Modeled Wind Fetch for the Bays of the Virginia Coast Reserve

Wind fetch in meters was estimated for the bays along the Virginia portion of the Delmarva Peninsula. Wind fetches in this model were calculated in ArcGIS 9.2, using scripts designed by David Finlayson, USGS, Pacific Science Center (Rohweder et al. 2008. Application of Wind Fetch and Wave Models for Habitat Rehabilitation and Enhancement Projects. USGS Open-File Report 2008-1200). Individual raster data layers were produced for each 10-degree increment in angle, from 0 through 350 degrees. Each layer contains the fetch distance in meters for each pixel (when unbounded, negative values were used). To estimate the mean fetch during the summers of 2014 and 2015, a mean fetch layer was estimated using the proportion of time wind originated from each of the 10-degree increments as weights. Wind direction frequency came from the Wachapreague NOAA station. This work was completed as part of a Distinguished Major undergraduate thesis by Marnie R. Kremer, supervised by Matthew Reidenbach.