 (z = 0) between observations (blue) and VDatum (red) for the NOAA historical U.S. Coast Guard, Fire Island site ............................................................................................................................................. 17 Figure 3.12. Comparison of datum elevations relative to NAVD88 (z = 0) between observations (blue) and VDatum (red) for the reoccupied NOAA U.S. Coast Guard, Fire Island site ............................................................................................................................................. 18 Figure 3.13. Comparison of datum elevations relative to NAVD88 (z = 0) between observations (blue) and VDatum (red) for the USGS Lindenhurst site ............................................... 18 Figure 3.14. Comparison of datum elevations relative to NAVD88 (z = 0) between observations (blue) and VDatum (red) for the SOMAS Barrett Beach