Barrier Island Evolution
The Barrier Island Evolution Project addresses a research gap between the short time scale of individual storms (hours to days) and the longer time scales associated with the historic and geologic evolution of the coastal system (decades to millennia).
The Barrier Island Evolution Project addresses a research gap between the short time scale of individual storms (hours to days) and the longer time scales associated with the historic and geologic evolution of the coastal system (decades to millennia). The project integrates two of the Coastal and Marine Geology Program's strengths in studying coastal-change hazards—assessment of storm impacts and characterization of coastal geologic framework. Combining these strengths with modeling of morphology will make possible predictions of barrier-island behavior over time scales useful to resource managers (1–5 years).
Geomorphic Analysis and Data Collection
Medium-term coastal evolution involves the interaction of submerged and subaerial geomorphology, oceanography, sediment supply and other geologic constraints, and biological interactions associated with marshes and dune grasses. The resulting sediment budgets determine the balance of topographic and bathymetric elevations and dictate how barrier island trajectories will proceed in the future.
Numerical Modeling and Oceanography
Numerical models compliment the collection of geophysical data by hindcasting and forecasting sediment transport pathways, natural island trajectories, and berm/island interactions over larger and higher resolution domains and time periods.
Geologic Analysis
Quantifying changes in morphology and sediment distribution over short time scales will demonstrate how geologic variability influences medium-term barrier island response and near-term barrier island trajectories and help to refine sedimentological boundary conditions for morphologic evolution models.
Applied Research
Assessments will include depiction of trends (the past points to the future), updated observations (topography/bathymetry), and predicted sensitivity of barrier island evolution to possible climatologies and restoration plans.
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
Below are data or web applications associated with this project.
Below are publications associated with this project.
Archive of bathymetry and backscatter data collected in 2014 nearshore Breton and Gosier Islands, Breton National Wildlife Refuge, Louisiana
Hurricane Sandy washover deposits on southern Long Beach Island, New Jersey
Sedimentologic characteristics of recent washover deposits from Assateague Island, Maryland
Baseline coastal oblique aerial photographs collected from Calcasieu Lake, Louisiana, to Brownsville, Texas, September 9-10, 2008
Post-Hurricane Isaac coastal oblique aerial photographs collected along the Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana barrier islands, September 2–3, 2012
Analysis of shoreline and geomorphic change for Breton Island, Louisiana, from 1869 to 2014
Archive of Digital Chirp Subbottom Profile Data Collected During USGS Cruise 14BIM05 Offshore of Breton Island, Louisiana, August 2014
Back-Island and Open-Ocean Shorelines, and Sand Areas of the Undeveloped Areas of New Jersey Barrier Islands, March 9, 1991, to July 30, 2013
Barrier Island Shorelines Extracted from Landsat Imagery
Archive of bathymetry data collected at Cape Canaveral, Florida, 2014
Analysis of bathymetric surveys to identify coastal vulnerabilities at Cape Canaveral, Florida
Sedimentological and radiochemical characteristics of marsh deposits from Assateague Island and the adjacent vicinity, Maryland and Virginia, following Hurricane Sandy
The Barrier Island Evolution Project addresses a research gap between the short time scale of individual storms (hours to days) and the longer time scales associated with the historic and geologic evolution of the coastal system (decades to millennia).
The Barrier Island Evolution Project addresses a research gap between the short time scale of individual storms (hours to days) and the longer time scales associated with the historic and geologic evolution of the coastal system (decades to millennia). The project integrates two of the Coastal and Marine Geology Program's strengths in studying coastal-change hazards—assessment of storm impacts and characterization of coastal geologic framework. Combining these strengths with modeling of morphology will make possible predictions of barrier-island behavior over time scales useful to resource managers (1–5 years).
Geomorphic Analysis and Data Collection
Medium-term coastal evolution involves the interaction of submerged and subaerial geomorphology, oceanography, sediment supply and other geologic constraints, and biological interactions associated with marshes and dune grasses. The resulting sediment budgets determine the balance of topographic and bathymetric elevations and dictate how barrier island trajectories will proceed in the future.
Numerical Modeling and Oceanography
Numerical models compliment the collection of geophysical data by hindcasting and forecasting sediment transport pathways, natural island trajectories, and berm/island interactions over larger and higher resolution domains and time periods.
Geologic Analysis
Quantifying changes in morphology and sediment distribution over short time scales will demonstrate how geologic variability influences medium-term barrier island response and near-term barrier island trajectories and help to refine sedimentological boundary conditions for morphologic evolution models.
Applied Research
Assessments will include depiction of trends (the past points to the future), updated observations (topography/bathymetry), and predicted sensitivity of barrier island evolution to possible climatologies and restoration plans.
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
Below are data or web applications associated with this project.
Below are publications associated with this project.