In 2015 Assateague Island National Seashore in coordination with the National Geodetic Survey, NPS Northeast Coast and Barrier Network, and University of Rhode Island designed and implemented a GPS survey of primary control marks on Assateague Island. Processing used National Geodetic Survey OPUS-Projects software.

Assessing the physical change to shorelines and wetlands is critical in determining the resiliency of wetland systems that protect adjacent habitat and communities. The wetland and back-barrier shorelines of Assateague Island, located in Maryland and Virginia, changed as a result of wave action and storm surge that occurred during Hurricane Sandy, which made landfall on October 29, 2012. The impact of Hurricane Sandy will be assessed and placed in its historical context to understand the future vulnerability of wetland systems. Making these assessments will rely on data extracted from current and historical resources such as maps, aerial photographs, satellite imagery, and lidar elevation data, which document physical changes over time. This USGS Data Series publication includes includes several open-ocean shorelines, back-island shorelines, back-island shoreline points, sand area polygons, and sand lines for Assateague Island that were extracted from orthoimagery (ortho aerial photography)dated from April 12, 1989 to September 5, 2013.

Seabeach amaranth (Amaranthus pumilus) is a federally threatened plant species that was once prevalent on beaches of the U.S. mid-Atlantic coast. For much of the 20th century, seabeach amaranth was absent and thought to be extinct along this coast presumably due to development and recreational pressure. Few plants were observed over much of the 20th century and the species was federally listed as endangered in 1993. To re-establish a population, the Natural Resources staff at Assateague Island National Seashore (ASIS) planted seabeach amaranth cultivars for three growing seasons from 2000 to 2002. To monitor the impact of this effort, the Natural Resources staff conducted yearly surveys on Assateague Island to locate seabeach amaranth from 2001 to the present. These surveys were undertaken, typically during early August, to monitor the presence and dispersal of the plant following the effort to re-establish a population. The surveys were conducted in coordination with Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Surveys measured the location of each plant found using GPS and noted several parameters including: 1) plant size, 2) evidence of grazing by insects or ungulates (2005 and later) and noted if the plant was protected by cages put in place by ASIS Natural Resources staff.

Seabeach amaranth (Amaranthus pumilus) is a federally threatened plant species that was once prevalent on beaches of the U.S. mid-Atlantic coast. For much of the 20th century, seabeach amaranth was absent and thought to be extinct along this coast presumably due to development and recreational pressure. Few plants were observed over much of the 20th century and the species was federally listed as endangered in 1993. To re-establish a population, the Natural Resources staff at Assateague Island National Seashore (ASIS) planted seabeach amaranth cultivars for three growing seasons from 2000 to 2002. To monitor the impact of this effort, the Natural Resources staff conducted yearly surveys on Assateague Island to locate seabeach amaranth from 2001 to the present. These surveys were undertaken, typically during early August, to monitor the presence and dispersal of the plant following the effort to re-establish a population. The surveys were conducted in coordination with Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Surveys measured the location of each plant found using GPS and noted several parameters including: 1) plant size, 2) evidence of grazing by insects or ungulates (2005 and later) and noted if the plant was protected by cages put in place by ASIS Natural Resources staff.

Understanding how sea-level rise will affect coastal landforms and the species and habitats they support is critical for crafting approaches that balance the needs of humans and native species. Given this increasing need to forecast sea-level rise effects on barrier islands in the near and long terms, we are developing Bayesian networks to evaluate and to forecast the cascading effects of sea-level rise on shoreline change, barrier island state, and piping plover habitat availability. We use publicly available data products, such as lidar, orthophotography, and geomorphic feature sets derived from those, to extract metrics of barrier island characteristics at consistent sampling distances. The metrics are then incorporated into predictive models and the training data used to parameterize those models. This data release contains the extracted metrics of barrier island geomorphology and spatial data layers of habitat characteristics that are input to Bayesian networks for piping plover habitat availability and barrier island geomorphology. These datasets and models are being developed for sites along the northeastern coast of the United States. This work is one component of a larger research and management program that seeks to understand and sustain the ecological value, ecosystem services, and habitat suitability of beaches in the face of storm impacts, climate change, and sea-level rise.

Understanding how sea-level rise will affect coastal landforms and the species and habitats they support is critical for crafting approaches that balance the needs of humans and native species. Given this increasing need to forecast sea-level rise effects on barrier islands in the near and long terms, we are developing Bayesian networks to evaluate and to forecast the cascading effects of sea-level rise on shoreline change, barrier island state, and piping plover habitat availability. We use publicly available data products, such as lidar, orthophotography, and geomorphic feature sets derived from those, to extract metrics of barrier island characteristics at consistent sampling distances. The metrics are then incorporated into predictive models and the training data used to parameterize those models. This data release contains the extracted metrics of barrier island geomorphology and spatial data layers of habitat characteristics that are input to Bayesian networks for piping plover habitat availability and barrier island geomorphology. These datasets and models are being developed for sites along the northeastern coast of the United States. This work is one component of a larger research and management program that seeks to understand and sustain the ecological value, ecosystem services, and habitat suitability of beaches in the face of storm impacts, climate change, and sea-level rise.

These data represent a series of mean-high water shorelines collected at Assateague Island National Seashore (ASIS), appended into one spatial dataset. The features have been assembled / collected in support of the Northeast Coastal & Barrier Inventory and Monitoring Network's Ocean Shoreline Position Monitoring Program. Surveys along the ocean shoreline were collected by driving a 4-wheel drive vehicle or walking at a relatively constant speed along the identified high tide swash line. For the purposes of this monitoring program, the actual ocean "shoreline" was defined as the average position of the most recent high tide, evidenced by the obvious wet/dry sand line or deposited wrack. The GPS/GNSS receiver was configured to record positions at a very short interval (at least 1 position every 10 meters) for the best representation of the shoreline position. Depending on the time of year and intended purpose, some surveys contain ocean, inlet and bay shorelines, while some surveys only contain ocean shorelines. Additionally, some surveys collected prior to 2003 do not contain FGDC-compliant metadata records. This dataset contains shoreline features collect between Winter of 1994 and Spring 2025.

These data represent a series of mean high water shorelines collected at Assateague Island National Seashore (ASIS), appended into one spatial dataset. The features have been assembled / collected in support of the Northeast Coastal & Barrier Inventory and Monitoring Network's Ocean Shoreline Position Monitoring Program. Surveys along the ocean shoreline were collected by driving a 4-wheel drive vehicle or walking at a relatively constant speed along the identified high tide swash line. For the purposes of this monitoring program, the actual ocean "shoreline" was defined as the average position of the most recent high tide, evidenced by the obvious wet/dry sand line or deposited wrack. The GPS/GNSS receiver was configured to record positions at a very short interval (at least 1 position every 10 meters) for the best representation of the shoreline position. Depending on the time of year and intended purpose, some surveys contain ocean, inlet and bay shorelines, while some surveys only contain ocean shorelines. Additionally, some surveys collected prior to 2003 do not contain FGDC-compliant metadata records. This dataset contains shoreline features collect between August of 1993 and Fall 2022.

These files contain topographic profiles collected at ASIS through the Spring 2025 field season

The Digital Geomorphic Map of Assateague Island National Seashore, Maryland and Virginia is composed of GIS data layers complete with ArcMap 9.3 layer (.LYR) files, two ancillary GIS tables, a Map PDF document with ancillary map text, figures and tables, a FGDC metadata record and a 9.3 ArcMap (.MXD) Document that displays the digital map in 9.3 ArcGIS. The data were completed as a component of the Geologic Resources Inventory (GRI) program, a National Park Service (NPS) Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) funded program that is administered by the NPS Geologic Resources Division (GRD). Source geologic maps and data used to complete this GRI digital dataset were provided by the following: U.S. Geological Survey. Detailed information concerning the sources used and their contribution the GRI product are listed in the Source Citation sections(s) of this metadata record (asis_metadata.txt; available at http://nrdata.nps.gov/asis/nrdata/geology/gis/asis_metadata.xml). All GIS and ancillary tables were produced as per the NPS GRI Geology-GIS Geodatabase Data Model v. 2.1. (available at: http://science.nature.nps.gov/im/inventory/geology/GeologyGISDataModel.cfm). The GIS data is available as a 9.3 personal geodatabase (asis_geology.mdb), and as shapefile (.SHP) and DBASEIV (.DBF) table files. The GIS data projection is NAD83, UTM Zone 18N. That data is within the area of interest of Assateague Island National Seashore.