XSTORMS: A PROCESSING, ARCHIVAL, AND DISSEMINATION TOOL FOR EXTREME STORM EVENT DATA

Researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Florida Integrated Science Center – St. Petersburg, FL, have developed tools to process, archive and disseminate analog and digital data collected from the coastal zone in response to extreme storm events. XSTORMS (eXtreme STORMS) is one of many components of a USGS Oracle-based ArcSDE geodatabase that integrates a wide range of data types. Within XSTORMS, oblique aerial photographs and videos of the coast, extreme storm forecast tracks and intensities, and flight paths from LIDAR data collection missions are processed, digitized, attributed, spatially-linked, and served via USGS intranet to multiple registered USGS scientists using standard Geographic Information System (GIS) and Internet-browsing technologies.

XSTORMS currently contains approximately 24,000 oblique aerial photographs and 27 videos from 9 missions flown between 2001 and 2006. The holdings are available to USGS scientists within the Extreme Storms Impact Studies Group in order to facilitate coastal zone research. Pre- and post-storm photography is used in conjunction with supporting meteorological and topographic data sets to analyze beach morphology change in response to extreme storm events. Select data and results are disseminated electronically via the project website http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes.html. GoogleEarth-compatible .kmz files are being tested as a means of disseminating data through the USGS Coastal and Marine Geology (CMG) InfoBank data catalog ( http://walrus.er.usgs.gov/infobank/).

Decades of analog oblique aerial photography will be scanned to digital format and preserved in XSTORMS. Standardized data processing tasks, file name conventions, and metadata capture will improve and expand the use of these legacy data sets. Current digital photography technologies improve the efficiency with which newly acquired data is incorporated in XSTORMS. Centralized data storage, routine backups, consolidated offsite storage, and distributed data dissemination ensures the integrity, wide distribution, and timely access of XSTORMS data for USGS scientists.