Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Anticipating And Adapting To The Impacts Of Climate Change On Low Elevation Coastal Zone (Lecz) Communities, Lynn Donelson Wright, Thomas Allen, Kiki Caruson, Alain Hénaff, Jaia Syvitski

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

[Scholarcy Abstract] The rates of sea level rise in coastal Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay significantly exceed the global rate and weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation adds to the annual rates.

The original vision was to enhance future resilience of Low-Elevation Coastal Zone communities by advancing understandings and approaches to better anticipate and mitigate hazards to human health, safety and welfare and reduce deleterious impacts to coastal residents and industries. The goal of the thematic Research Topic has been to assemble interdisciplinary papers that contribute to better understanding of the couplings among physical, ecological, socioeconomic, management and policy …

Leveraging The Interdependencies Between Barrier Islands And Backbarrier Saltmarshes To Enhance Resilience To Sea-Level Rise, Christopher J. Hein, Michael S. Fenster, Keryn B. Gedan, Jeff R. Tabar, Emily A. Hein, Todd Demunda

VIMS Articles

Barrier islands and their backbarrier saltmarshes have a reciprocal relationship: aeolian and storm processes transport sediment from the beaches and dunes to create and build marshes along the landward fringe of the island. In turn, these marshes exert a stabilizing influence on the barrier by widening the barrier system and forming a platform onto which the island migrates, consequently slowing landward barrier migration and inhibiting storm breaching. Here, we present a novel framework for applying these natural interdependencies to managing coastal systems and enhancing barrier-island resilience. Further, we detail application of these principles through a case study of the design …

Comparing Coastal Storm Impact To Decadal Change In Barrier Island Ecosystems, Philip A. Tuley

Theses and Dissertations

Highly dynamic coastal systems respond to disturbance events with a combination of topographic and vegetative changes. Sea level rise impacts on barrier islands have been quantified, but storm effects on vegetation are limited. Here we quantified barrier island vegetation change in response to an isolated storm event and compared to long-term periods. We hypothesized that disturbance-resisting areas with high woody vegetation cover and/or high foredune elevation would experience minimal transitions after a storm event, whereas disturbance-reinforcing areas with low vegetation cover and low foredune elevation would experience greater transitions between ecosystem states after a storm event. Patterns of dissonance were …

Reconstructing Barrier Island Behavior From Overstepped Deposits And Relict Onshore Morphology : Modeling And Field Approaches, Daniel James Ciarletta

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Barrier Islands comprise 10% of the Earth’s shorelines, fringing every continent except Antarctica. Despite their ubiquity, much about the medium to long-term evolution of these coastal systems remain poorly understood, mostly due to the destruction of the geologic record as barriers migrate landward under the influence of rising sea level. Even where modern barriers and related strandplain systems have prograded and regressed, leaving evidence of their former geometries in the form of relict shorelines, field investigations often require intensive labor and time commitments to interpret past evolution. In this work, several investigations are undertaken to use novel numerical modeling techniques …

The Effects Of Sediment Properties On Barrier Island Morphology And Processes: A Numerical Modeling Experiment, Brittany Kime

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Barrier island restoration and nourishment is necessary for sustaining coastal systems worldwide. In the Mississippi River Delta Plain, the lack of sediment supply, relative sea level rise, and reworking of abandoned delta lobes promote rapid disintegration of barriers, which can contribute to mainland storm impacts. Barrier island restorations that utilize higher quality sediments (Outer Continental Shelf- OCS) are expected to exhibit higher resiliency, withstanding coastal erosion, event-induced erosion, and ongoing transgression when compared to barriers nourished using lower quality nearshore (NS) sands. Additionally, use of OCS sediments increases sediment supply by adding material to the system supporting increased barrier longevity …

Hydrodynamic Controls On The Morphodynamic Evolution Of Subaqueous Landforms, Timothy L. Nelson

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The southern Chandeleur Islands are an ideal setting to study shoal evolution given their history of submergence and re-emergence. Here, numerical models shed light on the attendant processes contributing to shoal recovery/reemergence following a destructive storm event. Simulations of a synthetic winter storm along a cross-shore profile using Xbeach shows that convergence of wave-induced sediment transport associated with repeated passage of cold-fronts initiates aggradation, but does not lead to reemergence. A Delft3d model of the entire island chain shows that as these landforms aggrade alongshore processes driven by incident wave refraction on the shoal platform, backbarrier circulation and resulting transport …

Analysis Of Virginia Barrier Island Shoreline Movement And Correlations To Sea Level, Wave Height Changes, And Teleconnection Patterns, James Daniel Haluska

OES Theses and Dissertations

The Virginia barrier islands stretch from Assateague Island in the north to Fisherman’s Island in the south. This string of islands is subject to frequent North Atlantic extra-tropical storm and hurricane influence. In addition, sea level rise has the potential to cause continued shoreline loss and inlet widening for this island group. This dissertation describes the effect of sea level rise, changes in wave height, and teleconnection pattern (AO, NAO, and MEI) correlations to shoreline location changes to the islands and inlet location and width changes. Locations of island shorelines were determined from satellite and aircraft images using ArcGIS software …

Smartphone Technologies And Bayesian Networks To Assess Shorebird Habitat Selection, Sara L. Zeigler, E. Robert Thieler, Benjamin T. Gutierrez, Nathaniel G. Plant, Megan Hines, James D. Fraser, Daniel H. Catlin

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Understanding patterns of habitat selection across a species’ geographic distribution can be critical for adequately managing populations and planning for habitat loss and related threats. However, studies of habitat selection can be time consuming and expensive over broad spatial scales, and a lack of standardized monitoring targets or methods can impede the generalization of site-based studies. Our objective was to collaborate with natural resource managers to define available nesting habitat for piping plovers (Charadrius melodus) throughout their U.S. Atlantic coast distribution from Maine to North Carolina, with a goal of providing science that could inform habitat management in …

Modern Fair-Weather And Storm Sediment Transport Around Ship Island, Mississippi: Implications For Coastal Habitats And Restoration Efforts, Eve Rettew Eisemann

Master's Theses

The Mississippi – Alabama barrier island chain is experiencing accelerated sea level rise, decreased sediment supply, and frequent hurricane impacts. These three factors drive unprecedented rates of morphology change and ecosystem reduction. All islands in the chain have experienced land loss on the order of hectares per year since records began in the 1840s. In 1969, Hurricane Camille impacted as a Category 5, breaching Ship Island, and significantly reduced viable seagrass habitat. Hurricane Katrina impacted as a Category 3 in 2005, further widening Camille Cut. To better understand the sustainability of these important islands and the ecosystems they support, sediment …

Land Cover Data For The Mississippi-Alabama Barrier Islands, 2010-2011 Arcgis V10.3 Geodatabase, Gregory A. Carter, Carlton P. Anderson, Kelly L. Lucas, Nathan L. Hopper

Land Cover Data for the Mississippi-Alabama Barrier Islands, 2010-2011

Land cover on the Mississippi-Alabama barrier islands was surveyed in 2010-2011 as part of continuing research on island geomorphic and vegetation dynamics following the 2005 impact of Hurricane Katrina. Results of the survey include sub-meter GPS location, a listing of dominant vegetation species and field photographs recorded at 375 sampling locations distributed among Cat, West Ship, East Ship, Horn, Sand, Petit Bois and West Dauphin Islands. The survey was conducted in a period of intensive remote sensing data acquisition over the northern Gulf of Mexico by federal, state and commercial organizations in response to the 2010 Macondo Well (Deepwater Horizon) …

A Comparison Of Habitat And Geomorphic Changes On East Ship Versus Sand Islands Mississippi, 2007-2014, Carlton Peter Anderson

Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

A COMPARISON OF HABITAT AND GEOMORPHIC CHANGES ON EAST SHIP VERSUS SAND ISLANDS MISSISSIPPI, 2007-2014

by Carlton Peter Anderson

May 2015

The islands of the Mississippi-Alabama (MS-AL) barrier island chain along the micro-tidal northern Gulf of Mexico are highly dynamic coastal features subject to rapid changes in habitat, geomorphology, and elevation by natural and anthropogenic disturbances, such as hurricanes, subsidence, sea-level rise, and dredging activities. The purpose of this study was to compare elevation, total volume, habitat-type coverage, and short-term change between “naturally” formed East Ship Island and “man-made” Sand Island (Disposal-Area 10). This study used a combination of …

Blue Carbon In Freshwater / Brackish Marshes On The Barrier Islands Of Virginia Aboveground Net Primary Productivity And Carbon Pools, Emily Caitlin Adams

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

"Blue carbon" is a relatively new concept describing carbon distributed tidally and sequestered via net production within coastal ecosystems, including seagrass beds, mangrove forests, and salt-water marshes. These systems sequester carbon at least 10 times faster than terrestrial systems. Fresh to brackish wetlands that receive irregular tidal influence due to overwash and storm events have not been typically studied as blue carbon systems. My objective was to quantify carbon pools within four interdunal fresh to brackish marshes on Hog Island, Virginia to determine their blue carbon potential. Marshes 1 and 2 were farthest from the ocean, below and above a …

A Vegetation Analysis On Horn Island, Mississippi, Ca. 1940 Using Characteristic Dimensions Derived From Historical Aerial Photography, Guy Wilburn Jeter Jr.

Master's Theses

Horn Island is part of the MS/AL barrier island chain in the northern Gulf of Mexico located approximately 18kn off the coast of Mississippi. This island’s habitats have undergone many transitions over the last several decades. The goal of this study was to quantify habitat change over a seventy year period using historical black and white photography from 1940. Using present NAIP imagery from the USDA, habitat structure was estimated by using geo-statistics, and second order statistics, from a co-occurrence matrix, to characterize texture for habitat classification. Percent land cover was then calculated to determine overall land cover change over …

Hydrogeologic Variations Across A Barrier Island That Influence Inter-Dune Wetlands False Cape State Park, Virginia, Matthew Collier Richardson

OES Theses and Dissertations

False Cape State Park in southeastern Virginia Beach, Virginia contains a transgressive barrier island complex. Inter-dune swales located on the eastern coast of the barrier island contain soils that experience hydric conditions. However, these swales lack the prolonged presence of hydric soil indicators that are necessary for a site to be officially recognized as a jurisdictional wetland. The appearance and subsequent disappearance of redoximorphic wetland soil features in the young, sandy soils of the inter-dune swales here may stem from changes in the patterns of groundwater recharge and discharge across the island. These soils are being monitored by the Mid …

Geomorphologic Evolution Of A Rapidly Deteriorating Barrier Island System With Multiple Sediment Sources: Eastern Isles Dernieres, Louisiana, 1887 To 2006, Benjamin T. Kirkland

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Trinity, East, and Wine Islands make up the eastern half of the Isles Dernieres barrier arc in south-central Louisiana. Formed following the abandonment of the Lafourche delta complex, subsidence and storm erosion have led to rapid deterioration of the system. Since 1887, the land area of the islands has decreased seventy-seven percent, and the gulf shoreline has retreated landward more than a kilometer. Wave ravinement on the shoreface of the islands is responsible for the most sediment loss; liberated sediment travels longshore to tidal inlets. The dominant ebb tidal currents then transport the sediment to where it is deposited in …

Thresholds Of Change In Decomposition Rate Along A Dune/Swale Transect On A Virginia Barrier Island, Dominic J. Graziani

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Aboveground and belowground decomposition rates were determined along a barrier island dune/swale transect located on the Virginia Coast Reserve-Long Term Ecological Research Site using litterbags and wooden dowels. The objective was to determine the influence of fine scale changes in the environment on decomposition to identify any potential thresholds affecting decomposition rate. Wax myrtle (Morella cerifera L. Small) leaves and dowels of southern yellow pine wood were used as standard substrates to evaluate environmental influences on decay. Aboveground (F=6.494, p < 0.0001) and belowground (F=5.705, p < 0.0001) decay rates (yr^-1) showed significant variation among litterbag/dowel locations. Aboveground decay rates (yr^-1) ranged from 0.339 (Upper Dune station) …

Understanding The Use Of Barrier Islands As Nesting Habitat For Louisiana Birds Of Concern, Cecilia Marie Leumas

LSU Master's Theses

Colonial nesting seabirds are threatened by habitat loss and degradation, human disturbance, predation, and climate change. Several species of conservation concern concentrate high percentages of their total U.S. populations in Louisiana breeding colonies. We studied seabirds, including Royal Terns, Sandwich Terns, and Black Skimmers, nesting on Isles Dernieres barrier islands along the Gulf coast of Louisiana. Two of the four islands in this chain host extensive seabird colonies and two do not. We used an experimental approach to test the hypothesis that large terns and skimmers are prevented from nesting on Trinity Island, the largest of the Isles Dernieres, by …

Influences Of Channel Dredging On Flow And Sedimentation Patterns At Microtidal Inlets, West-Central Florida, Usa, Tanya M. Beck, Ping Wang

Geology Faculty Publications

Four inlets (Johns Pass and Blind Pass; and New Pass and Big Sarasota Pass) in two multi-inlet systems along the West-central Florida coast were studied. Johns Pass, New Pass, and Blind Pass are dredged every 4-9 years, whereas Big Sarasota Pass has never been dredged. The goal of this study was to investigate the morphodynamics of the four inlets and the influences of channel dredging on the flow patterns over the ebb tidal delta and sediment bypassing. Time-series aerial photographs and bathymetric maps starting from the 1920s were analyzed to assess the pathways of sand bypassing and morphodynamics at the …

A One-Dimensional Model For Storm Breaching Of Barrier Islands, Cheol Shik Shin

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

A set of numerical models is developed for simulating the four stages of barrier breaching characterized by one horizontal spatial dimension.

The SBEACH model is employed for the first stage of dune/beach erosion. The Lax-Wendroff two-step explicit scheme for Stage II is developed to simulate initiation of ocean flood propagation on initially dry barrier islands and the method of characteristics (MOC), is employed to compute additional boundary data. The development of the Preissmann implicit scheme for water motion and a forward time centered space explicit scheme for sediment motion in Stages III and IV provide a tool to study the …

Distribution Of Foraminifera And Pollen In Coastal Depositional Environments Of The Southern Delmarva Peninsula, Virginia, U.S.A., Han Jun Woo

OES Theses and Dissertations

The coastal zone of the southern Delmarva Peninsula exhibits a wide variety of barrier island system subenvironments. This study investigates whether 20 a priori subenvironments can be distinguished from each other on the basis of abiotic environmental variables, pollen assemblages, living foraminiferal populations, and total (living plus dead) foraminiferal assemblages.

The physical data collected from the coastal zone were subjected to canonical variate analysis which discriminated 83% of the stations in 19 groups. These groups were clustered into two internally overlapping sets which represented the inside and outside of the inlet.

Twenty-two pollen types were found in low-energy marsh and …

Stratigraphy And Depositional Environments Of A Late Pleistocene Barrier Island Complex, Southeastern Virginia, Alan K. Jasper

OES Theses and Dissertations

The Norfolk, Kempsville, and Sand Bridge Formations beneath the HIckory Scarp of southeastern Virginia are reinterpreted as representing one glacio-eustatic transgressive cycle. The timing of this transgressive event is set during the earliest Wisconsinan. The formations were previously interpreted as unconformable overlying one another. The Norfolk-Kempsville unconformity is actually a diagenetic boundary. Evidence is presented which indicates that the Kempsville Scarp area should be reduced to member status or dropped entirely.