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Nearshore - Coastal System Change at Fire Island, New York

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By St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center April 24, 2019

Morphological Behavior

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Geology and Sediment Availability

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The nearshore is the submerged portion of the shoreface between the inner shelf and the shoreline and includes the surf zone, where waves break. Along with beaches and dunes, nearshore morphology and geology adjusts to changes in waves, sediment supply, human alterations, and sea level rise. By measuring nearshore morphologic and geologic variations, we can understand how quickly beaches and dunes will respond to and recover from storms and improve predictions of future coastal response to storms and sea level rise.

Morphological Behavior

100-meter digital elevation model collected in May 2015 of the shoreface of Fire Island, N.Y.

Similar to beaches and dunes, the submerged shoreface at Fire Island responds to changes in waves, sediment supply, human alteration, and sea level rise. Nearshore morphology research explores connections between submerged changes and beach behavior.

Learn More

Geology and Sediment Availability

Graphic map showing trackline coverage of chirp subbottom data collected in 2014

Nearshore geology barrier-island research fills a data and knowledge gap between the inner shelf and shoreline to identify how nearshore geology variations and natural sediment supply influence beach recovery from storms and future sediment supply.

Learn More

Morphological Behavior

The submerged shoreface, or nearshore, responds to fairweather and storm waves in concert with beaches and dunes. Exploring connections between changes in nearshore configuration and changes on the beach is a focus of nearshore morphology research. 

Geology and Sediment Availability

Exploring how nearshore sediment availability influences post-storm beach recovery in the months and years after storms, dune building over decades, and barrier island response to sea level rise over longer timescales are themes of nearshore geology research.

Below are other science projects associated with this project.

link
Dunes and beach at Fire Island, New York

Coastal System Change at Fire Island, New York

Fire Island is a 50-km long barrier island along the south shore of Long Island, New York. The island is comprised of seventeen year-round communities; federal, state, and county parks; and supports distinct ecosystems alongside areas of economic and cultural value. In addition to providing resources to its residents, the barrier island also protects the heavily-populated mainland from storm waves...
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Hurricane Sandy
link

Coastal System Change at Fire Island, New York

Fire Island is a 50-km long barrier island along the south shore of Long Island, New York. The island is comprised of seventeen year-round communities; federal, state, and county parks; and supports distinct ecosystems alongside areas of economic and cultural value. In addition to providing resources to its residents, the barrier island also protects the heavily-populated mainland from storm waves...
Learn More
link
USGS scientists install a camera in the back-barrier marsh to monitor marsh-edge erosion along the northern shoreline

Back-barrier and Estuarine - Coastal System Change at Fire Island, New York

Regional-scale modeling forecasts how atmospheric forcing and oceanographic circulation influence estuarine circulation and water levels, sediment transport, and wetland change.
By
St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center
link

Back-barrier and Estuarine - Coastal System Change at Fire Island, New York

Regional-scale modeling forecasts how atmospheric forcing and oceanographic circulation influence estuarine circulation and water levels, sediment transport, and wetland change.
Learn More
link
Fisheye photograph of dunes, surf, and beach on Fire Island

Oceanside Beaches and Dunes - Coastal System Change at Fire Island, New York

Oceanfront research at Fire Island, New York, is primarily focused on understanding the long- and short-term behavior of the ocean-facing terrestrial barrier island system, including human influences. The USGS has had ongoing research activities on Fire Island since the late 1990s, providing science to help inform management decisions. Recent efforts include monitoring the response to and recovery...
By
St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center
link

Oceanside Beaches and Dunes - Coastal System Change at Fire Island, New York

Oceanfront research at Fire Island, New York, is primarily focused on understanding the long- and short-term behavior of the ocean-facing terrestrial barrier island system, including human influences. The USGS has had ongoing research activities on Fire Island since the late 1990s, providing science to help inform management decisions. Recent efforts include monitoring the response to and recovery...
Learn More
link
Maps showing (A) acoustic backscatter and (B) bathymetry collected with the inteferomentric sonar

Open Ocean/Marine - Coastal System Change at Fire Island, New York

Geophysical mapping and research have demonstrated that the seabed on the inner continental shelf has a variety of shapes which are linked to long-term evolution of the barrier island. Regional-scale modeling forecasts how atmospheric forcing and oceanographic circulation case sand, gravel, and other materials to be transported by tides, winds, waves, fresh water fluxes, and density variations.
By
St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Hurricane Sandy
link

Open Ocean/Marine - Coastal System Change at Fire Island, New York

Geophysical mapping and research have demonstrated that the seabed on the inner continental shelf has a variety of shapes which are linked to long-term evolution of the barrier island. Regional-scale modeling forecasts how atmospheric forcing and oceanographic circulation case sand, gravel, and other materials to be transported by tides, winds, waves, fresh water fluxes, and density variations.
Learn More

Below are publications associated with this project.

Sediment data from vibracores collected in 2016 from Fire Island, New York

Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted a long-term coastal morphologic-change study at Fire Island, New York, prior to and after Hurricane Sandy impacted the area in October 2012. The Fire Island Coastal Change project objectives include understanding the morphologic evolution of the barrier island system on a variety of time scales (months to centuries) and resolving storm-r
Authors
Noreen A. Buster, Julie Bernier, Owen T. Brenner, Kyle W. Kelso, Thomas M. Tuten, Jennifer L. Miselis
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

Ground penetrating radar and differential global positioning system data collected in April 2016 from Fire Island, New York

Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted a long-term coastal morphologic-change study at Fire Island, New York, prior to and after Hurricane Sandy impacted the area in October 2012. The Fire Island Coastal Change project objectives include understanding the morphologic evolution of the barrier island system on a variety of time scales (months to centuries) and resolving storm-r
Authors
Arnell S. Forde, Julie Bernier, Jennifer L. Miselis
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Hurricane Sandy

Coastal bathymetry data collected in May 2015 from Fire Island, New York—Wilderness breach and shoreface

Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center in St. Petersburg, Florida, conducted a bathymetric survey of Fire Island from May 6-20, 2015. The USGS is involved in a post-Hurricane Sandy effort to map and monitor the morphologic evolution of the wilderness breach as a part of the Hurricane Sandy Supplemental Project GS2-2B. During this study, b
Authors
Timothy R. Nelson, Jennifer L. Miselis, Cheryl J. Hapke, Owen T. Brenner, Rachel E. Henderson, Billy J. Reynolds, Kathleen E. Wilson
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Hurricane Sandy, Hurricanes

Nearshore sediment thickness, Fire Island, New York

Investigations of coastal change at Fire Island, New York (N.Y.), sought to characterize sediment budgets and determine geologic framework controls on coastal processes. Nearshore sediment thickness is critical for assessing coastal system sediment availability, but it is largely unquantified due to the difficulty of conducting geological or geophysical surveys across the nearshore. This study use
Authors
Stanley D. Locker, Jennifer L. Miselis, Noreen A. Buster, Cheryl J. Hapke, Heidi M. Wadman, Jesse E. McNinch, Arnell S. Forde, Chelsea A. Stalk
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Hurricane Sandy

Bathymetry data collected in October 2014 from Fire Island, New York—The wilderness breach, shoreface, and bay

Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center in St. Petersburg, Florida, conducted a bathymetric survey of Fire Island, New York, from October 5 to 10, 2014. The U.S. Geological Survey is involved in a post-Hurricane Sandy effort to map and monitor the morphologic evolution of the wilderness breach, which formed in October 2012 during Hurricane Sandy,
Authors
Timothy R. Nelson, Jennifer L. Miselis, Cheryl J. Hapke, Owen T. Brenner, Rachel E. Henderson, Billy J. Reynolds, Kathleen E. Wilson
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Hurricane Sandy

Coastal bathymetry data collected in June 2014 from Fire Island, New York—The wilderness breach and shoreface

Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center in St. Petersburg, Florida, collected bathymetric data along the upper shoreface and within the wilderness breach at Fire Island, New York, in June 2014. The U.S. Geological Survey is involved in a post-Hurricane Sandy effort to map and monitor the morphologic evolution of the shoreface along Fire Island an
Authors
Timothy R. Nelson, Jennifer L. Miselis, Cheryl J. Hapke, Kathleen E. Wilson, Rachel E. Henderson, Owen T. Brenner, Billy J. Reynolds, Mark E. Hansen
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Hurricane Sandy

Bathymetry of the Wilderness breach at Fire Island, New York, June 2013

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center in St. Petersburg, Florida, collaborated with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Field Research Facility in Duck, North Carolina, to collect shallow water bathymetric data of the Wilderness breach on Fire Island, New York, in June 2013. The breach formed in October 2012 during Hurricane Sandy, and the USGS is involved
Authors
Andrew T. Brownell, Cheryl J. Hapke, Nicholas J. Spore, Jesse E. McNinch
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Hurricane Sandy

Shoreface response and recovery to Hurricane Sandy: Fire Island, NY

The shoreface of Fire Island was extensively modified by Hurricane Sandy and subsequent storms in the following winter months. The changes were evaluated using various morphometrics of the shoreface from four bathymetric surveys, one prior to Hurricane Sandy, and three over the course of twenty months following Sandy. The datasets show that the nearshore bar system moved offshore to deeper water d
Authors
Timothy R. Nelson, Cheryl J. Hapke
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

The nearshore is the submerged portion of the shoreface between the inner shelf and the shoreline and includes the surf zone, where waves break. Along with beaches and dunes, nearshore morphology and geology adjusts to changes in waves, sediment supply, human alterations, and sea level rise. By measuring nearshore morphologic and geologic variations, we can understand how quickly beaches and dunes will respond to and recover from storms and improve predictions of future coastal response to storms and sea level rise.

Morphological Behavior

100-meter digital elevation model collected in May 2015 of the shoreface of Fire Island, N.Y.

Similar to beaches and dunes, the submerged shoreface at Fire Island responds to changes in waves, sediment supply, human alteration, and sea level rise. Nearshore morphology research explores connections between submerged changes and beach behavior.

Learn More

Geology and Sediment Availability

Graphic map showing trackline coverage of chirp subbottom data collected in 2014

Nearshore geology barrier-island research fills a data and knowledge gap between the inner shelf and shoreline to identify how nearshore geology variations and natural sediment supply influence beach recovery from storms and future sediment supply.

Learn More

Morphological Behavior

The submerged shoreface, or nearshore, responds to fairweather and storm waves in concert with beaches and dunes. Exploring connections between changes in nearshore configuration and changes on the beach is a focus of nearshore morphology research. 

Geology and Sediment Availability

Exploring how nearshore sediment availability influences post-storm beach recovery in the months and years after storms, dune building over decades, and barrier island response to sea level rise over longer timescales are themes of nearshore geology research.

Below are other science projects associated with this project.

link
Dunes and beach at Fire Island, New York

Coastal System Change at Fire Island, New York

Fire Island is a 50-km long barrier island along the south shore of Long Island, New York. The island is comprised of seventeen year-round communities; federal, state, and county parks; and supports distinct ecosystems alongside areas of economic and cultural value. In addition to providing resources to its residents, the barrier island also protects the heavily-populated mainland from storm waves...
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Hurricane Sandy
link

Coastal System Change at Fire Island, New York

Fire Island is a 50-km long barrier island along the south shore of Long Island, New York. The island is comprised of seventeen year-round communities; federal, state, and county parks; and supports distinct ecosystems alongside areas of economic and cultural value. In addition to providing resources to its residents, the barrier island also protects the heavily-populated mainland from storm waves...
Learn More
link
USGS scientists install a camera in the back-barrier marsh to monitor marsh-edge erosion along the northern shoreline

Back-barrier and Estuarine - Coastal System Change at Fire Island, New York

Regional-scale modeling forecasts how atmospheric forcing and oceanographic circulation influence estuarine circulation and water levels, sediment transport, and wetland change.
By
St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center
link

Back-barrier and Estuarine - Coastal System Change at Fire Island, New York

Regional-scale modeling forecasts how atmospheric forcing and oceanographic circulation influence estuarine circulation and water levels, sediment transport, and wetland change.
Learn More
link
Fisheye photograph of dunes, surf, and beach on Fire Island

Oceanside Beaches and Dunes - Coastal System Change at Fire Island, New York

Oceanfront research at Fire Island, New York, is primarily focused on understanding the long- and short-term behavior of the ocean-facing terrestrial barrier island system, including human influences. The USGS has had ongoing research activities on Fire Island since the late 1990s, providing science to help inform management decisions. Recent efforts include monitoring the response to and recovery...
By
St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center
link

Oceanside Beaches and Dunes - Coastal System Change at Fire Island, New York

Oceanfront research at Fire Island, New York, is primarily focused on understanding the long- and short-term behavior of the ocean-facing terrestrial barrier island system, including human influences. The USGS has had ongoing research activities on Fire Island since the late 1990s, providing science to help inform management decisions. Recent efforts include monitoring the response to and recovery...
Learn More
link
Maps showing (A) acoustic backscatter and (B) bathymetry collected with the inteferomentric sonar

Open Ocean/Marine - Coastal System Change at Fire Island, New York

Geophysical mapping and research have demonstrated that the seabed on the inner continental shelf has a variety of shapes which are linked to long-term evolution of the barrier island. Regional-scale modeling forecasts how atmospheric forcing and oceanographic circulation case sand, gravel, and other materials to be transported by tides, winds, waves, fresh water fluxes, and density variations.
By
St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Hurricane Sandy
link

Open Ocean/Marine - Coastal System Change at Fire Island, New York

Geophysical mapping and research have demonstrated that the seabed on the inner continental shelf has a variety of shapes which are linked to long-term evolution of the barrier island. Regional-scale modeling forecasts how atmospheric forcing and oceanographic circulation case sand, gravel, and other materials to be transported by tides, winds, waves, fresh water fluxes, and density variations.
Learn More

Below are publications associated with this project.

Sediment data from vibracores collected in 2016 from Fire Island, New York

Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted a long-term coastal morphologic-change study at Fire Island, New York, prior to and after Hurricane Sandy impacted the area in October 2012. The Fire Island Coastal Change project objectives include understanding the morphologic evolution of the barrier island system on a variety of time scales (months to centuries) and resolving storm-r
Authors
Noreen A. Buster, Julie Bernier, Owen T. Brenner, Kyle W. Kelso, Thomas M. Tuten, Jennifer L. Miselis
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

Ground penetrating radar and differential global positioning system data collected in April 2016 from Fire Island, New York

Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted a long-term coastal morphologic-change study at Fire Island, New York, prior to and after Hurricane Sandy impacted the area in October 2012. The Fire Island Coastal Change project objectives include understanding the morphologic evolution of the barrier island system on a variety of time scales (months to centuries) and resolving storm-r
Authors
Arnell S. Forde, Julie Bernier, Jennifer L. Miselis
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Hurricane Sandy

Coastal bathymetry data collected in May 2015 from Fire Island, New York—Wilderness breach and shoreface

Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center in St. Petersburg, Florida, conducted a bathymetric survey of Fire Island from May 6-20, 2015. The USGS is involved in a post-Hurricane Sandy effort to map and monitor the morphologic evolution of the wilderness breach as a part of the Hurricane Sandy Supplemental Project GS2-2B. During this study, b
Authors
Timothy R. Nelson, Jennifer L. Miselis, Cheryl J. Hapke, Owen T. Brenner, Rachel E. Henderson, Billy J. Reynolds, Kathleen E. Wilson
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Hurricane Sandy, Hurricanes

Nearshore sediment thickness, Fire Island, New York

Investigations of coastal change at Fire Island, New York (N.Y.), sought to characterize sediment budgets and determine geologic framework controls on coastal processes. Nearshore sediment thickness is critical for assessing coastal system sediment availability, but it is largely unquantified due to the difficulty of conducting geological or geophysical surveys across the nearshore. This study use
Authors
Stanley D. Locker, Jennifer L. Miselis, Noreen A. Buster, Cheryl J. Hapke, Heidi M. Wadman, Jesse E. McNinch, Arnell S. Forde, Chelsea A. Stalk
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Hurricane Sandy

Bathymetry data collected in October 2014 from Fire Island, New York—The wilderness breach, shoreface, and bay

Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center in St. Petersburg, Florida, conducted a bathymetric survey of Fire Island, New York, from October 5 to 10, 2014. The U.S. Geological Survey is involved in a post-Hurricane Sandy effort to map and monitor the morphologic evolution of the wilderness breach, which formed in October 2012 during Hurricane Sandy,
Authors
Timothy R. Nelson, Jennifer L. Miselis, Cheryl J. Hapke, Owen T. Brenner, Rachel E. Henderson, Billy J. Reynolds, Kathleen E. Wilson
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Hurricane Sandy

Coastal bathymetry data collected in June 2014 from Fire Island, New York—The wilderness breach and shoreface

Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center in St. Petersburg, Florida, collected bathymetric data along the upper shoreface and within the wilderness breach at Fire Island, New York, in June 2014. The U.S. Geological Survey is involved in a post-Hurricane Sandy effort to map and monitor the morphologic evolution of the shoreface along Fire Island an
Authors
Timothy R. Nelson, Jennifer L. Miselis, Cheryl J. Hapke, Kathleen E. Wilson, Rachel E. Henderson, Owen T. Brenner, Billy J. Reynolds, Mark E. Hansen
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Hurricane Sandy

Bathymetry of the Wilderness breach at Fire Island, New York, June 2013

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center in St. Petersburg, Florida, collaborated with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Field Research Facility in Duck, North Carolina, to collect shallow water bathymetric data of the Wilderness breach on Fire Island, New York, in June 2013. The breach formed in October 2012 during Hurricane Sandy, and the USGS is involved
Authors
Andrew T. Brownell, Cheryl J. Hapke, Nicholas J. Spore, Jesse E. McNinch
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Hurricane Sandy

Shoreface response and recovery to Hurricane Sandy: Fire Island, NY

The shoreface of Fire Island was extensively modified by Hurricane Sandy and subsequent storms in the following winter months. The changes were evaluated using various morphometrics of the shoreface from four bathymetric surveys, one prior to Hurricane Sandy, and three over the course of twenty months following Sandy. The datasets show that the nearshore bar system moved offshore to deeper water d
Authors
Timothy R. Nelson, Cheryl J. Hapke
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center
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