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Below is a false color image of the eastern extent of Kiawah Island, where the colors on the image represent the data values — in this case, elevation. The term "false color" simply means that the image is not a photograph, and that you should use the color bar on the image to interpret what the colors mean. This island is one of the most stable islands along the South Carolina coast. Both ends of Kiawah Island are enclosed by inlets and tend to be more dynamic than the central portions of the island. The LIDAR sensor captured offshore sandbars along the mouth of Captain Sams Inlet. You can make a similar image using the BeachMapper software application provided on the second volume of this CD-ROM set. For more information about the BeachMapper application, click here.
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Portable Document Format (PDF) maps have been created to show LIDAR data for South Carolina's beaches and islands. PDF maps will allow you to zoom in on the data and print the maps at better resolution. However, because of the intense density of the data, the PDF files will not draw properly from your browser. If you have Adobe Acrobat Reader® software installed on your computer, you can view the maps by navigating to the pdf/islands directory on this CD-ROM and double click on a file. A directory of maps is available in the readme.txt file. Adobe Acrobat Reader software has been provided on this CD-ROM.
To learn more about PDF documents and installing the software need to view them, click here.
Kiawah Island is a 10-mile-long beach-ridge barrier island located in Charleston County. Captain Sams Inlet to the west separates Kiawah from Seabrook Island. Stono Inlet, the eastern boundary, provides the divide between Folly and Kiawah. The island is comprised of parallel rows of massive dunes, the most landward of which formed during the Pleistocene about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. The more seaward dune formation dates back 4,000 to 5,000 years ago during the Holocene. Kiawah is one of the most stable islands in South Carolina, although the ends of the island are somewhat dynamic due their proximity to inlets. The 1995 State of the Beaches Report indicates that the western portion of the island has seen significant erosion over the past several years, especially the area between stations 2660 and 2680. Beach profile changes on the eastern half have historically been more dramatic than changes seen along the western half of the island with the greatest changes occurring at stations closest to Stono Inlet.
Kiawah was purchased in the mid-1970s by the Kuwait Investment Company and Sea Pines Company, which conducted several pre-development studies to assess the island's ecological resources and create a development plan. Special ecosystems and large segments of the island were designated to remain pristine. Ownership has changed several times since the original plans were designed and more of the island is currently under development.
Beach profile surveys are conducted in the spring and fall at approximately 400 monitoring stations throughout the State of South Carolina. Various agencies participate in the beach profile collection, including The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM), Coastal Carolina University, and the College of Charleston. The results of the surveys provide a snapshot of the beach face. Over time, these surveys can be compiled to determine if and how the profile of the beach is changing. Below is a map of the stations and a sample of the profiles that can be extracted from the data. The beach profile data compiled by OCRM is provided on the second volume of this CD-ROM set.
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| *South Carolina Department of
Health and Environmental Control Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management |
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