Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Piedmont South Atlantic Coast CESU

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The USGS Coastal Change Processes Project is offering a funding opportunity for a five year effort investigating the interactions of shoreline, nearshore, and offshore sediment transport process driving coastal change using geophysical surveys, oceanographic studies, and predictive models. The recent impact of Hurricane Sandy in 2012 created significant impact along the US northeast coastline. In order to assess the resiliency of the coastline to change, research is required in studying the transport of sediment along the coast and on the inner shelf, specifically along Fire Island, NY, a section of coast that was severely impacted. The inner shelf in this region is characterized with elongated sediment ridges along the ocean floor that interact with along-shelf currents and cross-shelf waves to drive converging and diverging sediment patterns. These inner shelf ridges are exerting an influence on the shoreline response during storms, significantly during Hurricane Sandy.

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