Geodetic Leveling at SMIAs

National Wildlife Refuges, ME, MA, CT, RI, NJ, VA | US Fish and Wildlife Service

At a range of Salt Marsh Integrity Areas (SMIAs) along the East Coast, the US Fish and Wildlife Service studies storm and climate change impacts to coastal wetlands using elevation data as one metric. Following Hurricane Sandy, FWS identified 10 locations that required additional survey control benchmarks. D&K inventoried and visited each site, performed geodetic leveling, and set up new benchmarks so that more benchmarks using the same elevation datum were available for use by FWS staff. In the field in winter conditions, D&K used GPS, Invar Rods, and High Accuracy Geodetic Digital Levels combined with the use of the following NGS software packages: OPUS Projects, Translev, and ADJUST. D&K established and physically set all FWS-requested benchmarks (that were not subject to frost) on the national datum used by FWS in their studies. 

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Project Elements

Establishment of new coastal survey control benchmarks in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic

  • 201503101124
  • 201503101105