Establishing a High Accuracy Vertical Network at Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center (CBEC)

Site:

Grasonville, MD

Purpose(s):

(1) Long-term monitoring of subsidence and sea level change in a delicate coastal ecosystem

Summary:

NGS is establishing a high accuracy vertical control network at the Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center (CBEC) to support coastal restoration, research, testing of new geodetic technologies, and monitoring of the effects of local relative sea level rise. The network includes over a dozen geodetic bench marks distributed throughout the 510 acre wetland reserve near Graysonville, Maryland, with four deep-rod Surface Elevation Table (SET) marks located in the rapidly deteriorating marsh. The SETs will provide data to model the fate of the marsh in the face of rising water levels and ultimately provide insight into its restoration. Elevations have been brought into CBEC via geodetic leveling from published coordinates outside the reserve (less than 6 mm of error per km of leveling). The bench mark locations and their elevations will be made available to the public at no charge.

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