Methods for Investigating Sediment Flux under High-Energy Conditions on the Southeast Florida Continental Shelf using Laser Airborne Depth Sounding (LADS) in a Geographic Information System (GIS) Dataframe

Abstract

ABSTRACT Finkl, C.W. and Vollmer, H.M., 2017. Methods for investigating sediment flux under high-energy conditions on the southeast Florida continental shelf using Laser Airborne Depth Sounding (LADS) in a Geographic Information System (GIS) dataframe. Laser Airborne Depth Sounding (LADS) bathymetric surveys conducted in 2001 and 2008 bracket two hurricane landfalls (Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005) in Broward County, southeast Florida, thus providing an opportunity to investigate changes in bottom topography as a result of wave and current action. The seafloor in this region is characterized by a wide range of sedimentary features that are normally stabilized (held in place) by outcrops of carbonate bedrock and coral reefs. During high-energy events, however, the sedimentary deposits are partially mobilized by waves and currents. This methodological study used the two LADS bathymetric surveys to construct triangulated irregular networks (TINs, which are a digital means of representin...