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Modeling of barrier breaching during Hurricanes Sandy and Matthew

Physical processes driving barrier island change during storms are important to understand to mitigate coastal hazards and to evaluate conceptual models for barrier evolution. Spatial variations in barrier island topography, landcover characteristics, and nearshore and back-barrier hydrodynamics can yield complex morphological change that requires models of increasing resolution and...
Authors
Christie Hegermiller, John C. Warner, Maitane Olabarrieta, Christopher R. Sherwood, Tarandeep S. Kalra

Hurricane Sandy effects on coastal marsh elevation change

High-magnitude storm events such as Hurricane Sandy are powerful agents of geomorphic change in coastal marshes, potentially altering their surface elevation trajectories. But how do a storm’s impacts vary across a large region spanning a variety of wetland settings and storm exposures and intensities. We determined the short-term impacts of Hurricane Sandy at 223 surface elevation table...
Authors
Alice G. Yeates, James Grace, Jennifer H. Olker, Glenn R. Guntenspergen, Donald Cahoon, Susan C. Adamowicz, Shimon C. Anisfeld, Nels Barrett, Alice Benzecry, Linda K. Blum, Rober T Christian, Joseph Grzyb, Ellen Kracauer Hartig, Kelly Hines Leo, Scott Lerberg, James C. Lynch, Nicole Maher, J Patrick Megonigal, William G. Reay, Drexel Siok, Adam Starke, Vincent Turner, Scott Warren

Effects of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) exclusion on plant recovery in overwash fans after a severe coastal storm

We documented the impacts of a hyper-abundant deer population on dune vegetation recovering from severe storm surge on a barrier island through use of permanent plots and a repeated measures analysis. Three years after landfall of the storm, vegetation cover was dominated by American beachgrass, Ammophila breviligulata, though we observed twelve plant species among plots surveyed. We...
Authors
Chellby R. Kilheffer, Jordan Raphael, Lindsay Ries, H. Brian Underwood

Hurricane Sandy impacts on coastal wetland resilience

The goal of this research was to evaluate the impacts of Hurricane Sandy on surface elevation trends in estuarine marshes located across the northeast region of the United States from Virginia to Maine using data from an opportunistic (in other words, not strategic) and collaborative network (from here on, an opportunistic network) of surface elevation table-marker horizon (SET-MH)...
Authors
Donald R. Cahoon, Jennifer H. Olker, Alice G. Yeates, Glenn R. Guntenspergen, James B. Grace, Susan C. Adamowicz, Shimon C. Anisfeld, Andrew H. Baldwin, Nels Barrett, Leah Beckett, Alice Benzecry, Linda K. Blum, David M. Burdick, William Crouch, Marci Cole Ekberg, Sarah Fernald, Kristin Wilson Grimes, Joseph Grzyb, Ellen Kracauer Hartig, Danielle A. Kreeger, Marit Larson, Scott Lerberg, James C. Lynch, Nicole Maher, Martha Maxwell-Doyle, Laura R. Mitchell, Jordan Mora, Victoria O'Neill, Angela Padeletti, Diann J. Prosser, Tracy Quirk, Kenneth B. Raposa, William G. Reay, Drexel Siok, Christopher Snow, Adam Starke, J. Court Stevenson, Lorie Staver, Vincent Turner

A numerical model investigation of the impacts of Hurricane Sandy on water level variability in Great South Bay, New York

Hurricane Sandy was a large and intense storm with high winds that caused total water levels from combined tides and storm surge to reach 4.0 m in the Atlantic Ocean and 2.5 m in Great South Bay (GSB), a back-barrier bay between Fire Island and Long Island, New York. In this study the impact of the hurricane winds and waves are examined in order to understand the flow of ocean water into...
Authors
Vanessa C. C. Bennett, Ryan P. Mulligan, Cheryl J. Hapke

Barrier-island and estuarine-wetland physical-change assessment after Hurricane Sandy

IntroductionThe Nation’s eastern coast is fringed by beaches, dunes, barrier islands, wetlands, and bluffs. These natural coastal barriers provide critical benefits and services, and can mitigate the impact of storms, erosion, and sea-level rise on our coastal communities. Waves and storm surge resulting from Hurricane Sandy, which made landfall along the New Jersey coast on October 29...
Authors
Nathaniel G. Plant, Kathryn Smith, Davina Passeri, Christopher G. Smith, Julie Bernier

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...
Authors
Arnell S. Forde, Julie Bernier, Jennifer L. Miselis

Consortial brown tide − picocyanobacteria blooms in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba

A brown tide bloom of Aureoumbra lagunensis developed in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba during a period of drought in 2013 that followed heavy winds and rainfall from Hurricane Sandy in late October 2012. Based on satellite images and water turbidity measurements, the bloom appeared to initiate in January 2013. The causative species (A. lagunensis) was confirmed by microscopic observation, and...
Authors
Nathan S Hall, R. Wayne Litaker, W. Judson Kenworthy, Mark W. Vandersea, William G. Sunda, James P. Reid, Daniel H. Slone, Susan M. Butler

A seasonal and spatial comparison of metals, and stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes, in Chincoteague Bay and the marsh deposits of Assateague Island and the adjacent vicinity, Maryland and Virginia

After Hurricane Sandy, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center conducted a seasonal collection of estuarine, marsh, and sandy overwash surface sediments from Chincoteague Bay, Tom’s Cove, and the surrounding Assateague Island and Delmarva Peninsula in March–April and October 2014. Surplus surface sediment was analyzed for metals...
Authors
Alisha M. Ellis, Christopher G. Smith

Distribution of foraminifera in Chincoteague Bay and the marshes of Assateague Island and the adjacent vicinity, Maryland and Virginia

Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center conducted a seasonal collection of estuarine, marsh, and sandy washover surface sediments from Chincoteague Bay, Tom’s Cove, and the surrounding Assateague Island and Delmarva Peninsula in March–April and October 2014, after Hurricane Sandy. Micropaleontology samples were collected as part...
Authors
Alisha M. Ellis, Jaimie Shaw, Lisa E. Osterman, Christopher G. Smith

Characterizing storm response and recovery using the beach change envelope: Fire Island, New York

Hurricane Sandy at Fire Island, New York presented unique challenges in the quantification of storm impacts using traditional metrics of coastal change, wherein measured changes (shoreline, dune crest, and volume change) did not fully reflect the substantial changes in sediment redistribution following the storm. We used a time series of beach profile data at Fire Island, New York to...
Authors
Owen T. Brenner, Erika Lentz, Cheryl J. Hapke, Rachel Henderson, Kathleen Wilson, Timothy Nelson

Morphologic evolution of the wilderness area breach at Fire Island, New York—2012–15

IntroductionHurricane Sandy, which made landfall on October 29, 2012, near Atlantic City, New Jersey, had a significant impact on the coastal system along the south shore of Long Island, New York. A record significant wave height of 9.6 meters (m) was measured at wave buoy 44025, approximately 48 kilometers offshore of Fire Island, New York. Surge and runup during the storm resulted in...
Authors
Cheryl J. Hapke, Timothy R. Nelson, Rachel E. Henderson, Owen T. Brenner, Jennifer L. Miselis
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