NOAA Shoreline Data Rescue Project: Historical Narragansett Bay Coastline

NOAA's Shoreline Data Rescue Project provides a high-resolution historical shoreline for Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, suitable as a GIS data layer. The data were automated from shoreline maps produced by NOAA National Ocean Service and its predecessors, based on imagery interpretation and field surveys. Attribution follows the NGS-developed C-COAST scheme, influenced by the International Hydrographic Organization's S-57 standard.

Use Cases

• Analyze historical coastal erosion or accretion based on the high-resolution shoreline data.
• Integrate a standardized shoreline layer into regional GIS basemaps based on the C-COAST attribution scheme.
• Train models for shoreline feature detection based on the automated, map-derived data source.
• Conduct change detection studies by comparing this historical layer with contemporary shoreline data.

Strengths

• Data were automated to provide high-resolution historical shoreline.
• Shoreline maps were produced by NOAA National Ocean Service and its predecessor agencies.
• Attribution follows the NGS-developed C-COAST scheme, designed for translation to the S-57 standard.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the specific focus on Narragansett Bay.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Automated from shoreline maps based on office interpretation of imagery and/or field survey.

Time Range

Historical (specific range not provided).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 21:15:27.941169; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, North America