Shoreline Change Monitoring at Gateway National Recreation Area 2010-2011 Annual Report
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National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Shoreline Change Monitoring at Gateway National Recreation Area 2010-2011 Annual Report Natural Resource Technical Report NPS/NCBN/NRTR—2011/504 ON THE COVER Bathhouse and beach, Riis Park, Jamaica Bay Unit, Gateway National Recreation Area Photograph by: Norbert P. Psuty Shoreline Change Monitoring at Gateway National Recreation Area 2010-2011 Annual Report Natural Resource Technical Report NPS/NCBN/NRTR—2011/504 Norbert P. Psuty Jacob McDermott Andrea Spahn Daniel Soda William Hudacek John Gagnon Lindsay Modugno Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences Rutgers - The State University of New Jersey 74 Magruder Road Highlands, New Jersey 07732 November 2011 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 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 Technical Report Series is used to disseminate results of scientific studies in the physical, biological, and social sciences for both the advancement of science and the achievement of the National Park Service mission. The series provides contributors with a forum for displaying comprehensive data that are often deleted from journals because of 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. Data in this report were collected and analyzed using methods based on established, peer- reviewed protocols and were analyzed and interpreted within the guidelines of the protocols. 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 from (http://www.nps.gov/nero/science/) and the Natural Resource Publications Management website (http://www.nature.nps.gov/publications/nrpm/). Please cite this publication as: Psuty, N. P., J. McDermott, A. Spahn, D. Soda, W. Hudacek, J. Gagnon, L. Modugno. 2011. Shoreline change monitoring at Gateway National Recreation Area: 2010-2011 annual report. Natural Resource Technical Report NPS/NCBN/NRTR—2011/504. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. NPS 646/111532, November 2011 ii Contents Page Figures............................................................................................................................................. v Tables ............................................................................................................................................. xi Executive Summary ..................................................................................................................... xiii Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... xv Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Site and Situation ............................................................................................................................ 3 Timing of Shoreline Position Surveys ............................................................................................ 5 Natural and Cultural Events Affecting Shoreline Position ............................................................. 7 Natural Events ......................................................................................................................... 7 Artificial Emplacement of Sediment ..................................................................................... 10 Shoreline Position Data Sets ......................................................................................................... 11 Gateway Segments ........................................................................................................................ 13 Sandy Hook ........................................................................................................................... 13 Great Kills Park ..................................................................................................................... 16 Great Kills Park, West End .................................................................................................... 18 Miller Field ............................................................................................................................ 19 Fort Wadsworth ..................................................................................................................... 21 Plumb Beach .......................................................................................................................... 23 Breezy Point ........................................................................................................................... 25 Breezy Point – Bayside .......................................................................................................... 27 Spatial Evaluation ......................................................................................................................... 29 Summary Statistics and Tables of Change .................................................................................... 31 Sandy Hook ........................................................................................................................... 31 iii Contents (continued) Page Great Kills Park ..................................................................................................................... 33 Great Kills, West End ............................................................................................................ 34 Miller Field ............................................................................................................................ 35 Fort Wadsworth ..................................................................................................................... 36 Plumb Beach .......................................................................................................................... 38 Breezy Point ........................................................................................................................... 39 Breezy Point – Bayside .......................................................................................................... 41 Areas of Interest ............................................................................................................................ 43 Conclusions and Information for Management ............................................................................ 43 Problems / Concerns ..................................................................................................................... 43 Literature Cited ............................................................................................................................. 45 iv Figures Page Figure 1. Shoreline areas of Gateway National Recreation Area considered in this report; including the location of the National Ocean Data Center (NOAA) Water Level Station at Sandy Hook as well as other sites mentioned in this report. ................................ 1 Figure 2. Distribution of water levels (light blue) from January 2010 through April 2011, incorporating storm threshold water level elevation, storm events; timing of shoreline surveys, and storm surges (actual elevation minus predicted elevation) (dark blue line). ........................................................................................................................................ 8 Figure 3. An example of surveyed shorelines intersecting with transects, and producing measures of distances from the baseline along each transect. ..................................... 12 Figure 4. Net shoreline change at Sandy Hook Unit, Gateway National Recreation Area for the period Spring 2010 – Fall 2010- (left panel) and Fall 2010 - Spring 2011 (right panel), incorporating surveyed shoreline positions, dimensions of shoreline change, mean change, mean change line, and +/- 1.0 standard deviation, all values in meters. ........................................................................................................................................... 14 Figure 5. Net shoreline change at the Sandy Hook Unit, Gateway National Recreation Area for the period Spring 2010 - Spring 2011, incorporating surveyed shoreline positions, dimensions of shoreline change, mean change, mean change line, and +/- 1.0 standard deviation (all values in meters). ................................................................... 15 Figure 6. Net shoreline change at Great Kills Park, Staten Island Unit, Gateway National Recreation Area for the period Spring 2010 – Fall 2010 (top panel), Fall 2010 - Spring 2011 (bottom panel), incorporating surveyed