Carolina Coastal Change Processes

Approach

Several sub-regional study areas have been chosen to document and investigate the causes of sediment transport and coastal change patterns associated with specific morphologic settings along the shorelines of North and South Carolina. These targeted focus areas have advanced our understanding of the interactions between nearshore oceanographic processes and geologic framework along the narrow barrier islands and embayments of the North Carolina Outer Banks, the large shoal complexes offshore of the Carolina capes, and the mainland attached shoreline of the South Carolina Grand Strand. Findings from these sub-regional studies are integrated with a regional modeling system designed to predict how the various morphologic components might respond to atmospherically driven oceanographic conditions (like those generated during tropical or northeast storms and hurricanes) that impact specific portions or the entire Carolina shoreline. Links for the subregional and regional projects in the menu bar to the left lead to the individual project pages, which provide more detailed information about project objectives, status and results.

Overview of the US East Coast. Individual Task elements are identified for the Regional Scale modeling, NC Coastal Change, SC Coastal Change, Cape Shoals, and Hurricane Impacts.