USGS seeking Mendenhall Research Fellow

[Sunny and Warm]

From July.  I'm glad they're doing this, as barrier island systems are integral to the continued survival of mainland coastal areas.  However barrier islands are fragile entities.  I look forward to the research paper when issued.  Should be a good roadmap for coastal communities to use when contemplating land development on the barriers.

 

 

http://geology.usgs.gov/postdoc/opps/2014/14-45%20Warner.htm

 

 

14-45. Predicting impacts of extreme storm events on coastal systems

The impact of severe storms such as hurricanes on coastal systems is becoming more prevalent, especially in the northeastern USA, the nation’s most densely populated coastal region. Recent impacts from Hurricane Irene (2011) and Superstorm Sandy (2012) have impacted large areas and created an eye-opening insight to a possible future of increased and more intense storms. However, the impacts from these events can vary greatly both between storms and across different spatial scales. For example, during Hurricane Irene some locations resulted in strong coastal accretion and build-up of beaches, while during Superstorm Sandy some of those same areas suffered severe erosion. The ability to explain the impacts from these events on coastal change, and to understand why certain regions were impacted differently, will allow us to better predict coastal change for future events.

The majority of the eastern US coastline, especially along the east coast (NY, NJ, DE, MD, VA, NC, SC, GA, FL) are lined with barrier islands. These barrier island systems maintain a line of defense to protect the mainland from severe storm damage and they provide different types of habitats that are refuges for wildlife. These barrier systems are critical for a healthy coastal environment. Storm impacts occur at many spatial and temporal scales; here we seek to focus on the nearshore and subaerial zone to better understand how extreme storm events modify barrier systems.

We seek a Mendenhall Fellow to conduct research that will increase our understanding of the impacts of severe storms on coastal systems. The incumbent would use an established comprehensive physics-based modeling system for coastal waves, ocean currents, sediment transport, and morphological evolution to simulate the oceanographic conditions and coastal response during severe storms, such as Hurricane Irene and Superstorm Sandy. Large amounts of observational data are available for these storms, and are the subject of other ongoing research along the barrier system of Fire Island, NY. However, the incumbent could investigate other relevant locations and severe events. The modeling system could be used to specifically investigate the phase-averaged incident waves, nearshore infragravity waves, ocean currents, water levels, runup, and overtopping processes resulting in morphological change during the storm events. The Fellow could investigate in detail the processes during one event, or contrast vastly different responses at the same locations of the barrier system from different events.

Several current USGS research projects are investigating coastal processes along the US east coast, including the Coastal Change Processes Project, Estuarine Dynamics Project in Barnegat Bay, and the National Assessment of Coastal Change Hazards Project along Assateague Island and other impacted areas. Data collected by these projects include both pre- and post-storm LIDAR surveys, breach surveys, oceanographic field studies, and modeling studies. Additionally, during extreme storm events, large arrays of water level sensors were deployed by the USGS and other research centers, resulting in a comprehensive data set of storm surge and tide levels.

To simulate the storm events and to investigate the coastal response, the research community has developed a coupled modeling system that combines the atmospheric model Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF), a surface wave model Simulating Waves Nearshore (SWAN), the ocean circulation Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS), the Community Sediment Transport Modeling System (CSTMS) routines (Warner, et al., 2008a, 2008b; 2010), and an infragravity wave model. All of these components are open-source code. Most of the components are routinely used by the larger research community and the complete modeling system is being used by researchers globally. We recently held a training course for the system and the main developers are present at the proposed duty station. The modeling system has already been used to investigate wave-current interaction processes (Kumar et al., 2012) and other storms such as Hurricane Isabel (Warner et al., 2010), Nor'Ida (Olabarrieta, et al., 2012), and Hurricane Ivan (Zambon, et al., submitted).

The postdoctoral research is expected to utilize various components of this system to investigate storm dynamics, use the model results to understand the significant physical processes occurring during the events, and compare the coastal response to observational data. Understanding of the specific processes at one location can lead to broader understanding in other geographic locations.  The Fellow will have the opportunity for daily interaction and guidance from a strong and diverse group of USGS scientists involved in the development, testing, and application of hydrodynamics based models for predicting coastal change. Additionally they will have the opportunity to receive guidance and feedback on in-progress research from some of the world’s leading scientists in coastal physical processes both at the USGS and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).

 

 

 

[AvantHiatus]

Most areas should be permanently restricted from developement and designated as environmental protection zones. Barrier islands are simply too vulnerable to erosion and storm surge. SLR (Sea Level Rise) will make most of these areas uninhabitable by the end of the century, at least in regions that are sub-ducting.

[Ed Lizard]

Even with a sea level rise, in a natural environment, barrier islands would form.

 

People settling barrier islands, building jetties and breakwaters to protect properties on strips of sand that are ephemeral in nature, and the damming of major river systems that carry sediment to the sea, where it forms deltas or barrier islands, all contribute to the loss of barrier islands.

 

Because barrier islands aren't allowed to disappear during storms, as they would in nature, and because the natural process of building new barrier islands has been interrupted, there are near constant 'replenishment' projects where offshore sands are dredged and put back on beaches.

 

Ideally, there should be no subsidized insurance for people choosing to build on smaller barrier islands, and any dredging/replenishment projects should be the sole responsibility of the local governments of the islands.  Or build sea walls, like in Galveston.  There is almost no beach left on the Gulf side of the seawall, and the island West of the end of the seawall is still eroding during larger storms, but the more inhabited parts of Galveston have done reasonably well, even in storms like the 1915 Cat 4.