Storm Impacts - Coastal System Change at Fire Island, New York
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USGS coastal research utilizes an integrated approach to measure long- and short-term changes to the Fire Island barrier island system, including open ocean/marine, nearshore, barrier island, and estuarine environments.
Back to Home PageHurricane Sandy
Hurricane Sandy was a unique storm for Fire Island because the metrics we typically use to measure storm impacts didn’t capture the magnitude of the event. USGS developed new metrics and models to quantify storm impacts and subsequent recovery.
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USGS measures and predicts storm-related coastal change to inform decision-makers and managers about impacts to people, infrastructure, and cultural and natural resources.
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Fire Island is vulnerable to considerable storm activity year-round from both hurricanes and nor’easters. Storms are important drivers of coastal change in barrier island settings such as Fire Island. Larger storms carry sediment to the interior of the island via overwash, helping to create new habitat and build island resilience by adding back barrier width and interior elevation. Storms also cause flooding and erosion of beaches and dunes, creating hazards for ocean-front property, communities, and infrastructure. Over the last century, data collection efforts have resulted in a number of pre- and post-storm datasets that have allowed USGS researchers to quantify storm impacts from a variety of moderate to major storms.
Oblique aerial photographs of Pelican Island and Fire Island, New York. The view is looking northwest across Fire Island towards Great South Bay. This location is within Fire Island National Seashore near Old Inlet—a very narrow portion of the island that has experienced breaching in previous large storms. The island breached during Sandy, creating a new inlet. Despite the breach, the fishing shack (yellow arrow) remained standing. Credit: Karen Morgan, USGS
Oblique aerial photographs of Neponsit, New York. The view is looking northwest across Rockaway Peninsula, adjacent to New York Harbor. Sand was washed from the beach into the streets, and towards the bayside of the island, and several rows of ocean-facing houses were destroyed or damaged. The yellow arrow in each image points to the same feature. Credit: Karen Morgan, USGS
Hurricane Sandy
Resources and funding in the wake of Hurricane Sandy provided the opportunity to study the impacts of and recovery from a major storm event at Fire Island in a comprehensive way.
Other Storm Impacts to Fire Island
Since the late 1990s, USGS has been conducting research to quantify the impact from other hurricanes and nor'easters on the beaches and dunes at Fire Island.
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Date published: August 6, 2019Status: ActiveCoastal 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...
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Date published: May 2, 2019Status: ActiveBack-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.
Contacts: Neil Kamal Ganju, PhD, Alfredo Aretxabaleta, PhD -
Date published: April 30, 2019Status: ActiveOceanside 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...
Contacts: Erika Lentz, Ph.D., Jennifer L Miselis, Ph.D. -
Date published: April 24, 2019Status: ActiveOpen 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...
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Date published: April 24, 2019Status: ActiveNearshore - Coastal System Change at Fire Island, New York
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...
Hurricane Sandy washover deposits on Fire Island, New York
Washover deposits on Fire Island, New York, from Hurricane Sandy in 2012 were investigated a year after the storm to document the sedimentary characteristics of hurricane washover features. Sediment data collected in the field includes stratigraphic descriptions and photos from trenches, bulk sediment samples, U-channels, and gouge and push cores...
La Selle, SeanPaul M.; Lunghino, Brent D.; Jaffe, Bruce E.; Gelfenbaum, Guy; Costa, Pedro J.M.
Coastal change from Hurricane Sandy and the 2012-13 winter storm season: Fire Island, New York
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) mounted a substantial effort in response to Hurricane Sandy including an assessment of the morphological impacts to the beach and dune system at Fire Island, New York. Field surveys of the beach and dunes collected just prior to and after landfall were used to quantify change in several focus areas. In order to...
Hapke, Cheryl J.; Brenner, Owen; Henderson, Rachel E. ; Reynolds, B.J.