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These data were compiled by the USACE Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory at JALBTCX in support of a nationwide effort to characterize the beach and nearshore for use in coastal science and engineering activities. This effort leverages topobathymetric lidar elevation datasets acquired by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) National Coastal Mapping Program (NCMP) with the Joint Airborne Lidar Bathymetry Technical Center of Expertise's (JALBTCX) Dune Feature Extraction toolbox to extract geomorphology features - sand dunes, bluffs, shorelines and sand bars - and related metrics. Features were extracted along a series of shore-perpendicular transects spaced 100m apart in the longshore direction. The transects were cast from a baseline, which is defined as the first line of infrastructure, and extend offshore. The feature extraction workflow first extracted elevation profiles along each transect. Each profile was analyzed with a peak detection algorithm to find peaks and troughs in the profile. The classification of peaks and troughs into features - dune features, bluff features, shoreline features and sand bar features - was driven by a set of parameters that characterize the local beach and dune system. Parameters included a mean high water shoreline elevation, minimum dune crest elevation, and minimum dune prominence. Additional inputs included the minimum and maximum dune toe, a direction for dune toe relative to the shoreline and the dune crest. Required inputs included a GIS point feature class that contained the elevation profiles and a folder where elevation profile plots were saved. The extracted features were written to a GIS point feature class. An optional output included the computed metrics necessary for CERI computations which occurred later in the workflow.
This polyline feature class provides a set of perpendicular, or near-perpendicular, transects at 100-meter alongshore spacing covering the Minnesota portion of Lake Superior. The transects are auto-generated from a baseline, defined as the "first line of infrastructure" along a coastline, using a custom toolbox in ArcGIS Pro. Toolbox inputs allow users to create transects at user-specified alongshore spacing and offshore length. Transects are used in Geographic Information System (GIS) applications to extract elevation profiles from Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) for use in science and engineering investigations. For example, an elevation profile can be used to extract the locations of coastal geomorphology features.