Living Shoreline Site Suitability Model for Gulf of Mexico

NOAA's RESTORE Science Program developed a model for assessing living shoreline construction suitability. The project applied the Shoreline Management Model (SMM V5.1) to three specific water bodies in the Gulf of Mexico: Perdido Bay/Wolf Bay/Ono Island complex in Alabama, Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana, and Galveston Bay in Texas. Outputs include a shapefile for best management practice in Perdido Bay and an interactive decision support tool.

Use Cases

• Evaluating site suitability for constructing living shorelines using the Shoreline Management Model.
• Developing best management practice recommendations for shoreline armoring in specific bays.
• Creating an interactive decision support tool for rapid coastal site assessments.
• Applying a transferred computer model to new geographic areas within the Gulf of Mexico.

Strengths

• Model is based on the established Shoreline Management Model (SMM V5.1) from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.
• Provides specific, geospatial outputs (shapefile) for best management practice in Perdido Bay, Alabama.
• Covers three distinct geographic study areas within the Gulf of Mexico.

Limitations

• No column names or row counts are provided for the underlying model data or shapefile outputs.
• Sources disagree on the last updated date, with one listing 2020-04-09 and others listing a future date of 2026-03-13.
• The core dataset description is identical across platforms, offering no additional technical detail.

Provenance

Source

NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), Virginia Institute of Marine Science Center for Coastal Resources Management.

Collection Method

Adaptation and application of an existing computer model (Shoreline Management Model V5.1).

Time Range

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Freshness

2026-03-13 20:40:43.211835

Geography

Perdido Bay/Wolf Bay/Ono Island complex, Alabama; Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana; Galveston Bay, Texas (Gulf of Mexico, USA).