Images

Inundated marsh at Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, New Jersey.

Visualization of hydrodynamics around seagrass patch.

A peat auger core collected from the back-barrier marsh of Assateague Island, Maryland. An inorganic-rich layer found at the top of the core was delivered to the marsh via Hurricane Sandy. Visual contrast in sediment down-core reveal similar layers as that observed at the top of the core (i.e., Hurricane Sandy layer).

USGS hydrologist Craig Brown installs a sensor pipe for the SWaTH Network.

Human modifications to beaches, such as sand fencing, sea walls and rock jetties, can alter natural beach processes like overwash. This can affect how much habitat for species like piping plovers is created by storms.

A piping plover parent and chicks.

USGS staffers on beach making bathymetric survey of Long Island barrier-island breach from Hurricane Sandy

Satellite image of Hurricane Sandy (courtesy NASA GOES http://weather.msfc.nasa.gov/GOES/)

USGS hydrologist Kaitlyn Colella and a Shinnecock Nation member work together gathering oyster and bed sediment samples along Long Island, New York, coast.

Hurricane Sandy struck the New Jersey shore October 29–31, 2012. Houses, cars, and a street in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, were covered in beach sand after the hurricane's storm tide receded

Overwash processes caused by storms, like the one seen here following Hurricane Sandy on a barrier island in Virginia, push sand landward over dunes to create low-elevation, minimally vegetated sandy habitats used by a variety of species, like piping plovers.

Barrier-island breach created by Hurricane Sandy at Fire Island National Seashore, N.Y.

Hurricane Sandy struck the New Jersey shore Oct. 29-31, 2012. This house in Mantoloking, NJ was partly collapsed after Hurricane Sandy's storm tide receded.

Hurricane Sandy struck the New Jersey shore Oct. 29-31, 2012. Houses, cars and a street in Seaside Heights, NJ were covered in beach sand after Hurricane Sandy's storm tide receded.

Macroalgae, seagrass, and litter in West Falmouth Harbor, MA

Simulation results for geomorphic change in Suisun Bay, CA (Ganju and Schoellhamer, 2010)

Aerial view of Assateague Island, looking north. Ocean City, Maryland, is visible in the far distance at top. Sinepuxent Bay lies between the island’s western shore and the Delmarva Peninsula to the upper left. Photograph taken in 1998