Coastal Services Center

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration



[link to PDF issue Winter 2010]
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This quarterly publication supplies up-to-date information about tools and services developed by the NOAA Coastal Services Center for the nation's coastal resource managers.

Download Current Issue - Winter 2011 (PDF)

New Products and Emerging Initiatives

Subscriber Alert: Bulletin Content Will Appear in New Format. This issue of the Products and Services Bulletin marks the last time the publication will appearin its present format. Beginning spring 2011, news typically featured in the bulletin will appear in the Center’s expanded, online-only newsletter, Coastal Connections. Subscribers, please provide your contact information at the Web address listed below so you will continue getting the latest news about the Center’s products, services, and initiatives via the online Coastal Connections.
Web Address: www.csc.noaa.gov/newsletter/subscribe.html
Contact: Kitty.Fahey@noaa.gov

Data Visualization Kiosk Wows Museum Professionals. The NOAA exhibit at the Association of Science-Technology Centers’ annual conference introduced more than 1,000 museum professionals to the NOAA Pacific Services Center (PSC) data visualization program. As a result, many museum representatives want to incorporate a PSC-developed kiosk into their exhibits, which will increase public understanding of NOAA. The data visualization program features a touch-screen kiosk that drives the Magic Planet, a digital video globe. PSC and NOAA’s Office of Education and Climate Services hosted the exhibit.
Contact: Matthew.McBride@noaa.gov

Trainings Provide Continuing Education Credit for Planners. Several Center training courses and conference sessions will satisfy the requirements of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) for continuing education credits.The AICP Certification Maintenance program enables certified planners to keep current on trends, technologies, and best practices. The Center has become a provider to better serve customers in the fields of land use, hazard mitigation, and climate adaptation planning.
Web Address: www.planning.org/cm/search/providers.htm(type “NOAA” in search field)
Contact: Mary.Culver@noaa.gov

Bay Area Partners Join in Adapting to Rising Tides. Critical infrastructure and diverse habitats in California’s San Francisco Bay Area are susceptible to impacts of climate change, including sea level rise. Adapting to Rising Tides (ART) is a project that will bring together Bay Area community members with agency partners to plan for sea level rise and community-based adaptation. The effort kicked off in October 2010, and the Center and San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission will continue to partner with Bay Area communities on future ART activities.
Contact: Rebecca.Lunde@noaa.gov

Updated Products and Services

Website Combines Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning Resources. A new website houses the Multipurpose Marine Cadastre, a data viewer that provides spatial data and information to people involved in offshore projects, including renewable energy development. The site replaces several disparate webpages and hosts additional features, such as a quick-start guide and data registry. The cadastre is led by NOAA and the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement.
Web Address: www.marinecadastre.gov
Contact: Adam.Bode@noaa.gov

Data Will Boost Hazard Resilience in American Samoa. Extremely high-resolution lidar elevation data were collected in several villages in American Samoa to support tsunami inundation, sea-level-rise modeling, and other planning activities related to coastal hazards. NOAA’s Pacific Services Center partnered with American Samoa’s Department of Commerce and the U.S. National Park Service to provide accurate three-dimensional terrain and infrastructure data to local resource and emergency management officials.
Contact: Jamie.Carter@noaa.gov

CanVis Sports Extra User-Friendly Features. CanVis 3.0, an updated version of the popular CanVis visualization software, is now compatible with the Microsoft Windows 7 operating system, an improvement that eliminates the biggest technical support issue by making the software easier to install after downloading. In addition, CanVis 3.0 features a training website with videos on using the tools and editing images and objects. The new version was developed by the National Agroforestry Center at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and released by the Center.
Web Address: www.csc.noaa.gov/canvis/
Contact: Chris.Haynes@noaa.gov 

States in Four Regions Receive Lidar Data. Lidar elevation data provided by Digital Coast partners and hosted by the Center will support coastal modeling, floodplain mapping, or shoreline change analysis in four states. The new data cover the city of Duluth, Minnesota; New Jersey’s Hunterdon and Middlesex Counties; the north shores of the Hawaiian Islands; and Florida’s Jefferson, Taylor, Brevard, and Nassau Counties.
Web Address: http://csc-s-maps-q.csc.noaa.gov/dataviewer/
Contact:Keil.Schmid@noaa.gov

Data Will Address Development Impacts on Water Quality. The Center and NOAA Pacific Services Center partnered to produce high-resolution mapped data providing a detailed characterization of 2005 land cover for Kauai County, Hawaii. The maps—which show impervious surfaces, cultivated lands, and critical habitats such as forested and emergent wetlands—will be used to address development impacts on water quality and other issues.
Web Address: www.csc.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/
Contact: Nate.Herold@noaa.gov

Digital Coast Provides Additional Tools and Data. The Digital Coast provides one-stop access to coast-related geospatial data, tools, training, and information. The following tools and data have been added: the Center’s Sea Level Rise Impacts Viewer, with initial projects in areas of the Texas and Mississippi coasts, creates maps of potential impacts and provides related information and data; aerial photography collected by the National Geodetic Survey supports the regular updating and delineation of the nation’s shoreline; and gross domestic product data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis provides totals and a breakdown by 64 industries.
Web Address: www.csc.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/updates.html
Contact: Joshua.Murphy@noaa.gov

Future Products and Initiatives

Digital Coast to Be Highlighted at GeoTools and Other Events. NOAA’s Coastal GeoTools conference, slated for March 21 to 24, will highlight the benefits of Digital Coast in providing access to geospatial data, tools, training, and best practices. Digital Coast presentations will also take place at the following events: the winter meeting of the Management Association for Private Photogrammetric Surveyors, January 24 to 28; the winter meeting of the Coastal States Organization, February 28; the coastal caucus of the National States Geographic Information Council, March 1; the legislative conference of the National Association of Counties, March 5 to 9; and the national planning conference held by the American Planning Association, April 9 to 12.
Web Address: www.csc.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/
Contact: Nicholas.Schmidt@noaa.gov

Center News

Events

Workshop Outlines Methods for Appraising Ecosystem Services. NOAA personnel worked with economists, ecologists, and other scientists to learn how to assess the value of key ecosystem services and communicate this information to local decision makers. The workshop, hosted by the Center and the nonprofit organization Resources for the Future, will enhance NOAA’s efforts to integrate more ecosystem services information into products and services.
Contact: Peter.Wiley@noaa.gov

Interagency Efforts Highlighted at Climate Change Conference. “Preparing the Coast for Climate Change,” a presentation at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico, highlighted the joint efforts of NOAA and the U.S. Geological Survey and engaged an international audience in a dialogue on sea level rise and coastal inundation. The session also outlined the greatest needs of coastal communities in reducing vulnerability to natural hazards and sustaining the ecosystem services on which they depend.
Web Address: www.unfccc.int/2860.php
Contact: Adam.Stein@noaa.gov

Products Showcased at Bays and Bayous Symposium. More than 400 attendees learned about Center products addressing climate change adaptation and watershed management at the Alabama-Mississippi Bays and Bayous Symposium in Mobile, Alabama. Products available through the Digital Coast were highlighted, such as Coastal County Snapshots and the Sea Level Rise Viewer. Also featured was the Habitat Mapper, an online conservation planning tool used to identify priority conservation areas for Mobile and Baldwin Counties in Alabama.
Contact: Marian.Hanisko@noaa.gov

Rally 2010 Links Coastal Conservation and Climate Adaptation Efforts. At the annual Land Trust Alliance Rally, the Center supported land trusts in considering ways to strengthen conservation of coastal lands as part of climate adaptation. A session on the Center’s Habitat Priority Planner helped users make the connection between tool use and strategic conservation planning. In addition, a multi-partner workshop led by the Center highlighted federal technical resources available to aid stakeholders and professionals in adapting to climate change.
Web Address: www.landtrustalliance.org/training/rally/
Contact: Nancy.Cofer-Shabica@noaa.gov

Climate Adaptation Training Bolsters Northeast Region Network. A climate change adaptation training supported Northeast region agencies and organizations that are building a robust network of climate change adaptation practitioners. Participants heard from experts, shared individual experiences, and discussed strategies for developing and implementing adaptation plans. Training partners included the Center, the Environmental Protection Agency Region 1, Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management, and Rhode Island Sea Grant.
Contact: Adrianne.Harrison@noaa.gov

2011 Fellows Will Advance Adaptation, Resilience, and Marine Spatial Planning. Coastal management agencies in California, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and South Carolina will each receive a two-year NOAA Coastal Management Fellow to address issues related to marine spatial planning, climate change, or coastal hazards resilience. The fellowship provides project assistance to agencies and on-the-job education and training for postgraduate students. A workshop will be held in spring 2011 to match agencies with fellows.
Web Address: www.csc.noaa.gov/fellowship/
Contact: Margaret.Allen@noaa.gov

Media Matters

Report Links Hazards Planning to Strengthened Resilience. A new report examines why coastal planners do, or do not, incorporate hazard mitigation and recommends strategies to create more resilient communities. The Center publication, Hazard and Resiliency Planning: Perceived Benefits and Barriers among Land Use Planners, outlines local barriers to hazard-mitigation planning such as a lack of political will or a “disconnect” with emergency planners. Benefits of planning include saved lives, reduced economic losses, and compliance with government mandates.
Web Address: www.csc.noaa.gov/publications/social_science/NOAACSCResearchReport.pdf
Contact: Heidi.Recksiek@noaa.gov

Center News Reaches Wider Audience. Center articles on hazards resilience and the Digital Coast were published in outside publications that reach large numbers of coastal planners, officials, and emergency responders. More than a dozen types of data, tools, and trainings housed on Digital Coast were featured in the fall 2010 issue of The Commissioner, a publication of the American Planning Association. In addition, “Planning for Coastal Hazards—Overcoming the Barriers,” an article that previously appeared in Coastal Services, was reprinted in the December edition of TsuInfo Alert, a newsletter published by the Washington Department of Natural Resources on behalf of the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program.
Contact: Donna.McCaskill@noaa.gov

Plaudits

Center Publications Receive APEX Awards. A Center trade journal and newsletter were honored by the 2010 Awards for Publication Excellence, or APEX. Coastal Connections received an Award of Excellence in the “Newsletters–Print” category, and Coastal Services won an Award of Excellence in the “One-of-a-Kind Green Publications” category. Coastal Connections focuses on tools and resources of interest to coastal resource managers, and Coastal Services is a bimonthly trade journal for coastal resource managers.
Web Address: www.csc.noaa.gov/publications.html
Contact: Donna.McCaskill@noaa.gov

Training Schedule

Training for your organization can take place at the Center in Charleston, South Carolina, or can be brought to your facility.* For more information on virtual and site-specific trainings, visit www.csc.noaa.gov/training/.

CanVis Virtual Workshop
January 19
February 16
March 16

Coastal Community Planning and Development
February 15 to 16
Waquoit, Massachusetts

Coastal Inundation Mapping
February 23
Columbia, South Carolina

February 27 to March 3
Bellingham, Washington

March 20
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Habitat Priority Planning
March 1
Shepherdstown, West Virginia

Planning for Meaningful Evaluation
January 12 to 13
Los Angeles, California

February 15 and 16
Cambridge, Massachusetts

March 1 to 2
Fairhope, Alabama

Project Design and Evaluation
January 25 to 26
Gainesville, Florida 

Public Issues and Conflict Management

February 8 and 9
Dover, Delaware 

March 30 and 31
Gainesville, Florida

Roadmap for Adapting to Coastal Risk Virtual Training
February 9

* Off-site trainings are generally arranged through local coastal management hosts.

Contact Info:
Products and Services Bulletin
NOAA Coastal Services Center
2234 South Hobson Avenue
Charleston, South Carolina 29405
(843) 740-1200

For additional information about this publication, contact Kitty Fahey or call (843) 740-1252.

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