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(Monitoring coastal morphodynamics using high-precision multibeam technology)
(US Army Corps of Engineers’ Coastal Programs)
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==Monitoring coastal morphodynamics using high-precision multibeam technology==
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==US Army Corps of Engineers’ Coastal Programs==
  
[[Image:Multibeam_2.jpg|thumb|left|'''Figure 1''' The multibeam system as implemented onboard the RV “Ludwig Prandtl”. The light underwater cone symbols the beam swath, devices inside the circles show (from left to right) gyro compass, motion senor, ship-borne GPS-RTK, sound profiler, and RTK land base.]]
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[[Image:USACE.jpg|thumb|350px|center|Figure 1: The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) serves the Armed Forces and the Nation by providing vital engineering services and capabilities.]]
  
Monitoring coastal morphodynamics is of importance when for example coastal erosion of accretion is present or protective measure are taken and the effectiveness of these measures need to be known. Monitoring this process in time is of importance to manage the developments in the right way. A technique to do this is by high-precision multibeam technology. This technology is explained in this article and an example of application is given. This shows how high-precision multibeam technology can be used in practice.
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The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) <ref>USACE Website http://www.usace.army.mil/</ref> is a federal agency within the Department of Defense mandated to provide both military and civil works services. In coastal regions, its primary roles include protecting and [[Overview of Coastal Habitat Protection and Restoration in the United States|restoring habitat]], maintaining navigable waters, conducting [[beach nourishment]], undertaking [[Flood (overflow)| flood control]] projects and regulating coastal restoration projects.
  
[[Coastal erosion]], [[bathymetry|bathymetric]] changes of the near coast seabed or the stability and dispersal of dredged and disposed material are among the key questions of [[coastal management]]: What are the effects of [[coastal protection]] measures? How effective are they? Do they generate new burdens on the coastal system? Which processes control the movement of the seabed? What are the typical scales for the rearrangement of bed material? What types of seabed structures contribute most to the transport of the bed material? To what extent are morphological changes predictable?
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The USACE’s military service dates to 1775. Its first water works project began in 1812. After the passage of the Rivers & Harbors Act of 1899, the USACE regulated activities in navigable waterways. Passage of the [http://www.epa.gov/watertrain/cwa/| Clean Water Act] in 1972 vastly increased the USACE’s authority over dredging and filling in waters and wetlands. The Corps is the lead federal flood control agency and a major provider of hydroelectric energy. In the late 1960s, the Corps became a leading environmental preservation and restoration agency. It is a leading partner in one of the largest restoration projects ever attempted—restoration of the hydrologic regime in the Florida Everglades.
Answers to these questions are still limited by a lack of observational evidence. Most of all, area-wide data are required to allow for comprehensive views of the relevant bed structures ranging over horizontal scales from decimetres to kilometres. The detection of seabed changes over these wide ranges of scales requires observational systems that combine high spatial resolution down to decimetres with high precision and accuracy in the horizontal and vertical positioning of the seabed structures in the range of centimetres.
 

Revision as of 11:44, 2 March 2009

US Army Corps of Engineers’ Coastal Programs

Figure 1: The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) serves the Armed Forces and the Nation by providing vital engineering services and capabilities.

The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) [1] is a federal agency within the Department of Defense mandated to provide both military and civil works services. In coastal regions, its primary roles include protecting and restoring habitat, maintaining navigable waters, conducting beach nourishment, undertaking flood control projects and regulating coastal restoration projects.

The USACE’s military service dates to 1775. Its first water works project began in 1812. After the passage of the Rivers & Harbors Act of 1899, the USACE regulated activities in navigable waterways. Passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972 vastly increased the USACE’s authority over dredging and filling in waters and wetlands. The Corps is the lead federal flood control agency and a major provider of hydroelectric energy. In the late 1960s, the Corps became a leading environmental preservation and restoration agency. It is a leading partner in one of the largest restoration projects ever attempted—restoration of the hydrologic regime in the Florida Everglades.