Scope Research projects are primarily concentrated on the west coast of Florida, with some projects encompassing areas of Florida's east coast, the Florida Keys, the southwest Florida shallow shelf, and Puerto Rico. Dr. Davis has also conducted research in the North Sea, the German and Danish Wadden Seas, Spain, Australia, and New Zealand. The Coastal Research Lab is involved in several current projects. One of the projects underway involves Treasure Island.
Treasure Island is one of the most developed barrier islands on the Florida Gulf Coast.
It is an area of particular interest to us because it has a chronic erosion problem. Pinellas County is preparing to assess this problem and in order to assess the situation, it is necessary to have a well-documented sediment budget for the island. This will be based on the monitoring of beach performance, historical data on morphologic changes and tidal inlet influences for the island. A second project is looking at the effect the El Nino winter of 1997-98 may have had on the West Central Coast of Florida. The usual winter for peninsular Florida is mild and fairly calm conditions with the occasional passage of cold fronts.