The fate of beach nourishment sand placed on the Florida East Coast

Shore & Beach ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 3-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Houston
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
East Coast ◽  
Beach Nourishment ◽  
Shoreline Change ◽  
Storm Damage ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Longshore Transport ◽  
Beach Width ◽  
Equilibrium Profile

Over 100 million yd3 of sand have been placed on Florida east coast beaches since the start of widespread beach nourishment in 1970. What has been the fate of this sand? Has it largely disappeared as some suggest, or is it largely in place, having increased beach width as much as expected? Shoreline position measurements show that beach nourishment has dominated shoreline change with beaches widening over 80 ft on average since 1970. Nourished beaches have widened an average of almost 120 ft and adjacent beaches that have never been nourished have widened almost 50 ft due to longshore transport moving nourishment sand to them. Using equilibrium profile theory, shoreline advance due to beach nourishment minus shoreline recession caused by longshore transport, inlets that trap sand in shoals, and sea level rise is shown to equal measured shoreline change within uncertainty limits in each east coast Florida county and for the entire coastline. About 90% of beach nourishment sand remains on profiles in the active littoral zone. Shoreline advance produced by beach nourishment has been eight times greater than the magnitude of the recession caused by sea level rise from 1970-2017. If beach nourishment sand is placed along this coast at the rate of the past 40 years, the shoreline will be wider in 2100 than in 2018 for all sea-levelrise scenarios of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Increased beach width since 1970 has produced significant benefits by reducing infrastructure storm damage and greatly increasing beach tourism.

Beach nourishment versus sea level rise on Florida’s coasts

Shore & Beach ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 3-13
Author(s):  
James Houston
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
East Coast ◽  
Beach Nourishment ◽  
Shoreline Change ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Shoreline Changes ◽  
The Past ◽  
Equilibrium Profile ◽  
And Sea Level

Beach nourishment and sea level rise will dominate future shoreline changes on Florida’s 665 miles of sandy coast. Shoreline changes from 2020-2100 are projected along this entire coast using equilibrium profile theory that accurately predicted shoreline changes on Florida’s east coast from 1970-2017 (Houston 2019). Projections for 2020- 2100 are made assuming past rates of beach nourishment for the 30-yr period from 1988-2017 will continue and sea level will rise according to recent projections of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that include the latest knowledge on ice melting in Antarctica (IPCC 2019). Using the beach nourishment and sea level rise data, equilibrium profile theory is then used to predict shoreline change from 2020-2100 for each IPCC sea level rise projection. Beach nourishment is shown to produce shoreline advance seaward on average for all IPCC scenarios for both the entire Florida coast and east coast and for all scenarios except the upper confidence level of the worst scenario for the southwest and Panhandle coasts. Some of the 30 counties on these coasts will require a greater rate of nourishment than in the past to offset sea level rise for some or all of the scenarios, whereas some will offset sea level rise for all scenarios with lower nourishment rates than in the past. The annual beach nourishment volume for which a county has a shortfall or surplus in offsetting sea level rise for each IPCC scenario can be calculated with the information provided and examples are presented. The approach can be used on coasts outside Florida if beach nourishment and sea level rise are expected to dominate future shoreline change.

scholarly journals SHORELINE RESPONSE TO FUTURE SEA LEVEL RISE

2018 ◽  
pp. 60
Author(s):  
James Houston
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
West Coast ◽  
Beach Nourishment ◽  
Shoreline Change ◽  
Shoreline Development ◽  
Central Coast

Florida, United States, has shoreline change measurements starting in the 1800s with spacing of about every 300 m. In addition, due to extensive shoreline development and tourism, processes causing shoreline change have been studied extensively. The 1160-km east and 275-km southwest shorelines advanced seaward on average from the 1800s even before widespread beach nourishment and despite sea level rise. Shoreline advance despite sea level rise has been noted along other coasts such as the Netherlands central coast (Stive and de Vriend, 1995). In contrast, the 335-km Florida west coast retreated landward on average almost 30 m from 1867 to 2015.

scholarly journals Beach Nourishment as an Adaptation to Future Sandy Beach Loss Owing to Sea-Level Rise in Thailand

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 659
Author(s):  
Chatuphorn Somphong ◽  
Keiko Udo ◽  
Sompratana Ritphring ◽  
Hiroaki Shirakawa
Keyword(s):  
Particle Size ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Sandy Beach ◽  
Beach Nourishment ◽  
Sandy Beaches ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Bruun Rule ◽  
The Cost

A recent study suggested that significant beach loss may take place on the coasts of Thailand by the end of the 21st century as per projections of sea-level rise by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The present study adapts a framework and provides broad estimations for sand volumes and costs required to apply beach nourishment to each coastal zone in Thailand using a technique based on the Bruun rule assumption. Results indicate that a minimum of USD 2981 million (the best scenario) to a maximum of USD 11,409 million (the worst scenario) would be required to maintain all sandy beaches at their present width. Further, the effect of filling particle size on beach nourishment was analyzed in this study. The cost of beach nourishment ranges between USD 1983 and 14,208 million when considering filling particle size diameters of 0.5 and 0.2 mm. A zonal sand volume map for all 51 sandy beach zones in Thailand was created for use as an overview to help decision makers develop a more feasible adaptation plan to deal with the future sea-level rise for Thailand.

scholarly journals ADAPTATION ASSESSMENT TO FUTURE BEACH LOSS DUE TO SEA LEVEL RISE IN THAILAND

2018 ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Chatuphorn Somphong ◽  
Keiko Udo ◽  
Sompratana Ritphring ◽  
Hiroaki Shirakawa ◽  
So Kazama
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Beach Nourishment ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Rcp Scenarios ◽  
Recreation Use

Coastal erosion induced by seal level rise could become more serious problems worldwide (Hinkel et al., 2013; Udo and Takeda, 2017). There has been recent study regarding the projection of future (2100) erosion due to SLR in Thailand according to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) projection of SLR based on representative concentration pathway (RCP) scenarios. By overall, Thailand sandy beach areas are projected to be lost approximately 46% (RCP2.6) to 72% (RCP8.5) of its current condition (Ritphring et al., accepted) and the plan for its adaptation should be devised. Among variety of management strategies used for coastal protections, Yoshida et al. (2014) proposed a framework for a proper beach nourishment considering beach roles of environment conservation and recreation use and applied for Japanese beaches. Meanwhile, dike construction was adopted as an option in a global scale (Hinkel et al., 2013). Since there is no applicable adaptation framework to Thailand, this study provides a new framework to adapt to the sea level rise by cost-benefit analysis considering beach nourishment and dike construction as adaptation options.

scholarly journals Economic damages from Hurricane Sandy attributable to sea level rise caused by anthropogenic climate change

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin H. Strauss ◽  
Philip M. Orton ◽  
Klaus Bittermann ◽  
Maya K. Buchanan ◽  
Daniel M. Gilford ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
East Coast ◽  
The United States ◽  
Hurricane Sandy ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Anthropogenic Climate Change ◽  
Economic Damage ◽  
Sea Levels

AbstractIn 2012, Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast of the United States, creating widespread coastal flooding and over $60 billion in reported economic damage. The potential influence of climate change on the storm itself has been debated, but sea level rise driven by anthropogenic climate change more clearly contributed to damages. To quantify this effect, here we simulate water levels and damage both as they occurred and as they would have occurred across a range of lower sea levels corresponding to different estimates of attributable sea level rise. We find that approximately $8.1B ($4.7B–$14.0B, 5th–95th percentiles) of Sandy’s damages are attributable to climate-mediated anthropogenic sea level rise, as is extension of the flood area to affect 71 (40–131) thousand additional people. The same general approach demonstrated here may be applied to impact assessments for other past and future coastal storms.

scholarly journals Greenland ice sheet contribution to sea level rise during the last interglacial period: a modelling study driven and constrained by ice core data

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 353-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Quiquet ◽  
C. Ritz ◽  
H. J. Punge ◽  
D. Salas y Mélia
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Interglacial Period ◽  
Last Interglacial ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Orbital Configuration ◽  
Global Sea Level

Abstract. As pointed out by the forth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC-AR4 (Meehl et al., 2007), the contribution of the two major ice sheets, Antarctica and Greenland, to global sea level rise, is a subject of key importance for the scientific community. By the end of the next century, a 3–5 °C warming is expected in Greenland. Similar temperatures in this region were reached during the last interglacial (LIG) period, 130–115 ka BP, due to a change in orbital configuration rather than to an anthropogenic forcing. Ice core evidence suggests that the Greenland ice sheet (GIS) survived this warm period, but great uncertainties remain about the total Greenland ice reduction during the LIG. Here we perform long-term simulations of the GIS using an improved ice sheet model. Both the methodologies chosen to reconstruct palaeoclimate and to calibrate the model are strongly based on proxy data. We suggest a relatively low contribution to LIG sea level rise from Greenland melting, ranging from 0.7 to 1.5 m of sea level equivalent, contrasting with previous studies. Our results suggest an important contribution of the Antarctic ice sheet to the LIG highstand.

scholarly journals Recent sea level rise on Ireland's east coast based on multiple tide gauge analysis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amin Shoari Nejad ◽  
Andrew C. Parnell ◽  
Alice Greene ◽  
Brian P. Kelleher ◽  
Gerard McCarthy
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Continuous Time ◽  
East Coast ◽  
Tide Gauge ◽  
Tide Gauges ◽  
Missing Value ◽  
Global Average ◽  
Good Agreement

Abstract. We analysed multiple tide gauges from the east coast of Ireland over the period 1938–2018. We validated the different time series against each other and performed a missing value imputation exercise, which enabled us to produce a homogenised record. The recordings of all tide gauges were found to be in good agreement between 2003–2015, though this was markedly less so from 2016 to the present. We estimate the sea level rise in Dublin port for this period at 10 mm yr−1. The rate over the longer period of 1938–2015 was 1.67 mm yr−1 which is in good agreement with the global average. We found that the rate of sea level rise in the longer term record is cyclic with some extreme upward and downward trends. However, starting around 1980, Dublin has seen significantly higher rates that have been always positive since 1996, and this is mirrored in the surrounding gauges. Furthermore, our analysis indicates an increase in sea level variability since 1980. Both decadal rates and continuous time rates are calculated and provided with uncertainties in this paper.

scholarly journals Reinterpreting the Bruun Rule in the Context of Equilibrium Shoreline Models

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 974
Author(s):  
Maurizio D’Anna ◽  
Deborah Idier ◽  
Bruno Castelle ◽  
Sean Vitousek ◽  
Goneri Le Cozannet
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Time Scales ◽  
Shoreline Change ◽  
Test Case ◽  
Unified Framework ◽  
Bruun Rule ◽  
Predictive Skill ◽  
Erosion Efficiency ◽  
Local Wave

Long-term (>decades) coastal recession due to sea-level rise (SLR) has been estimated using the Bruun Rule for nearly six decades. Equilibrium-based shoreline models have been shown to skillfully predict short-term wave-driven shoreline change on time scales of hours to decades. Both the Bruun Rule and equilibrium shoreline models rely on the equilibrium beach theory, which states that the beach profile shape equilibrates with its local wave and sea-level conditions. Integrating these two models into a unified framework can improve our understanding and predictive skill of future shoreline behavior. However, given that both models account for wave action, but over different time scales, a critical re-examination of the SLR-driven recession process is needed. We present a novel physical interpretation of the beach response to sea-level rise, identifying two main contributing processes: passive flooding and increased wave-driven erosion efficiency. Using this new concept, we analyze the integration of SLR-driven recession into equilibrium shoreline models and, with an idealized test case, show that the physical mechanisms underpinning the Bruun Rule are explicitly described within our integrated model. Finally, we discuss the possible advantages of integrating SLR-driven recession models within equilibrium-based models with dynamic feedbacks and the broader implications for coupling with hybrid shoreline models.

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