Images

Though often less intense than hurricanes, extratropical storms (e.g., nor’easters) occur more frequently and their impacts can be striking. Here, several years after Hurricane Sandy, winter nor’easters eroded sediments from an artificial dune at Fire Island, NY and moved them onto the beach and shoreface. Such erosion created a steep vertical face, or scarp.

The impacts of extreme storms can be striking. Here, winter nor’easters eroded sediments from an artificial dune at Fire Island, New York and moved them onto the beach and shoreface. Such erosion created a steep vertical face, or scarp. Erosion and overwash are expected to increase on Fire Island with rising sea levels. 

The Florida Keys reefs have been experiencing a severe disease outbreak from 2014 to present called Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD).

Photograph of shallow-water coral bleaching at Sombrero de Pelo reef in Pacific Panama during the 2015-2016 El Nino event. Because of the influence of internal waves, corals growing at deeper locations at this site did not bleach.

The USGS Coastal and Estuarine Dynamics Group will be deploying a Nanopod at Pea Island DUNEX experiment site to collect oceanographic information.

These Elkhorn corals (Acropora palmata) near Buck Island, U.S. Virgin Islands have died and collapsed into rubble. As coral reef structure degrades, valuable habitat for marine life is lost and nearby coastlines become more susceptible to storms, waves and erosion.

Near vertical (top, middle) and low angle oblique (bottom) aerial photographs of Bear Inlet, North Carolina. View looking northwest along the North Carolina shore. High waves and storm surge from Hurricane Joaquin eroded the beaches, moving sand inland (green arrow) and reshaping the flood-tidal shoals.

Aerial images of the wilderness breach: a) Aerial photograph taken several days after Hurricane Sandy (photo credit: NOAA); b) Aerial mosaic of the breach in June 2015 showing the location of erosion on the ocean side of the breach and deposition that results in the seasonal formation of a spit (photo credit: Stonybrook University).

The advanced circulation (ADCIRC) model unstructured finite element mesh spans the western North Atlantic Tidal domain to the 60-degree west meridian, including the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of America.

Healthy Elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata) near unpopulated Buck Island, U.S. Virgin Islands. Elkhorn coral is one of many important reef-building species that create 3D structure on the seafloor. Coral reef structure provides habitat for marine life and helps break up waves as they approach the coastline.

USGS employee Owen Brenner walks across the Fire Island wilderness breach carrying a GPS backpack that allows him to collect precise elevation data in the shallows.

Near vertical (top, middle) and low angle oblique (bottom) aerial photographs of New Drum Inlet, Core Banks, North Carolina. View looking northwest along the North Carolina shore.

Near vertical (top, middle) and low angle oblique (bottom) aerial photographs of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. View looking northwest along the North Carolina shore. Waves and surge from Hurricane Joaquin eroded the beach, causing significant shoreline retreat and a narrower beach.

The relatively new camera stations at Santa Cruz and Madeira Beach have not yet imaged many rip channels, so this is an example from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Field Research Facility in Duck, North Carolina. In this time-averaged image from video taken September 1, 2015, the dark horizontal bands perpendicular to the beach indicate rip channels.

USGS scientist Lisa Robbins next to the research vessel (R/V) Atlantis, which is owned by the U.S. Navy and operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

USGS scientist BJ Reynolds sets up a solar-powered, satellite-uplinked GPS base station in the Fire Island Wilderness Area to support detailed elevation surveys.

Near vertical (top, middle) and low angle oblique (bottom) aerial photographs of Topsail, North Carolina. View looking northwest along the North Carolina shore. Elevated storm-induced water levels overtopped the low dunes here causing the dune to overwash. Sand was transported landward, burying the marsh (green arrow).

Graphics and photos showing the overwash characteristics of 3 locations at Fire Island, NY

This USGS vessel acquires single-beam bathymetry in shallow nearshore environments. We acquire repeat bathymetry surveys over multiple years and compute changes in bathymetry, thus allowing us to identify hotspots of erosion and deposition on short timescales.

Near vertical (top, middle) and low angle oblique (bottom) aerial photographs of Oregon Inlet, North Carolina. View looking west along the North Carolina shore. High waves and storm surge from Hurricane Joaquin eroded the beach and inundated the low area in the backshore at Oregon Inlet (A, green box, blue arrows).

Near vertical (top, middle) and low angle oblique (bottom) aerial photographs of Hatteras, North Carolina. View looking north along the North Carolina shore. Waves and surge from Hurricane Joaquin eroded the beach, causing significant shoreline retreat and a narrower beach at the location of the Hurricane Isabel breach in 2003 (green arrow).