Helping Communities Rebuild and Recover from Sandy

In October 2012, the hybrid cyclone-nor’easter known as Hurricane Sandy roared toward the 

mid-Atlantic Coast. Even as the hurricane transitioned to a post-tropical cyclone, wind, waves, 

and storm surge wreaked havoc along the Atlantic Coast, especially to the coasts of New York, 

New Jersey, and Connecticut.

NOAA’s National Ocean Service brings a wealth of coastal science, management, and 

operational expertise to aid communities impacted by Sandy in their recovery. NOS is on the 

front lines to help America understand, predict, and respond to the challenges facing our oceans 

and coasts.

Positioning America for the Future

NOAA’s National Ocean Service
National Ocean Service: The nation’s leader in integrated coastal management

The National Ocean Service (NOS) leads coastal management efforts across 

the nation and is the primary conduit for data and services at NOAA to 

support informed coastal decision making.

NOS has unique expertise in protecting coastal and estuarine habitat, 

reducing marine debris, and providing navigation, coastal mapping, observing, 

monitoring, and high-accuracy geospatial positioning services. In combination 

with our decision support, technical assistance, and training activities, NOS 

provides an unparalleled and powerful suite of resources and tools to aid 

recovery. 

Through well-established networks, NOS works across NOAA (e.g. with 

National Weather Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, and NOAA 

Sea Grant) and with local, state, and other Federal agencies—including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban 

Development, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers—to help rebuild more resilient and sustainable coastal communities 

that can adapt to and better mitigate the impacts of coastal hazards. NOS can also be tasked to assist in response and 

recovery efforts under the Department of Homeland Security National Response Framework.

The Coastal Zone Management Act calls on coastal states to minimize the loss of life and property from improper 

development in areas prone to flooding, storm surge, geological hazards, and erosion. Under the CZMA’s Coastal 

Management, National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS), and other authorities, NOS is charged with 

assisting state and local officials to ensure that post-Sandy redevelopment results in more resilient and sustainable coastal 

communities, economies, and ecosystems. 

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NOS has an on-the-ground network

NOS staff are located in the region and have long-standing 

relationships with all levels of government, with nongovernmental organizations, the private sector, and academia. 

NOS staff work with Federal partners, port authorities, 

pilots, and local governments to conduct surveys that detect 

underwater obstructions and marine debris, and ensure safe 

navigation is maintained without duplicative work. 

NOS also has personnel working at the Joint Field Offices in 

New Jersey and New York, who are assigned to the natural 

and cultural resource planning efforts, but are working 

across recovery planning teams (e.g. navigation and marine 

debris analysis, community planning, capacity building, 

and infrastructure systems). NOS participates on a number 

of interagency initiatives designed to effectively leverage 

resources and expertise and improve cost-effectiveness.

Key NOS partners – including state and local coastal 

managers, port specialists, emergency personnel, and other 

land and natural resource managers – are directly responsible 

for enhancing resilience. Examples include engaging in postdisaster planning; responding to marine debris events; making 

changes in land use and development rules; prioritizing land 

acquisition opportunities; developing and implementing 

habitat restoration plans; and promoting greener, more 

sustainable infrastructure. 

Flooded neighborhood in New Jersey after Sandy 

made landfall. Credit: Frank Csulak

Geo-referenced aerial imagery taken by NOS shows the New Jersey coastline 

after the Hurricane Sandy made landfall.This and other NOS emergency 

response imagery is publicaly available at: http://storms.ngs.noaa.gov/

eri_page/index.html
Precision Matters: NOS provides baseline, science-based services 

In planning for a more resilient future, planners and managers 

require highly accurate and consistent geospatial positioning, 

water level, and geographic data. NOS provides baseline data to 

underpin and inform sound, science-based decision making.

•  NOS maintains the country’s National Spatial Reference 

System, the national coordinate network for establishing 

longitude, latitude, and most importantly geospatial heights.

•  NOS is the nation’s hydrographer and leading expert in 

integrated precision seafloor, bathymetric, and shoreline 

surveying; and charting and mapping for navigation safety, 

emergency response, and coastal zone science and management.

•  NOS maintains the country’s National Water Level 

Observation Network, the long-term coastal water level stations 

for measuring tides and determining changes in water levels 

over multiple time scales.

•  NOS conducts flights to collect high-resolution, geo-referenced 

imagery following certain natural and man-made disasters. The 

imagery is used to determine impacts to NOAA, as well as 

federal, state, local, and public interests.

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NOS provides a suite of data, services, training, and technical assistance

NOS provides a range of data, information, tools, training, and technical assistance to support coastal management. In 

conjunction with governmental and non-governmental counterparts, NOS is already taking steps to:

•  Convene stakeholders to collectively identify priorities and define a path forward for rebuilding more resilient 

communities in the most efficient and effective manner.

•  Compile socioeconomic information and conduct analyses to improve communication of risk and vulnerability, 

evaluate the costs and benefits of potential solutions, and inform decisions about rebuilding, economic development, and 

protection and restoration of coastal ecosystems. 

•  Promote “green/gray” approaches that incorporate natural habitats as part of the plan for rebuilding and protecting 

coastal infrastructure, including coastal and estuarine habitat restoration and planning for inland migration of wetlands.

•  Provide training and technical assistance to help states and local communities apply the data, information, and tools 

for incorporating key resilience concepts into planning and rebuilding.

The Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services has 

been measuring sea level for over 150 years, with tide stations of the 

National Water Level Observation Network operating on all U.S. 

coasts.

NOS tools and services support every day and future coastal decision making

NOS integrates information into a suite of actionable products, tools, and services that are used daily by coastal decision 

makers at all levels of government, academia, and the private sector.

•  NOS collects hydrography, shoreline photogrammetry, water levels, and precise geodetic positioning data in order 

to produce and maintain the nation’s suite of nautical charts, the essential and long-standing tool to inform safe and 

efficient marine navigation and a host of other coastal management decisions.

•  NOS produces the national shoreline which provides critical baseline data for updating nautical charts, defining our 

nation’s territorial limits (including the Exclusive Economic Zone), and managing our coastal resources.

•  As the nation’s hydrographer and leading expert in bathymetric and shoreline surveying, NOS conducts routine and 

rapid response hydrographic surveys to detect obstructions and marine debris in critical waterways to reduce the risk of 

a maritime accidents resulting in hazardous spills or shipping delays. NOS also provides modeling expertise for storm 

surge and inundation predictions vital to helping protect coastal populations in the future. 
NOS provides Digital Coast (www.csc.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/), an online access point for much of NOAA’s data and tools 

that will aid in Sandy recovery. The basic premise is that data alone are not enough. Planners need help turning data into 

information that can be used for making important decisions about coastal resources and areas. Digital Coast does just that 

with data, tools, case studies, stories from the field, and training in how to apply Digital Coastal resources including:

•  Coastal socio-economic and land use change data

•  Pre-Sandy (and eventually post-Sandy) LIDAR data

•  Sea Level Rise and Coastal Flooding Impacts Viewer 

•  Coastal County Snapshots which assess a county’s resilience to 

flooding and the benefits provided by natural resources

•  Risk and vulnerability assessments, and the Community Resilience 

Index

•  Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) maps 

Other Resources

•  Long-term data sets on water quality, coastal habitat, and 

infrastructure to detect and monitor storm impacts (NERRS, 

•  www.nerrs.noaa.gov/)

•  Policy analysis of shorefront management policies 

(coastalmanagement.noaa.gov/issues/hazards_activities.html#2)

•  Smart Growth for Coastal and Waterfront Communities report (coastalsmartgrowth.noaa.gov/)

•  Alternatives to Shoreline Hardening: The Shoreline Management Technical Assistance Toolbox 

(coastalmanagement.noaa.gov/shoreline.html)

4 oceanservice.noaa.gov - January 2013

Digital Coast: Bringing it all together

NOAA’s Sea Level Rise and Coastal Flooding Impacts Viewer. 

NOS tools and services support every day coastal decision making (cont.)

Location of New York/New Jersey Harbor PORTS®.

•  NOS integrates real-time, quality controlled weather, water level, 

coastal current, air gap, salinity, freshwater inflow, and other data 

through the Physical Oceanographic Real Time System (PORTS®). 

PORTS provides mariners and other decision makers with 

Operational Forecast models that include nowcasts and forecasts of 

marine conditions in real time.

•  NOS builds and maintains the Environmental Response 

Management Application (ERMA®). ERMA was used as the 

underlying geospatial platform for the response to the Deepwater 

Horizon oil spill, the ongoing response to marine debris from the 

2011 tsunami in Japan, the response to Sandy, and other natural and 

manmade marine disasters.

•  NOS maintains the nation’s longest standing coastal toxicology 

monitoring program, Mussel Watch, which provides the ability to 

monitor the level of toxins in coastal shellfish and sediments over 

time.

•  NOS works with state partners to maintain the NERRS System-wide 

Monitoring Program, which provides continuous data on estuarine 

dissolved oxygen, nutrients, water depth, pH, wind speed, and other 

water quality and weather information. This program has been used 

for coastal management decision-making for almost two decades.

•  NOS is the nation’s lead for implementing the Integrated Ocean 

Observing System (IOOS®). IOOS provides baseline data and 

coordinates shared standards to ensure a consistent flow of data and 

services across all levels of government and with regional partners. 

“IOOS data helped refine near-term 

forecasts and then allowed adjustments to 

coastal flood forecast impact procedures. 

Subsequently, coastal flood tables used 

to predict expected impact at selected 

locations were revised for the next major 

storm.”

NWS Weather Forecast Office, Taunton, MA