Coastal Letters

Newsletter of the coastal and marine geography specialty group of the association of American geographers

Vol. 13, No. 1         Website: http://aag_coma.homestead.com             February, 2001

Specialty Group Officers
Membership Renewal Reminder
Nominations Open
Editor's Comments
Call for Award Nominations: R.J. Russell Award

Multi-Media Critiques Wanted
COMA Related Sessions at AAG-2001 – New York

Book Review – GIS Goes to Sea
Nominations Invited for AAG Honors
Nominations for Book Awards Solicited
NSEP Graduate International Fellowships
Report on Coastal GeoTools 2001
News and Views from Members
Upcoming Conferences
Musings from the Chair - Rich Daniels

Don't forget to renew your membership in the Coastal and Marine Geography Specialty Group when you renew your membership with the AAG. Our numbers have decreased over the years – remind your colleagues as well!

Vice-Chairs Karl Meyer-Arendt and Board Members Wayne Engstrom and Diane Horn’s terms are coming to end at the meeting in New York. We will be opening up nominations for Vice Chair and two Members of the Board of Directors. According to the bylaws the description for Vice-Chair is s/he shall assume the duties of the chair if the chair cannot or will not perform them. The vice chair serves as chair of the Student Paper Merit Award Committee, and should actively encourage student involvement. The vice chair also chairs and is a member of the R.J. Russell Award Committee. The vice chair may appoint regular members of the specialty group to judge student papers and to serve on the R.J. Russell Award Committee if the vice chair or any individual on the Board of Directors cannot perform her or his duties. The duties for the Board of Directors include: judging the Student Paper Merit Award, and serving on that committee under the direction of the vice chair. Members of the board shall also evaluate nominees and select a recipient for the R.J. Russell Award. All positions are two year terms, as determined according to the timing of AAG annual meetings.

If you know of someone or you want to help out COMA, please pass along your nominations to Harry Jol or Rich Daniels.

Harry Jol, Secretary-Treasurer, Editor (jolhm@uwec.edu)

Nominations for the R.J. Russell Award should be directed to the Vice-Chair - Klaus J Meyer-Arendt (kjma@uwf.edu). Nominations for the current year should be made at least 2 weeks prior to the annual AAG meeting.

This specialty group award is presented in recognition of an individual's major contributions to the field of coastal or marine geography. These contributions may be in research, teaching, public service, and/or to the specialty group. Previous awardees include Jess Walker (1991), Fillmore Earney (1992), Norb Psuty (1993), Karl Nordstrom (1996), Doug Sherman (1997), Bernard Bauer (1999) and Robin Davidson-Arnott (2000)

Nominations are accepted from Coma members, but nominees do not have to be members of either the specialty group or the AAG. Two nominations are required for consideration for the Award. At least one of the nominations must include a complete letter of nomination which will include one paragraph describing the nominees contributions to the field of coastal or marine geography and/or to the special interest group and a list of the nominees relevant publications.

The R. J. Russell Award is named in honor of Richard Joel Russell (1895-1971). He was Dean of the Graduate School at Louisiana State University for 12 years, an organizer of the Coastal Studies Institute (1954), president of both the Association of American Geographers (1948) and Geological Society of America (1957), and named to the National Academy of Sciences (1959).

Do you use any CD-ROMS or videos when teaching coastal or marine geography? (e.g. Beach: A River of Sand). On Don Ziegler's suggestion, the next time you show or view a coastal or marine video, take a moment to jot down its title, brief summary, strengths and weaknesses. Send this information to the Newsletter editors. We will include a column in upcoming newsletters as well as have it posted on the COMA web site.

(Sponsored by Coastal and Marine Specialty Group)
Organizer: Richard C. Daniels, Washington Department of Ecology
Chair: Richard C. Daniels, Washington Department of Ecology

(Sponsored by GIS, Coastal and Marine Geography, and Remote Sensing Specialty Groups)
Organizer: Dawn J. Wright, Oregon State University
Chair: Dawn J. Wright, Oregon State University

Coastal Resources and Management
Chair: Robert Hickey, Central Washington University

5:40 Robert Hickey, Central Washington University, GIS and Mudflat Mapping, Eighty Mile Beach, Western Australia

(Sponsored by: Coastal and Marine, and Geomorphology Specialty Groups)
Organizer: Paul A. Gares, East Carolina University
Chair: Jennifer Rahn, Baylor University

(Sponsored by Geomorphology and Coastal and Marine Specialty Groups)
Organizers: Christopher A. Houser, University of Toronto, William G. Nickling, University of Guelph
Chairs: Christopher A. Houser, University of Toronto, William G. Nickling, University of Guelph

(Sponsored by Cultural Ecology, Cultural Geography, and Coastal and Marine Specialty Groups)
Organizer: Seth Macinko, University of Connecticut
Chair: Seth Macinko, University of Connecticut

Discussant: Phil Steinberg, Florida State University

(Sponsored by Human Dimensions of Global Change and Hazards Specialty Groups)
Organizer: William D. Solecki, Montclair State University
Chair: William D. Solecki, Montclair State University

Marine and Coastal Geographical Information Systems. Dawn Wright and Darius Bartlett, Eds. Research Monographs in GIS series, Taylor and Francis, London and Philadelphia, 1999.

The marine and coastal GIS community has waited a long time for a text Marine and Coastal Geographical Information Systems. Editors Dawn Wright and Darius Bartlett have assembled papers from prominent scientists and leading geographic information researchers that cover a wide range of GIS-related research. Many of us who work with oceanographic and coastal data have been dealing with the issues that these papers address and welcome the discussion and research they introduce.

GIS is most commonly used in terrestrial applications – natural resources, transportation, utilities, and so forth. Wright, a specialist in marine applications, and Bartlett, a coastal specialist, are two of the leading scholars in the field of marine and coastal GIS applications. They state that the book is not intended to be an introductory text, but rather an advance text for geographic information scientists who work with marine-related data and for marine scientists who work in some capacity with GIS. The gook’s 19 papers are organized into three sections: conceptual/technical issues, application, and institutional issues. Part I includes key theoretical concepts for marine GIS not usually covered in other advanced GIS texts, emphasizing the fundamental importance of the underlying data model in marine GIS. Papers in this section describe data models for marine and coastal GIS, spatial reasoning for marine geology and geophysics, 2.5- and 3-D GI for coastal geomorphology and geophysics, and representation of variability in marine environmental data.

Part II presents mainly chemical, biological, and physical oceanography applications, covering a full range of spatial and temporal scales. Contributors discuss using real-time GI for controlling remotely operated vehicles, planning and analyzing geophysical surveys, remote sensing of sea surface temperature, fisheries management, multidimensional oceanographic visualization, and tectonic analysis.

Part III deals with institutional issues. Papers here address GIS applications in maritime boundary delineation, the significance of marine GIS in the United States National Spatial Data Infrastructure, sources of error in marine data, and management of marine and coastal data sources in the Irish Marine Data Center.

One of the best contributions of this text is the extensive reference section in each article – an excellent resource for readers desiring further information about a particular topic. The papers are well written and flow from one to the next. This landmark text should be an integral part of any academic curriculum encompassing marine and coastal sciences and should be on the bookshelf of any geographic information or marine scientist.

The Honors Committee of the AAG invites nominations for AAG Honors to be conferred in 2002. AAG Honors are given in recognition of outstanding contributions to the advancement or welfare of the profession in five categories: Lifetime Career, Distinguished Scholarship, Distinguished Teaching, Distinguished Service, and Geography Education (Gilbert Grosvenor Honors for Geography Education). Normally no more than one award will be made in each category. No more than six individuals may be recommended for AAG Honors in a single year. In addition to Honors, the committee may recommend a Publication Award and a Media Achievement Award each year. Nominees must be AAG members if they are residents of the United States; if they reside elsewhere the membership requirement is waived. In some cases professionals from other disciplines or professions are eligible for consideration. Geographers or other professionals previously honored may be nominated again for distinction achieved since their first awards. See the Handbook section of a recent issue of the Guide to Programs in Geography in the United States and Canada and AAG Handbook and Directory of Geographers for a complete list of past Honors Award recipients. The deadline for nominations is 1 March 2001.

Please send nominations with vitae to Stanley D. Brunn, Department of Geography, University of Kentucky, Lexington KY 40506-0027; brunn@pop.uky.edu. Karl Butzer, Department of Geography, University of Texas, Austin TX 78712-1098; laguna@mail.utexas.edu. Susan W. Hardwick, Department of Geography, University of Oregon, Eugene OR 97403_1251; susanh@oregon.uoregon.edu. Sally P. Horn, Department of Geography, University of Tennessee, Knoxville TN 37996-1420; shorn@utk.edu. Andrew Marcus, Department of Earth Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman MT 32306-2190; amarcus@montana.edu. Ann Oberhauser, Department of Geography and Geology, West Virginia University, Morgantown WV 32306-2190; aoberhau@wvu.edu.

The AAG will recognize the authors of two books at the 2001 annual meeting in New York. An award of $1,000 each will be made for a book written or co-authored by a geographer in two categories: 1) a book that makes an unusually important contribution to advancing the science and art of geography; and 2) a book that conveys most powerfully the nature and importance of geography to the non-academic world. Books published in 1998, 1999, or 2000 are eligible for the awards.

Please submit nominations statements and two copies of each nominated book to Book Awards, Association of American Geographers, 1710 Sixteenth Street NW, Washington DC 20009. Statements (two page maximum length) should document in general and in detail the ways in which the nominated works meet the applicable criterion. Nominations and books must be received at the AAG office no later than 28 January 2001.

The National Security Education Program (NSEP) Graduate International Fellowships enable U.S. graduate students to pursue specialization in area and language study or to add an important international dimension to their education. NSEP Fellowships support students pursuing the study of languages, cultures, and world regions which are critical to U.S. national security, but which are less frequently studied by U.S. graduate students, i.e., areas of the world other than Western Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. It is hoped that recipients of NSEP Fellowships will comprise an ever-growing cadre of experts whose enriched educational and professional experiences will enable them to provide leadership and direction in our national commitment to economic growth, international peace and security, and promotion of democracy abroad. The Academy for Educational Development considers it a distinct pleasure to serve as the administrative agent for this important program. For more information see www.aed.org/nsep.

Rich Daniels (Chair) reports that while attending the Coastal GeoTools 2001 Conference in Charleston, SC (sponsored by the NOAA Coastal Services Center) he learned of several initiatives and "news" that you may be interested in. Here it goes!

• The Secretary of Commerce named the CSC as the new location of the Marine Protected Areas Center. The Center will train resource managers and develop GIS/RS tools for monitoring Marine Protected Areas -which include National Marine Sanctuaries.
• CSC will establish a Pacific Services Center in Hawaii to deal with the Pacific Islands and reefs.
• The Ocean Policy Act of 2000 established a Ocean Commission to guide research, with focus on deep oceans.
• National Marine Sanctuary Act reauthorized.

Other stuff:

• EROS currently has four decades of RS data archived (from Corona, Landsat MSS, Landsat TM, Landsat ETM+. AVHRR, and SIR-C).
• USGS, EROS site to explore available RS data is at http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov.
• USGS is working with SPOT Corp. to move data over five years old into the public domain.
• Construction of the first commercial 0.5 m resolution hyperspectral satellite has been authorized. Three 1 m satellites will be in the air by April 2001.
• NOAA sponsored near real-time SAR demonstration for Alaska. The project began in 1999 and will continue to 2002 and covers the coastal waters of Alaska -http://orbit-net.nesdis.noaa.gov/orad/sar.
• NOAA has published Shore and Sea Boundaries, Volume 3. This book is a follow on to Volume 1 (1962) and 2 (1964) written by Aaron L. Shalowitz.
• CSC has received the final scanned "modern" T-sheet for the US. CSC have over 1400 individual digital T-Sheets, these files cover all coastal water of the US.
• NOAA is developing an "official" digital database of the US EEZ for us in digital mapping.
• FGDC is working on standards for documenting digital shorelines. Draft standard is available at http://www.fgdc.gov/standards/status/swgstat.html (look under Bathymetric Subcommittee).
• CSC has compiled a comprehensive list of funding opportunities for research and CZM work in the coastal zone. Visit http://www.scseagrant.org/funding.htm and http://www.csc.noaa.gov/text/grant.html to find out more.

Goman, M. (2001) Statistical analysis of modern seeds assemblages from the San Francisco Bay: Applications for the reconstruction of paleo-salinity and paleo-tidal inundation. Journal of Paleolimnology (forthcoming).

Goman, M. and L. Wells, (2000) Trends in river flow over the last 7000 yr affecting the Northeastern reach of the San Francisco Bay estuary, Quaternary Research, 54, 206-217.

I defended my doctoral dissertation on September 28, 2000. Title: "Sediment Movement and Comparative Sedimentary Morphology, West Florida Shelf." Co-major professors, Albert C. Hine and David F. Naar. I have begun a post-doctoral research associate position here (USF-College of Marine Science) on sediment dynamics of the west Florida inner continental shelf, funded by the Office of Naval Research.

Second Symposium on Marine Conservation Biology, June 21-26, 2001, San Francisco, CA., http://www.mcbi.org/

Inaugural Conference Center for Maritime Research (MARE),30 August - 1 September, 2001, Amsterdam, The Netherlands University of Amsterdam and SISWO, Netherlands Institute for the Social Sciences, http://www.siswo.uva.nl/mare/conf.html

Managing the Interfaces The 4th International Symposium on Computer Mapping and GIS for Coastal Zone Management June 18, 19 and 20, 2001, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, http://agc.bio.ns.ca/coastgis2001/callforpapers.html

Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) in Sediments: Applications and Interpretation, August 20-21, 2001, London England, Abstracts due: April 30, 2001, Further information can be found at: http://www.geo.vu.nl/~damr/GPRconf2001/

Putting Fishers' Knowledge to Work" August, Aug 27-30, 2001, Vancouver, Canada, Fisheries Centre, The University of British Columbia, http://www.fisheries.ubc.ca/Announce/FKnowledge.htm

If you know of any related conferences coming up in 2001/2002 or if you have announcements or newsworthy items concerning you, your department, or agency, please take a moment to send them to the newsletter editor: Harry Jol (jolhm@uwec.edu) Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, 105 Garfield Ave, Eau Claire, WI 54702. Thanks!

Unfortunately, rule makers in local and state government have not used this basic information on how the ocean coast behaves in the rule writing process. In the case of Washington, the region that falls under the jurisdiction of the SMA is 200 ft (61 m) from the Ordinary High Water Line (approximately equivalent to Mean Higher High Water on the open coast). This buffer identifies the areas that are under the jurisdiction of the Act. However, most local governments allow development of single unit residential homes within 40 ft (12.2 m) of the Ordinary High Water Line –the same as applied to a lake, stream, or river.

With a variability in shoreline position of over 100 m during a single year (ignoring large potential erosion events), one quickly realizes that management paradigms designed for rivers or lakes are not directly suitable for use on the open coast. This omission is not surprising, given our nations reluctance to admit that some areas are not suited for development (or, at least, of the type we desire). This pattern of ignoring (or not seeking out) previously collected research is an ongoing problem. In a sad way, the often-stated need for "best available science" in EISs and Coastal Zone Management programs is representative of this phenomena. In many cases the research spawned by the quest for "best available science" has been done previously (at much less expense), and the results shelved or forgotten due to a lack of interest.

In closing, I thank your for the opportunity to serve as your Chair over the last two years. Pass the brew!

Richard C. Daniels, Chair