{"id":40807,"date":"2024-01-31T13:45:31","date_gmt":"2024-01-31T18:45:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/?p=40807"},"modified":"2024-02-01T11:22:15","modified_gmt":"2024-02-01T16:22:15","slug":"shifting-sands-maryland-keeps-an-eye-in-the-sky-on-vulnerable-areas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2024\/01\/31\/shifting-sands-maryland-keeps-an-eye-in-the-sky-on-vulnerable-areas\/","title":{"rendered":"Shifting Sands: Maryland Keeps an Eye in the Sky on Vulnerable Areas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Drone mapping observes dune changes at Assateague Island<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\"Photo

A Maryland Department of Natural Resources drone prepares to launch to survey Assateague Island’s sand movement. Maryland DNR photo<\/p><\/div>\n

The impact of rising seas, stronger storms, and an eroding shoreline might leave the future of Assateague Island up in the air – and that\u2019s exactly where the Department of Natural Resources is monitoring the coastal property with the use of aerial drones.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unique among Maryland\u2019s public lands, Assateague State Park comprises part of a barrier island that provides a peaceful beach respite to more than a million visitors a year. But the relaxed atmosphere belies the island\u2019s tumultuous place protecting the mainland from the powerful forces of the Atlantic Ocean.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Photo

Assateague State Park Manager Angela Baldwin shows the high dune wall that keeps ocean water from reaching the park’s campground. Maryland DNR Photo<\/p><\/div>\n

Visitors to Assateague often recognize a distinguishing feature \u2013 a high dune wall that separates the beach from the campground and other parts of the park. This is a manmade structure, part of an artificial dune complex constructed in the 1970s to supplement the existing natural barrier dunes and continually being expanded; by the 1990s the high wall was in place to protect the park\u2019s infrastructure \u2013 about 350 campsites that are often fully occupied from spring into fall, one main road, and a bridge back to the mainland. Ranger Angela Baldwin, manager of Assateague State Park, stresses that this wall is \u201cneeded to protect life and property from the awesome power of the Atlantic Ocean.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A couple major storms including Superstorm Sandy in October 2012 and Winter Storm Jonas in January 2016 did break through the dunes, washing out the wall and causing a lot of damage inland.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s always a possibility in our minds, because any big hurricane or nor\u2019easter that makes a direct hit on the island has the potential to knock out this dune,\u201d says Baldwin. \u201cAssateague is an economic driver and one of the gems of the Maryland State Park system and the entire state.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Generations of visitors have come to Assateague Island. But likely no two generations have experienced the island in the exact same way. Due to these forces and other factors, Assateague is constantly changing shape.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Aerial

An aerial drone image shows Assateague’s shoreline from above, including the high dune wall and part of the campground with vegetation. Maryland DNR photo<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThe beach used to be much bigger,\u201d Baldwin says. In years past the ocean\u2019s wave energy would dissipate by the time it reached the dunes and beyond, but now the island as a whole is losing sand. In fact the sands accumulating on the manmade dune are actually taking sand away from the campground area, which now has more vegetation than in the past. While barrier island movement is natural, the dunes at Assateague are important to protect the infrastructure and communities behind it. Despite the use of sand dredged from Ocean City to help supplement sand loss on Assateague\u2019s beach, the island is sand-starved.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The department\u2019s Chesapeake and Coastal Service has been working with the Maryland Park Service since 2019 to monitor these changes and assess vulnerable properties. Working with Salisbury University, the department has been creating maps of where Maryland is vulnerable to climate change and where there are rare, threatened and endangered species that could be at risk.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAssateague Island came up as highly vulnerable to climate change due to sea level rise,\u201d says Kate Vogel, coastal resilience planner for DNR. \u201cDune vegetation, crab species, nesting birds and other species would be affected.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

To monitor this movement of sand, DNR uses aerial drones to take thousands of images that will create a 3D \u201cmap\u201d – a process known as photogrammetry.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Photo

DNR restoration scientist Alison Santoro, center, controls a drone as it flies over Assateague State Park, as DNR Secretary Josh Kurtz observes the aircraft in flight.<\/p><\/div>\n

Drone footage will make monitoring easier, as the aerial imagery provides an otherwise unseen view, and over time we will be able to see where we are gaining or losing sand,” Vogel says.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re trying to establish a baseline and then view changes. In the future we\u2019ll be able to see a complete picture.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Alison Santoro, restoration scientist, leads the Chesapeake and Coastal Service\u2019s drone monitoring program and pilots the small remote-control aircraft. The use of drones has caused \u201can explosion in data collection,\u201d Santoro says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re doing is called \u2018structure from motion,\u2019 making a 3D model from photographs taken from throughout the landscape,\u201d Santoro says. Her work at Assateague follows similar monitoring work being done for a shoreline restoration project on Deal Island in the Chesapeake Bay.<\/span><\/p>\n

DNR conducted its first flight over Assateague in October. On a brisk fall morning, Santoro and Vogel walked up and down the two-mile beach at Assateague to set GPS data points on the beach to lock the image into place for the drone to capture. Santoro launches the drone to take the photos \u2013 1,500-2,000 photographs of points on the Assateague beach. During the operation, the drone runs the flight program on its own, although Santoro needs to keep it in sight to track the drone\u2019s progress and safe operations.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n