What Are We Doing at North Head, WA?

Mouth of the Columbia River
Monitoring from the North Head Lighthouse, Washington, USA

Figure 2. Satellite map of the region of interest.
The black arrows radiating from North Head mark the merged view of the eight ABMS video cameras.

What are we doing?

We are using video cameras to do more than take pretty pictures. These cameras are being used to map and survey changes on the beach, in the surf zone, and to monitor and evaluate waves and currents offshore. Only Argus Beach Monitoring Stations (AMBS) can do this type of quantitative analysis.

Why are we doing this?

The Army Corps and other federal and state agencies (e.g., Washington State Parks, Washington State Dept of Ecology) are concerned about changes in the environment that can affect boater safety and the integrity of Cape Disappointment (formerly Fort Canby) State Park and the north jetty. This ABMS effort is funded by the Corps' Regional Sediment Management (RSM) program. Click here for more details.

How are we doing this?

The Argus Beach Monitoring Station (ABMS) uses eight video cameras at this site to collect images during daylight hours. The total merged view from these cameras fit within the black arrows in Figure 2. Through photogrammetry and digital signal processing methods, features such as the location of the shoreline and of submerged sandbars can be mapped and monitored daily along with the wave and current processes attributable to these changes. Click here for more details.

What is there to see?

Two sets of camera images: SWS and MCR Bar Images and Benson Beach Images, with three types of images: snapshot, timex, and variance images. In addition, selected panoramas (combining the images from all the cameras) and rectified plan-view images are provided along with a movie of the plan-view images and an archive of all images acquired to date.

Back to main North Head ABMS page