PART II: FIELD DATA COLLECTION 



Profile Data 



9. Profile data were collected from regular surveys of several profile 

 lines (beach cross sections) at each of the localities shown in Figure 1. 

 Surveys were usually conducted monthly but some were either made weekly or 

 immediately after storms. Profile lines were established with permanent 

 monuments of known location and elevation. The landward end of the profile 

 generally began at the dune, boardwalk, or bluff, depending on beach 

 morphology. Points were surveyed every 8 to 15 m and at breaks in the slope. 

 When possible, surveys were required to reach a depth of -0.6 m below the 

 vertical datum. Except for Jones Beach and Westhampton, all survey data were 

 collected relative to geodetic mean sea level (msl) as defined by the 1929 

 National Geodetic Vertical Datum (NGVD) using a tape to measure distance and 

 a level (or a transit) to measure elevation. Data from Jones Beach and 

 Westhampton were collected relative to local mean low water (mlw) using 

 stadia readings to measure distance. Note that for this report, all survey 

 and water level data have been adjusted to geodetic msl. 



10. Though field procedures varied during the 10 years of surveying, 

 most data were recorded in fieldbooks, transferred to optical scanning 

 sheets, and sent to CERC for processing. Measurements were made in feet with 

 distances rounded to the nearest foot (0.305 m) and elevations to the nearest 

 tenth of a foot (0.031 m) . Documentation of the survey benchmarks and a 

 discussion of survey techniques can be found along with the actual data in 

 each of the locality reports listed in the Bibliography. 



11. The data included in Table 1 are a subset of all the BEP and Storm 

 Erosion Studies data. To determine which data to include, all past storms 

 and associated survey intervals were identified using written records, 

 logbooks, and historical weather maps. Then the wave hindcast data generated 

 by the WIS (Jensen 1983) were used to determine the significance of the storm 

 based on the height and duration of storm waves and to determine if other 

 storms had also occurred during the interval between the surveys. Except for 

 the specific cases noted in Table 1, data were not included if several storms 

 occurred within the interval or if the poststorm survey was completed more 

 than a week after the event. Because of the large amount of data collected 



