Effect of Coastal Erosion on Storm Surge: A Case Study in the Southern Coast of Rhode Island

Abstract

Abstract:The objective of this study was to assess the effect of shoreline retreat and dune erosion on coastal flooding in a case study located in the southern coast of Rhode Island, USA. Using an extensive dataset collected during 2011, an ADCIRC model was developed to simulate the propagation of storm surge in the coastal areas, including coastal inlets and ponds. A simplified methodology, based on the geological assessment of historical trends of the shoreline retreat and dune erosion in this area, was incorporated in the model to represent coastal erosion. The results showed that for extreme storms (e.g., a 100-year event), where coastal dunes are overtopped and low-lying areas are flooded, the flooding extent is not significantly sensitive to coastal erosion. However, failure of the dunes leads to a significant increase of the flooding extent for smaller storms. Substantial dampening of the storm surge elevation in coastal ponds for moderate and small storms was associated with coastal inlets connecting to coastal ponds which are often not resolved in regional surge models. The shoreline change did not significantly affect the extent of flooding. It was also shown that the accuracy of a storm surge model highly depends on its ability to resolve coastal inlets, which is critical for reliable storm surge predictions in areas with inlet-basin systems.

Eyes in the Sky: Drones Applications in the Built Environment under Climate Change Challenges

“…A study in Ghana combined LiDAR elevation data and visual imagery to analyze shoreline changes from extreme storms [133]. UAVs also enable the rapid assessment of coastal flooding extents during storm surges and tide cycles using visual cameras or thermal sensors to identify inundated areas [134]. These high-resolution shoreline data help improve coastal flood modeling and predictions.…”

Storm Driven Migration of the Napatree Barrier, Rhode Island, USA

“…The period from the 1938 hurricane to the Ash Wednesday storm of 1962 (inclusive) included two landfalling hurricanes (hurricane of 1944-surge elevation 1.2 m MHHW; and Hurricane Carol, 1954-surge elevation 2.1 m MHHW). Hurricane Carol (Figure 5) overwashed barriers along the Rhode Island south shore [49,50]. Other notable storms include the Ash Wednesday Hurricane of 1962 [51], the 'Blizzard of 1978' [52], Hurricane Gloria (1985) [53], Hurricane Bob (1991) [54], The Halloween Nor'Easter (1991) [55], a December 1992 extra-tropical storm [56], the Patriot's Day extra-tropical storm (April 2007) [57], Tropical storm Irene (2011) and Superstorm Sandy (2012) [58].…”

The State of Coastal Erosion in Puerto Rico After Hurricane Maria

“…Entre las variables oceanográficas asociadas a la ocurrencia de erosión están: el oleaje (Bheeroo et al, 2016;;Godoi et al, 2017;Franco et al, 2020), la ocurrencia de sistemas ciclónicos tropicales y extratropicales (Morelock & Barreto, 2003;Tamura et al, 2019;Barreto et al, 2019), la marejada ciclónica (Bheeroo et al, 2016;Shaw et al, 2016;Bromirski et al, 2017;Harris, 2017;De Lima et al, 2020), corrientes marinas ; Saltos-Andrade et al, 2020), y el aumento relativo o eustático del nivel del mar (Enríquez et al, 2016;Whal et al, 2018;Athanasiou et al, 2020;Vousdoukas et al, 2020), que actúan sobre superficies que son fácilmente erosionadas como lo son las dunas, playas, depósitos de fangos (Shi et al, 2017;Nguyen et al, 2020), entre otros. Entre los causales de erosión antropogénicos se identifican: los cambios de cobertura y usos de terreno (Pérez-Hernández, 2020;Bunicontro et.…”