{"id":181107,"date":"2023-05-25T08:41:19","date_gmt":"2023-05-25T12:41:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/?page_id=181107"},"modified":"2025-07-18T11:58:28","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T15:58:28","slug":"beachsurvey","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/research\/beachsurvey\/","title":{"rendered":"Beach Survey"},"content":{"rendered":"<section class=\"cl-wrapper cl-hero-wrapper\"><div class=\"cl-hero super   cl-has-accessibility-controls\"><div class=\"cl-hero-proper\"><div class=\"overlay\"><div class=\"block\"><h1>One of the longest-running beach surveys in the world<\/h1><\/div><\/div><div class=\"still\" style=\"background-image:url(https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/916\/emilyanddasan-scaled.jpg);\"><\/div><div class=\"cl-accessibility-controls-container\"><div class=\"cl-accessibility-controls\"><div class=\"cl-accessibility-icon\" title=\"Accessibility controls\">Accessibility controls<\/div><div class=\"cl-accessibility-control cl-accessibility-motion-control cl-accessibility-control-hidden\"><div class=\"cl-accessibility-control-default\"><div class=\"cl-accessibility-control-button\" title=\"Pause motion\">Pause motion<\/div><div class=\"cl-accessibility-control-label\">Motion: <span class=\"cl-accessibility-syntax\">On<\/span><\/div><\/div><div class=\"cl-accessibility-control-alternate\"><div class=\"cl-accessibility-control-button\" title=\"Play motion\">Play motion<\/div><div class=\"cl-accessibility-control-label\">Motion: <span class=\"cl-accessibility-syntax\">Off<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"cl-accessibility-control cl-accessibility-contrast-control\"><div class=\"cl-accessibility-control-default\"><div class=\"cl-accessibility-control-button\" title=\"Increase text contrast\">Increase text contrast<\/div><div class=\"cl-accessibility-control-label\">Contrast: <span class=\"cl-accessibility-syntax\">Standard<\/span><\/div><\/div><div class=\"cl-accessibility-control-alternate\"><div class=\"cl-accessibility-control-button\" title=\"Reset text contrast\">Reset text contrast<\/div><div class=\"cl-accessibility-control-label\">Contrast: <span class=\"cl-accessibility-syntax\">High<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"cl-accessibility-system-setting\"><div class=\"cl-accessibility-toggle\" title=\"Apply my preferences site-wide\"><\/div><div class=\"cl-accessibility-toggle-label\">Apply site-wide<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>\n<div class=\"feature-caption\">GSO students Emily Hall and Dasan McElroy conduct a survey in Fall 2022.<\/div>\n<section class=\"cl-wrapper cl-menu-wrapper\"><nav id=\"\" class=\"cl-menu  \" data-name=\"Beach Survey\" data-show-title=\"0\"><ul id=\"menu-beach-survey\" class=\"cl-menu-list cl-menu-list-no-js\"><li id=\"menu-item-181149\" class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-181149\"><a href=\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/research\/beachsurvey\/\">Overview<\/a><\/li>\n<li id=\"menu-item-181152\" class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-181152\"><a href=\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/research\/beachsurvey\/history\/\">Beach Survey History<\/a><\/li>\n<li id=\"menu-item-181151\" class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-181151\"><a href=\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/research\/beachsurvey\/survey-methods\/\">Beach Survey Methods<\/a><\/li>\n<li id=\"menu-item-181150\" class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-181150\"><a href=\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/research\/beachsurvey\/contacts\/\">Contact Us!<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/nav><\/section>\n<p class=\"type-intro fullwidth\">The Beach Survey Program at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography monitors sandy shorelines along the south shore of Rhode Island.<\/p>\n<div class=\"cl-tiles halves\">\n<div>\n<h2>Beach Survey Supervisor<\/h2>\n<div class=\"uri-people-tool\"><div class=\"peopleitem h-card has-thumbnail\">\n\t<header>\n\t\t<div class=\"header\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/meet\/j-p-walsh\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"364\" height=\"367\" src=\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/916\/J.P.-Walsh-364x367.jpg\" class=\"u-photo third_column wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/916\/J.P.-Walsh-364x367.jpg 364w, https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/916\/J.P.-Walsh-298x300.jpg 298w, https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/916\/J.P.-Walsh.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 364px) 100vw, 364px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"p-name\"><a href=\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/meet\/j-p-walsh\/\">J.P. Walsh<\/a><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/header>\n\t<div class=\"inside\">\n\n\t\t<p class=\"people-title p-job-title\">Professor of Oceanography<\/p>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<p class=\"people-department\">Marine Geology and Geophysics<\/p>\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"people-misc\"><span class=\"p-tel\">401.874.6233<\/span> <br> <a class=\"u-email\" href=\"mailto:jpwalsh@uri.edu\">jpwalsh@uri.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\n\t\t<div style=\"clear:both;\"><\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<h2>Survey Assistant<\/h2>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<hr>\n<h2>Overview<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_181109\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-181109\" style=\"width: 2246px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-181109 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/916\/emilysurvey-scaled-e1685564346457.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2246\" height=\"1798\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-181109\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Emily Hall hand signals to Dasan McElroy during a beach survey.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Beach Survey Program was established at GSO in the early 1960s at a few select sandy barrier beaches to measure and document shoreline change. Measurements have been taken regularly ever since, and the survey dataset is one of the longest of its kind.<\/p>\n<p>Beach elevation measurements are taken monthly in the summer and twice-monthly in the fall, winter, and spring to account for the rapid changes that can occur on beaches due to winter storms like Nor\u2019easters. The modern survey collects data from seven sites: Moonstone Beach, Greenhill Beach, Charlestown Town Beach, two sites at East Beach, Weekapaug Beach, and Misquamicut State Beach.<\/p>\n<p>Surveys span the width of the beach from the dune crest to the waterline and have historically been taken with a transit instrument and stadia rod with respect to a GPS-referenced point. Collected data is then processed to measure beach erosion and sediment transport and has been utilized in several graduate student research projects over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-style-default\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"578\" src=\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/916\/beachsurvey2-1024x578.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-184586\" srcset=\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/916\/beachsurvey2-1024x578.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/916\/beachsurvey2-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/916\/beachsurvey2-768x433.jpg 768w, https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/916\/beachsurvey2-364x205.jpg 364w, https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/916\/beachsurvey2-500x282.jpg 500w, https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/916\/beachsurvey2-1000x564.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/916\/beachsurvey2-1280x722.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/916\/beachsurvey2.jpg 1287w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Victoria Fulfer and Jake Harrington prepare for an RTK survey at East Beach in 2024<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n<div class=\"oembed oembed-youtube-com\" style=\"\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=w_zteo4gWTI\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Ocean Classroom (Spots): GSO Beach Survey\" width=\"1000\" height=\"563\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/w_zteo4gWTI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>GSO students Emily Hall and Dasan McElroy conduct a survey in Fall 2022. The Beach Survey Program at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography monitors sandy shorelines along the south shore of Rhode Island. Beach Survey Supervisor Survey Assistant Overview The Beach Survey Program was established at GSO in the early 1960s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2568,"featured_media":0,"parent":114905,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-181107","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/181107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2568"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181107"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/181107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":190667,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/181107\/revisions\/190667"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/114905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}