## Breadcrumb

-  Publications 
-  Articles 

#           Satellite-derived barrier response and recovery following natural and anthropogenic perturbations, northern Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana      

      September 24, 2021    

The magnitude and frequency of storm events, relative sea-level rise (RSLR), sediment supply, and anthropogenic alterations drive the morphologic evolution of barrier island systems, although the relative importance of any one driver will vary with the spatial and temporal scales considered. To explore the relative contributions of storms and human alterations to sediment supply on de-cadal changes in barrier landscapes, we applied Otsu’s thresholding method to multiple satel-lite-derived spectral indices for coastal land-cover classification and analyzed Landsat satellite imagery to quantify changes to the northern Chandeleur Islands barrier system since 1984. This high temporal-resolution dataset shows decadal-scale land-cover oscillations related to storm–recovery cycles, suggesting that shorter and (or) less resolved time series are biased toward storm impacts and may significantly overpredict land-loss rates and the timing of barrier mor-phologic state changes. We demonstrate that, historically, vegetation extent and persistence were the dominant controls on alongshore-variable landscape response and recovery following storms, and are even more important than human-mediated sediment input. As a result of exten-sive vegetation losses over the past few decades, however, the northern Chandeleur Islands are transitioning to a new morphologic state in which the landscape is dominated by intertidal envi-ronments, indicating reduced resilience to future storms and possibly rapid transitions in mor-phologic state with increasing rates of RSLR.

## Citation Information

## Related Content

                  -              Data           
                  -              Connect           

September 21, 2021

####                 Coastal Land-Cover and Feature Datasets Extracted from Landsat Satellite Imagery, Northern Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana              

Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

#### Julie Bernier

##### Geologist

St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

jbernier@usgs.gov

727-502-8133

#### Jennifer L Miselis, Ph.D.

##### Research Geologist

St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

jmiselis@usgs.gov

727-502-8088

#### Nathaniel Plant, Ph.D.

##### Center Director

St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

nplant@usgs.gov

727-502-8072

## Related Content

September 21, 2021

####                 Coastal Land-Cover and Feature Datasets Extracted from Landsat Satellite Imagery, Northern Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana              

Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

#### Julie Bernier

##### Geologist

St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

jbernier@usgs.gov

727-502-8133

#### Jennifer L Miselis, Ph.D.

##### Research Geologist

St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

jmiselis@usgs.gov

727-502-8088

#### Nathaniel Plant, Ph.D.

##### Center Director

St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

nplant@usgs.gov

727-502-8072

### Study Area

### Contact

####               St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center          

600 4th Street SouthSt. Petersburg, FL33701United States

727-502-8000

727-502-8181

### Explore Search

                  - Ecosystems
                  - United States
                  - breton national wildlife refuge
                  - Louisiana

View All **