Geology and Sediment Availability - Coastal System Change at Fire Island, New York
Sediment supply is a critical control on barrier island vulnerability and resilience over a variety of time scales (e.g., storms to sea level rise). Past work at Fire Island and elsewhere has demonstrated a link between inner shelf sediment availability and barrier island evolution over geologic and historical time scales. However, there have been few opportunities to explore nearshore sediment availability and its influence on post-storm beach recovery and interannual beach behavior.
Sediment Availability Along Fire Island
As part of Hurricane Sandy Supplemental project GS2-2B and with collaborators at the National Park Service (NPS) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the USGS led large field campaigns to assess nearshore morphology and sediment availability along Fire Island, NY. The results of this effort fill a significant scientific knowledge gap and, when integrated with existing datasets, will improve model forecasts of coastal behavior by enhancing our understanding of the relationship between the geology and geomorphology of coastal systems.
Exploring nearshore geology and sediment availability requires specialized vessels and data collection techniques. First, shallow water depths require smaller boats that may not be equipped to handle heavy acoustic geophysical instruments typically used to map sub-seafloor geology. Furthermore, waves break in the nearshore causing acoustic instrument signals to weaken or dissipate completely. In order to map nearshore geology at Fire Island, specialized methods were used. In collaboration with the USACE, we used an amphibious vessel to acquire high-resolution sub-seafloor profiles across the nearshore. Additionally, the instrument was deployed just below the water surface on a catamaran sled to ensure that data would be able to be collected right up to the shoreline. The data generate images of the sub-seafloor structure of the nearshore that, after analysis, reveal significant variability in sediment availability just offshore of Fire Island which may influence post-storm beach recovery rates and future barrier island resilience to sea level rise.
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
Coastal System Change at Fire Island, New York
Sediment supply is a critical control on barrier island vulnerability and resilience over a variety of time scales (e.g., storms to sea level rise). Past work at Fire Island and elsewhere has demonstrated a link between inner shelf sediment availability and barrier island evolution over geologic and historical time scales. However, there have been few opportunities to explore nearshore sediment availability and its influence on post-storm beach recovery and interannual beach behavior.
Sediment Availability Along Fire Island
As part of Hurricane Sandy Supplemental project GS2-2B and with collaborators at the National Park Service (NPS) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the USGS led large field campaigns to assess nearshore morphology and sediment availability along Fire Island, NY. The results of this effort fill a significant scientific knowledge gap and, when integrated with existing datasets, will improve model forecasts of coastal behavior by enhancing our understanding of the relationship between the geology and geomorphology of coastal systems.
Exploring nearshore geology and sediment availability requires specialized vessels and data collection techniques. First, shallow water depths require smaller boats that may not be equipped to handle heavy acoustic geophysical instruments typically used to map sub-seafloor geology. Furthermore, waves break in the nearshore causing acoustic instrument signals to weaken or dissipate completely. In order to map nearshore geology at Fire Island, specialized methods were used. In collaboration with the USACE, we used an amphibious vessel to acquire high-resolution sub-seafloor profiles across the nearshore. Additionally, the instrument was deployed just below the water surface on a catamaran sled to ensure that data would be able to be collected right up to the shoreline. The data generate images of the sub-seafloor structure of the nearshore that, after analysis, reveal significant variability in sediment availability just offshore of Fire Island which may influence post-storm beach recovery rates and future barrier island resilience to sea level rise.
Below are other science projects associated with this project.