Images

Photo of researchers starting to take subcores from the giant box core

A sand overwash fan on the back side of a dune near Shinnecock Inlet, Long Island, NY, 2010.  The sand has already been cleared from the road. If you look at the background, you can see new sand has been added to the beach on the seaward side of the dune, creating a new, higher, dune crest.

A sand overwash fan on the back side of a dune near Shinnecock Inlet, Long Island, NY, 2010, with the overwash area labeled. The sand has already been cleared from the road. If you look at the background, you can see new sand has been added to the beach on the seaward side of the dune, creating a new, higher, dune crest.

Photograph of 6" and 4" subcores sampled from a giant box core.

Photo of researchers opening hoist, showing giant box core, on deck of the research vessel

A human-made seawall of riprap rock exposed by dune erosion. Small seawalls are created using large rocks (riprap) at the dune toe to fortify the dune, reduce dune erosion from elevated water levels and storms, and help to protect property. Over time, these seawalls may become covered by natural dune growth, but high-water events could re-expose them.

Photo of subcore tubes inserted into mud before they are removed.

Photo of researchers positioning giant box core in hoist on deck of the research vessel

Photo of researchers looking at mud in the giant box core before beginning to take subcores

Photo of researchers looking at mud in the giant box core before beginning to take subcores

Photograph of planktic foraminifers collected from the sediment trap. Magnified 255x.

We collect terrestrial (barrier island) and marine (nearshore and estuarine) sediment cores to ground-truth geophysical observations. These cores are used to understand the history of barrier island formation and erosion.

This image displays expected overwash probabilities at Cape Canaveral given a typical nor’easter storm striking the coast.

An eroded dune due to waves striking the base of the dune (called a "collision regime"), during a storm. This erosion left the dune narrower and more susceptible to future damage by creating a scarp. Collision at a dune toe can erode and collapse dunes, creating a scarp feature. 

Image 3. Swash regime on the Long Island South Shore near East Hampton, NY. This cuspate beach shows waves flowing onto the lower beach (called swash) but stopping well short of the dune toe.

Waves flow onto a beach after a wave break on the part of the beach called the 'swash zone'. 

Waves carrying sand back to the beach, forming a sandbar after an erosion event. This image demonstrates how eroded sediment typically returns to the beach after a storm. Ponquogue Beach, Hampton Bays, NY

Waves return sand to a beach forming a sandbar after an erosion event during a storm, at Ponquogue Beach, Hampton Bays, NY.

Waves flow onto a beach after a wave break on the part of the beach called the 'swash zone' (labeled).

During a winter storm in 2009, minor erosion at discrete locations occurred on the beach on the South Shore of Long Island, NY, near Two-Mile Hollow.  Erosion of the dune toe was from a prior event. 

The Native communities’ in-ground food storage facilities are being lost as a result of eroding bluffs and thawing permafrost.