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University of Delaware
Evan is a PhD student at the University of Delaware working with Dr. Jack Puleo at the Center for Applied Coastal Research. Her research interests include analyzing urban flood pathways during extreme events and developing low-cost sensors for field measurements in coastal communities.
Florida Atlantic University
Raquel is a graduate student in the Marine Science & Oceanography program at Florida Atlantic University working with Dr. Tiffany Roberts Briggs. Her research combines coastal morphology with marine biology in studying the possible impacts of nourished sediment on sea turtle nesting behavior and success.
Florida Atlantic University
I earned my undergraduate degree in Geology from the University of Kentucky in 2015. My undergraduate research took me to central Alaska, where I camped with a small team of researchers in the far western end of Denali National Park. My research while there focused on studying the neotectonics and the glacial and tectonic geomorphology associated with the restraining bend in the Denali Fault.
After graduation I moved to the small mountain town of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, in the western foothills of the Rocky Mountains and near the Canadian border. While there I was an adjunct geology instructor and the physics lab tech at North Idaho College for 5 years. My research while there centered around mapping Neoproterozoic diamictites as well as mapping the Mesoproterozoic stratigraphy of the Belt Supergroup of Idaho, Washington, Montana, and British Columbia.
Now at Florida Atlantic University as a Master’s of Science student, I work in the Coastal Studies Lab with Dr. Tiffany Briggs where I study coastal geology and geomorphology. My research focuses on event-driven nearshore sediment transport and resultant littoral morphology change.
Florida Atlantic University
Austin Scheinkman is a 2nd year Masters student at Florida Atlantic University studying Geosciences under Tiffany Roberts-Briggs. He did is Undergraduate at the University of Florida and studied Geology and how a Hurricane impacted a beach on the South Florida Coast under Peter Adams. His interest lie in management of the coast and inlets.
Florida Atlantic University
Evan Blanchard is an Environmental Science master’s student at Florida Atlantic University studying within the Coastal Studies Laboratory headed by Dr. Tiffany Briggs. He got his bachelors in Environmental Studies at Florida State University. Currently he also works part time for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection as an Environmental Resources Permitter, permitting projects involving wetland or surface waters impacts.
Florida Atlantic University
I am Jyothirmayi Palaparthi, 2nd year PhD student at Florida Atlantic University working with Dr. Tiffany Roberts Briggs in the Coastal Studies Lab. This presentation is part of a larger study funded by the PBC Dept. of Environmental Resources Management. I had an Integrated M. Sc. Tech. degree in Applied Geology, IIT(ISM), India and M.S. degree in Geosciences, Florida Atlantic University. I was awarded Smt. Renuka Rajhans Memorial Gold Medal, Indian School of Mines (2014-2015 batch), INSPIRE Fellowship from Department of Science and Technology (DST), India (2010-2015), ASBPA Educational Award (2018), ASBPA Nicholas Kraus Coastal Scholar Award (2019)
*Virtual Participant
Center for Applied Coastal Research, University of Delaware
Emily Chapman is a master’s student at the University of Delaware. She is majoring in Civil Engineering with a concentration in Coastal Engineering. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Delaware. Her research interests include sediment transport and coastal structures.
University of South Alabama
Kelsey Carpenter is a graduate research assistant in the Department of Civil, Coastal, and Environmental engineering at the University of South Alabama under Dr. Bret Webb. Her research investigates the impacts of natural shoreline stabilization. Kelsey received her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology with a concentration in marine science from USA in 2018 and is currently studying to receive her Master of Science in Civil Engineering with an emphasis in coastal engineering.
*No Recording Provided
University of Delaware
Emma Ruggiero is a Master’s student in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences at the University of Delaware (UD). She holds a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture with a minor in Biology from UD. Emma has worked on several design projects focused on coastal resilience and flood mitigation throughout Delaware as part of the Coastal Resilience Design Studio. Her research interests include nature-based infrastructure design, living shorelines for coastal protection, and regenerative landscape design. She recently completed a Master’s thesis exploring feasibility of a living shoreline installment on a remote site experiencing ship wake on the Delaware River.
North Carolina State University
Brooke is currently a second year Master’s student working with Dr. Casey Dietrich at North Carolina State University. She is originally from Charleston, West Virginia. In 2019, she received her Bachelor’s degree in civil engineering at Marshall University. She decided to pursue coastal engineering for her Master’s as it allowed for her to apply what she had learned in her undergraduate degree for one of her favorite places. Her current research revolves around using a coastal ocean model. She hopes to continue modeling in her future career.
University of South Alabama
Sean McQuagge is a graduate research assistant in the Department of Civil, Coastal, and Environmental Engineering at the University of South Alabama under Dr. Bret Webb. His research studies the morphodynamic response of barrier islands to hydrodynamic forcing caused by extreme events such as hurricanes and tropical storms. Sean received his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Florida in 2017 and is studying to receive his Master of Science in Civil Engineering with an emphasis in coastal engineering.
University of South Alabama
I was born in Mobile, Alabama. I am a first generation student currently at the University of South Alabama pursuing my masters in Civil engineering. I grew up on Dauphin Island so being able to help protect the island is an amazing accomplishment.
University of Georgia
Sheppard attended NC State University for his undergraduate program, where he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering with a Minor in Physics. While there, he developed computational tools to visualize storm surge modeling results as a part of the Coastal and Computational Hydraulics Team. Now, Sheppard is continuing his education at the University of Georgia by working towards a Master’s degree in Environmental Engineering. He is currently studying the scales at which barrier islands become effective tools for protecting the mainland against coastal flooding.
University of South Carolina
Mueller is a senior at the University of South Carolina Honors College majoring in Marine Science with a concentration in Coastal Resource Management and Policy and minoring in Political Science and Geography. As a recipient of the 2020-21 NOAA Ernest F. Hollings Scholarship, Mueller completed her summer internship with the NOAA Office for Coastal Management. Her project focused on the overlap between coastal hazards and diversity, equity, and inclusion. On campus she is also involved in the South Carolina Student Legislature, SC American Water Works Association Student Chapter, NCAA/NCEA Equestrian Team, orchestra, and faculty research as a Magellan Scholar.
Center for Applied Coastal Research, University of Delaware
Temitope Idowu is currently a doctoral student at the center for applied coastal research (CACR), University of Delaware. His broad research interests are in the sustainability of coastal environments, objects migration in the nearshore, coastal processes and the application of GIS in environmental research. He currently works with Dr. Jack Puleo in developing novel insights on the mobility, burial and exposure of variable density munitions in inner surf and swash zones.
University of South Alabama
Elizabeth Winter is a M.S. student in Coastal Engineering at the University of South Alabama. She received her B.S. in Marine and Organismal Biology from Spring Hill College before coming to the University of South Alabama in Fall 2019.
University of Delaware
I am a master’s student at the University of Delaware working with Dr. Jack Puleo. I grew up in Rhode Island where I also attended the University of Rhode Island, where I obtained a degrees in ocean engineering and marine biology. My field of research is in extreme storm modeling and monitoring; specifically analyzing the morphological changes that occur to the coastline caused by extreme events. I like to think I am a climatologist. What excites me about my research is that we are analyzing a prevalent issue in today’s world; climate change is increasing the frequency of extreme events.
The USA comprises over 95,000 miles of shoreline and roughly 59% of the coastline is sheltered from the open ocean (e.g. estuaries, bays, lagoons) (NOAA 2020). Barrier islands are sand island strips that shelter approximately 10% of the world’s coastlines (Linhoss, 2018). Being directly exposed to the open ocean, they are vulnerable to energetic ocean events such as extreme storms and hurricanes, which influence the wave and current action that shape the feature (Wang et al., 2015). However, despite their vulnerability, barrier islands are often highly developed and populated. Thus extreme events have caused billions of dollars in infrastructure damage over the past decade (Kobell, 2015). There has been a notable rise in extreme storms over the past decades with damages also increasing with effects of sea-level rise (Kobel 2015).
Survey data can be used to measure morphological changes pre- and post-storm, but data on the hydrodynamic and morphodynamic processes that shape the beach during the event are sparse. Understanding intra-event storm processes may assist in improving predictive models on the effects of extreme events on barrier island morphodynamics. XBeach is a 2-dimensional modeling system that simulates morphodynamic processes using depth-integrated and short-wave average hydrodynamics to predict bathymetric behavior during extreme events (Roelvink et al. 2009). Xbeach was used to model the domain of Bethany Beach, DE an area which falls victim to extreme Nor’Easter events annually. Simulations were forced using wave information from a NOAA buoy located roughly 11 km offshore. Simulations were run to determine beach response for multiple past extreme events. Additional simulations undertook varying mean wave angle, wave height, and water level to determine the effect on beach morphology. Eventually, data from the 2021/22 Nor’Easter season will be used to calibrate XBeach for intra-event processes and quantify the time scales of beach erosion and effect of berm lowering on morphodynamic processes.
References
Kobell, R. 2015. “For Vulnerable Barrier Islands, A Rush to Rebuild on U.S. Coast”. YaleEnviorment360.
Linhoss. A. 2018. “Barrier islands are natural coast guards that absorb impacts from hurricanes and storms” The Conversation.
NOAA. 2020. “Shoreline Mileage of the United States.”
Sallenger, A. 2000. “Storm Impact Scale for Barrier Islands”. Journal of Coastal Research, vol.16, no. 3.
Roelvink, J.A. et al. 2009. “Modelling storm impacts on beaches, dunes and barrier islands”. Coastal Engineering 56, 1133–1152.
Wang et al. 2015. “Chapter 10 – Storm-Induced Morphology Changes along Barrier Islands and Post Storm Recovery”. Coastal and Marine Hazards, Risks, and Disasters.”
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
B. Eni Owoeye is a fourth year student at New York University studying International Relations and Environmental Science with a minor in Spanish. As a 2020 Ernest F. Hollings Scholar, she conducted work with the Office of International Activities within NOAA’s Oceanic and Atmospheric Research division. She also serves as the co-chair of the U.S. Youth Advisory Council to the U.N Decade of Ocean Science. She has a keen interest in ocean-climate nexus issues and environmental justice.
University of South Alabama
Kaylyn received her Bachelors of Science in Geology from the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama and is currently pursuing a Masters of Science in Coastal Engineering at the University of South Alabama. She is a native of Biloxi, Mississippi and has enjoyed spending her childhood at some of the Mississippi Barrier islands (Horn and Ship Island) beach-combing and looking for shark teeth.
University of Delaware
I am a master’s student at the University of Delaware working under Dr. Puleo investigating the hydrodynamics on dam-break-driven swash. Other research interest of mine includes hydrology, numerical modeling, coastal flooding, and sea-level rise. I have a background in water resources as I worked for an engineering consultant firm for two years prior to starting my masters.
Many recent studies have reproduced swash motions in laboratory facilities at near prototype scale using a dam break mechanism (Kikkert et. al. 2012; O’Donoghue et. al. 2010). Bore generation is created by the quick release of a water reservoir, inundating the dry beach area. Here, we used a double dam break to identify the relative importance of pressure gradients and bed shear stress in the swash zone under bore interaction. Experiments were conducted in the wave flume at the Center for Applied Coastal Research at the University of Delaware using an impermeable, steep (1:7) fixed sloped beach. Swash interactions were investigated by varying the time (0 to 3 s) between the release of the two dam break reservoirs. Seven cases varying the release time were tested with 10 repetitions each for a total of 70 trials using a smooth bed. Bed roughness effects on foreshore hydrodynamics will be further investigated by completing additional experiments using a fixed rough bed. Water depths measurements were recorded using twelve ultrasonic distance meters (Massa). Offshore velocity measurements were made using two acoustic Doppler profiling velocimeters (Nortek; ADPV). Velocities on the beach slope were obtained using six electromagnetic current meters (Valeport; EMCM). A new pressure sensor array using seven miniature pressure sensors (TE Connectivity) was deployed at the toe of slope. The sensors are separated by 0.03 m with gradients quantified using finite differences. The measured data were ensemble averaged over time and space for each case. Bed shear stress estimates will be calculated based on the quadratic drag law with the EMCM data and compared against estimates from the log-law method for the ADPV data. The experimental data collected will determine the relative importance of bed shear stress and pressure gradients as a function of cross-shore distance, swash phase and interaction intensity.
United States Naval Academy
Midshipman Nicole Nguyen is studying Ocean Engineering at the United States Naval Academy. She will graduate and commission as an officer in the US Navy in May 2022.
The model was built using Delft3D, bathymetry data were obtained from previous studies, and boundary conditions of external forcings were obtained from historical records in the closest tidal, wave, and river discharge gauges to the study site. A sensitivity analysis was performed and included a range of values for river discharge and wave heights plus their peak periods. After processing the outputs, conclusions were drawn specifically for bar-built estuaries that are already breached and contain an open inlet.
Results suggest that during ebb tide, depth-averaged velocity increases with river discharge. Waves have a greater effect on water levels in the lagoon compared to river discharge as long as the inlet is open. Additionally, an increase in either river discharge or wave height will also increase the overall maximum discharge that flows out of the inlet. The main findings were: (1) Increase in depth-averaged velocities due to river discharge could lead to longer inlet durations. (2) Higher waves increase water levels in the lagoon, which affects coastal flooding. (3) Increase in either wave height or river discharge increases the total max ebb discharge through the inlet.
Next steps for research could include running simulations to test the effects of changing bathymetry and sediment transport in the dynamics of the beach. The sensitivity analysis completed here, could also be expanded by simulating a broader range of values for both river discharge and wave height. In the future, the results of this study can be expanded by comparing it to other bar-built estuaries located in different regions.”
*Virtual Participant
Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi
Isabel Garcia graduated from New Mexico State University in 2015 with a B.S. in Surveying Engineering. She continued her education at Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi (TAMUCC) completing, her M.S. in Geospatial Surveying Engineering in 2018. She is currently studying to complete her Ph.D. in Coastal and Marine Systems Science at TAMUCC. Her current research focuses on mobile lidar development and utilization of mobile lidar systems (MLS) to monitor coastal changes and rapid post-storm analysis.
Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi
Kelsi Schwind is a doctoral student pursuing her degree in Coastal and Marine System Sciences at Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi. She is a member of the Measurement Analytics Lab and Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying and Science. Currently, her work focuses on fusing remotely sensed data and using GIS for the purposes of monitoring coastal processes.
UAS surveys were conducted to acquire high-resolution imagery both prior to, and following, the impact of Hurricane Michael on Little St. George Island, Florida. The images were processed using SfM photogrammetric techniques to derive 3D point clouds and digital elevation models (DEMs) that were utilized to quantify the storm impact and island’s recovery in conjunction with an elevation model generated using topobathymetric lidar data acquired by the Joint Airborne Lidar Bathymetry Technical Center of Expertise (JALBTCX). To investigate the storm impact, net shoreline movement, evolution of the dune crest and beach width, and volumetric change detection were evaluated using the DEMs.
The use of UAS-SfM derived data products for goals of this study had respective benefits and limitations that should be considered for the purposes of future research objectives. Benefits of utilizing the UAS platform include affordability, and thus the capability to survey with greater frequency and flexibility than is often possible with other, more costly methods such as lidar at smaller spatial scales such as this study. The derived UAS-SfM elevation models were higher resolution than publicly available data and achieved greater vertical accuracy when compared against a series of bare-earth independent check points. Additionally, the acquisition of high-resolution imagery also can also be used to produce data products such as orthomosaics to further enhance analyses. However, certain limitations should be considered. The inability to derive multi-return point clouds results in inherent vegetation bias that may still affect results, even with the implementation of advanced ground filtration. Additionally, surveys with the UAS can be timely, which resulted in the inability of timing UAS surveys at specific tidal conditions for the entirety of the image acquisition process. Thus, the limitations must be considered for future studies to determine if employing UAS-SfM is suitable for the scope of the research goals.
Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi
Mr. Pilartes-Congo is pursuing a master’s degree in Geospatial Systems Engineering at Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi. His research focuses on evaluating various UAS positioning technologies and processing workflows for surveying coastal environments.
University of Delaware
Cassandra Everett is an aspiring coastal engineer pursuing a Master’s degree in coastal engineering at the University of Delaware, working under Dr. Jack Puleo and studying the response of living shoreline elements under ship wake forcing. She received her undergraduate degree in civil engineering from the University of Southern California. Her research interests include ship-wake-induced morphodynamics, living shorelines and nature-based solutions, and coastal resiliency.
Two pilot studies, in addition to analysis performed using the FUNWAVE-TVD model, informed the design of a larger installation on the island which was completed in June 2021. The installation consisted of four T-head groins composed of ten coir logs each and ~300 individual marsh grass plantings. Eight pressure sensors and electromagnetic current meters were deployed to obtain the cross-shore and longshore evolution of hydrodynamics in the vicinity of the installation. Field data were compared across structures to determine energy dissipation as a function of tidal level. Data were also compared to expected energy dissipation of breaking waves over a sloping beach.
Data from the installation were also used to evaluate the effectiveness of FUNWAVE-TVD in predicting the wave attenuation produced by the living shoreline in response to ship-wake. FUNWAVE-TVD is a total variation diminishing version of the nonlinear Boussinesq FUNWAVE model. FUNWAVE-TVD contains a ship-wake generation module, developed in 2018, which has been previously validated against lab and field data. The US Army Corps of Engineers has provided extensive information regarding vessel traffic along the channel during data collection periods. These data enabled further model validation based on specific vessel size, shape, speed, and course for each wake event during the study. Model skill was quantified using root-mean-squared error between modeled and recorded data.”
Texas General Land Office / Graduate Student – University of Houston Clear Lake
John Simmons is a graduate student at the University of Houston – Clear Lake receiving a degree in Environmental Science with a specialization in Geology. He received his undergraduate degree with honors at the University of Houston from the Honors College in Geology and had dual minors in Chemistry and Geophysics. He currently works for the Texas General Land Office as a Natural Resource Specialist.
Materials and Methods: The DSAS v5.0 add-on for ArcMap was used for this study. Imagery from 1850-2020 was georeferenced and used to calculate transects/erosion rates for the entire Texas Coast. Two rate calculation methods and two models were generated based on linear regression rate and weighted regression rate.
Results: The model was accurately able to produce sedimentation rates at regional and even these localized scales. The erosion rate for the Texas Coast as a whole is alarmingly high. The average rate according to the linear regression method is 0.685879 m/yr and according to the weighted regression method 0.731229 m/yr. The average net shoreline movement from 1850 to 2020 is -111.788516 meters. This is for the entire Texas coast and corresponds to meters of shoreline lost in that time period. The maximum shoreline movement in some areas was predicted to be as high as 2092.63 m (shoreline gained) and as low as -1704.86 m (shoreline loss). The weighted linear regression method provided a much higher quality model when compared to the linear regression method. The average standard error in the linear regression was 52.1582 meters while in the weighted regression method it was only 5.575171 meters. This is due to the larger amount of weight assigned to more reliable data.
*There are also site-specific examples of the model and how accurately it has predicted erosion/accretion in some areas including the new mouth of the Brazos and Sargent Beach*
Conclusions: Based on the model and calculated values, the erosion in Texas should be considered a major concern. The trends of accretion and erosion indicate that a major driving force could be the interruption of natural longshore drift patterns by anthropogenic forcings. Another factor that needs to be considered is the increasing number and severity of storm events.
Source of Funding: None
University of South Florida
Elizabeth Royer is a graduate student working in the Coastal Research Laboratory under Dr. Ping Wang at the University of South Florida, pursing a master’s degree in Geology. Royer obtained her undergraduate degree in Geology and Environmental Studies from Oberlin College in 2020. Royer’s research interests include nearshore sediment transport, beach morphodynamics, coastal engineering and management, and coastal sedimentary processes.
Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi
Wen Zhong received her B.S. and M.S. at Lanzhou University, China. She is presently a Ph.D. student in the Geospatial Computer Science Program at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. She is working on her research at the Conrad Blucher Institute. Wen is quantifying surface land subsidence along the Texas coast using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR).
Coastal Carolina University, Department of Marine Science
My name is Mary Olsen and I am a graduate student in Coastal Marine and Wetland Studies at Coastal Carolina University. I have a B.S. in Marine Science with an Applied Mathematics minor. I am from Delta, Pennsylvania.
Jules Bruck, Plant and Soil Sciences
University of Delaware
Dr. Jules Bruck is Professor and Director of Landscape Architecture at the University of Delaware where she conducts research concerning coastal resilience, green infrastructure, and public perception of sustainable landscape practices such as designing for ecosystem services. In April 2018, she co-founded the Coastal Resilience Design Studio and helped to launch the Delaware Resilience Awareness (DelRAP) Project and the Coastal Observer app for citizen scientists. She is a registered landscape architect and a SITES Accredited Professional (AP). She was recently appointed Director of the new Gerard J. Mangone Climate Change Science and Policy Hub.
*Virtual Participant
John Dingler graduated from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography with a PhD in Marine Geology (Douglas Inman, thesis advisor). Then he was a coastal scientist at the US Geological Survey (Menlo Park, CA). After retiring, he is in an encore career in the Reemployed Annuitant Cadre at the US Army Corps of Engineers. For the most part, he has been assigned to the San Francisco District Planning Branch where he participates in coastal and dredging projects.
*Virtual Participant
Neel-Schaffer Inc.
Glenn Ledet is the Vice President of the Coastal Science & Water Resource division of Neel-Schaffer. Mr. Ledet has approximately 14 years of experience as a program manager, project manager and engineer on a wide variety of civil engineering projects, including comprehensive drainage studies, regional watershed modeling, and flood control projects. Mr. Ledet previously served as Assistant Administrator of the Operations Division for the State of Louisiana’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) managing CPRA’s Regional Offices with more than 40 personnel responsible for constructing, operating, monitoring and maintaining the State of Louisiana’s coastal projects.
USDA/ Natural Resource Conservation Service
Nicholas McCoy has a Master of Science in Engineering from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and is a Professional Engineer in Louisiana. Nicholas has multiple years of experience designing and constructing coastal restoration projects.
*Virtual Participant
WSP USA
Dr. Nigel Temple has over nine years of experience conducting research in coastal and wetland ecology. His experience includes innovative research designed to reduce the costs of restoration projects by designing and implementing low-cost environmental sensing technology and by investigating the effectiveness of various onshore and nearshore restoration designs using green infrastructure elements such as oyster reefs and wetland vegetation.
Stony Brook University
Mr. Yicheng Huang is a Ph.D. candidate on physical oceanography at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University, under the advice of Dr. Robert Wilson and Dr. Henry Bokuniewicz. His research interests are on wave-current interactions and sediment transport in the coastal environment.
New York Sea Grant
Dr. Kathleen Fallon is the Coastal Processes and Hazards Specialist with New York Sea Grant. She graduated with a BS in Marine Sciences from Stony Brook University and conducted her graduate research focusing on rip current formation and safety at Florida International University. Currently, in her position she provides technical information about coastal processes and hazards such as flooding and erosion to various stakeholders including researchers, municipal officials, and residents.
Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control
Justin Shawler is a Coastal Scientist in the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control’s Shoreline and Waterway Management Section where he executes and oversees scientific studies of the state’s beaches and waterways. Justin is also a PhD candidate in coastal geology at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. His research interests primarily focus on barrier island response to sea-level rise and time-varying sediment fluxes.
*Virtual Participant
The Water Institute of the Gulf
Diana Di Leonardo is a Research Scientist with The Water Institute of the Gulf in the Applied Geosciences Group. She has eight years of experience researching and working on the Louisiana coast. She currently works on coastal projects involving field data as well as models.
Prior to arriving in Louisiana, Di Leonardo explored the Oregon and Washington coasts for her Master’s research. She participated in hundreds of nearshore survey transects to track sandbar migration and demarcate flood maps. These rocky coast environments provide a fascinating contrast to Louisiana’s marshes.
She earned her BA in Geosciences from Hamilton College and her MS in Geology from Oregon State University.
An XBeach numerical model was used to investigate sediment transport dynamics under storm conditions for the existing conditions at the Chandeleur Islands and to determine how sediment placement design may best provide ecosystem benefits in the context of storm response and resiliency. Four storm conditions (weak, intermediate, strong, and extreme) were run on three island conditions (FWOA, dune endmember restoration, marsh endmember restoration). A high dune favors collision regime impacts and transport of sand from the island toward the surf zone for a longer duration during all storms, resulting in a decrease in subaerial sediment volume post-storm. In contrast, the marsh end member restoration enhances sand overwash from the island to the backbarrier marsh platform resulting in an increase in subaerial sediment volume. Our results show that the marsh end member restoration template maximizes sediment capture enabled by inundation and overwash processes, retaining sand within the system while building up a platform for deposition of that material during storms.”
University of Connecticut
Dr. Chang Liu is Research Associate at Connecticut Institute for Resilience & Climate Adaptation (CIRCA). He received his Ph.D. and M.S. in Marine Science from University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Chang’s work at CIRCA focuses on storm surge and wave modeling in coastal Connecticut. His research interests include ocean and marine ecosystem modeling with an emphasis on computational and statistical approaches.
*Virtual Participant
University of North Carolina Wilmington
Dr. Mieras is an Assistant Professor of Coastal Engineering at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. His research encompasses sediment transport and hydrodynamic processes in nearshore and wetland environments, via field and laboratory studies, in order to improve predictions of coastal geomorphic change. Overall, Dr. Mieras’ Coastal Sediments and Hydrodynamics Laboratory (CSHL) conducts basic and applied research to improve our understanding of the physical processes driving coastal flooding and geomorphology in a changing climate, leading to more effective coastal protection strategies against increasingly frequent intense storms and rising sea levels.
McLindon Geosciences, LLC
Chris McLindon worked as a geologist in the oil and gas industry for 40 years. Chris has worked for the past six years with professors and students at Tulane, UL-Lafayette and UNO to study the relationships between subsurface geology and coastal processes. In 2017 He was named as a director of the Louisiana Coastal Geohazards Atlas by Dr. Charles Groat of the Louisiana Geological Survey. In 2017 Chris was also the recipient of the Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Statesmanship Award for his work in this area.
GZA GeoEnvironmental
Stephen Lecco, AICP, CEP is an Associate Principal with GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc. He is the Ecological Services Technical Practice Lead for GZA’s southern New England and Mid-Atlantic regions, with expertise in coastal development, restoration and permitting. Mr. Lecco has been providing such services for government, private and conservation organizations for over 34 years. He holds a B.A. in Geography/Urban & Regional Planning and an M.S. in Environmental Science.
US Army Corps of Engineers, ERDC
Dr. Bukhari earned her Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from North Carolina State University after completion of her B.S. from the University of Alaska Anchorage and M.S. from State University of New York at Buffalo (Both in Civil Engineering). She focuses on studies that involve evaluating engineering structures for their impact to increasing coastal resilience and reducing risk from storm damages using numerical storm surge models such as ADCIRC. She serves a Research Civil Engineer for the US Army Engineer Research & Development Center – Coastal & Hydraulics Laboratory.
While capable of producing highly accurate simulations, substantive demands on computational resources are characteristic of ADCIRC domains. This demand on computational resources occurs due to the scale and complexity of coastal processes and ocean physics, and the evaluation of a variety of engineering design scenarios, which involves additional refinements to already highly resolved large-scale domains. The burden on computational resources is further exacerbated with the number of storm suites and water levels required for evaluation of each design scenario. These issues often result in a tradeoff between number of storm/water levels evaluated with the number of design scenarios being evaluated.
To help address these concerns, a promising new capability known as subdomain modeling (SM) (Baugh et al., 2015) was recently incorporated into ADCIRC. SM allows local changes in subdomains to be accommodated with less computational effort than required by running a full domain with equivalent changes. Since SM operates on smaller domains using specialized boundary conditions obtained from full domains, subdomain simulations require a fraction of the computational cost and are relatively easy to setup. In addition, SM allows for fuller evaluation of designs and forcing conditions, while producing the same results that would be obtained by equivalent full simulations, so long as hydrodynamic effects from any changes made to a subdomain do not propagate to the boundaries.
While SM has been shown to be mathematically equivalent to full domain solutions through informal proofs (Baugh et al., 2015) and prior research exploring the performance of SM both for its computational benefit and solution quality as compared to full domain simulations and their solutions, practical guidance on appropriate sizing and location of the SM domains needs to be developed. The work presented herein describes the efforts to develop conservative rule of thumb estimates to SM boundary placements, based on the several factors, including types of changes proposed within a SM domain (e.g. addition of a wetland or a breakwater), the size of the proposed changes, the local geometry where the changes are to be made, and the forcing conditions being applied to ADCIRC (e.g. tidal only vs hurricane storm surge forcing). Examples from two USACE projects will be given and early findings relative to SM domain sizing will be presented.
University of Delaware
Jack Puleo is a Professor and Chair in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and a core faculty member of the Center for Applied Coastal Research (CACR) at the University of Delaware (UD). He completed the Ph.D. from the University of Florida in 2004. He was a Fulbright Scholar and visiting Professor at Plymouth University in 2011-2012 and is presently an intermittent faculty member at NRL. Puleo conducts research on small-scale hydrodynamic and sediment transport processes in coastal environments. His research involves designing sensor networks, developing new sensors, and conducting rapid-response deployments to quantify intra-storm processes.
Hawai`i Sea Grant
Ruby Pap is a Coastal Land Use Extension Specialist with Hawai`i Sea Grant based on the Island of Kaua`i. She works as a liaison between researchers and county government, non-government organizations, and island residents to help ensure coastal science is usable and applicable to local needs.
Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority – Lafayette Regional Office
Mr. McGinnis is a wetland ecologist with 12 years of coastal wetland research and 14 years of restoration monitoring experience. He has experience in a variety of coastal wetland types from marshes to mangroves and has been the monitoring manager for restoration projects involving a variety of restoration techniques.
US Army Corps of Engineers, ERDC
Abigail is an ORISE Fellow for USACE at the Engineer Research Development Center (ERDC) in Vicksburg, MS. As a research scientist, she is working on a variety of projects covering coastal and marsh restoration, modeling, and beneficial use of dredge material. Abigail received a B.S. in Biological Sciences from Mississippi State University and her M.S. in Marine Biology from Northeastern University where she developed a passion for coastal and marsh restoration and how to integrate social sciences in addition. As part of the Northeastern program, Abigail also has scientific diving experience in the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Pacific oceans.
While MEM was developed as a research tool, it can be applied in practice to identify and prioritize restoration activities. The MEM was utilized in a study of Mobile Harbor, AL to understand the impact of the beneficial use of dredge material (BUDM) for site restoration and informed the best practice for thin-layer placement. The model helped determine the volume and height of placed material based on biophysical constraints and the frequency that placement events need to occur based on sea-level rise estimates. Although MEM was utilized in this project, further documentation and tutorials are required for MEM to be fully utilized by practitioners.
With this goal in mind, the MEM Trail Guide was created to describe the inputs and outputs used in MEM to parameterize the model, how they are measured, and the role they play in the marsh dynamics. The Trail Guide may aid in the planning process of restoration by allowing for predictions of impacts of newly deposited material and how newly restored marshes may respond to rising sea levels. The interactive form of the Trail Guide allows users access to a simplified version of MEM to better understand the inputs/outputs in action and reflect how marsh conditions will subsequently change. Overall the development of the MEM Trail Guide offers a user-friendly virtual interface for practitioners to use in the planning period of a restoration project without the need for someone experienced to run the MEM. For future BUDM projects, the Trail Guide may allow project managers to determine which marsh zones require sediment nourishment and at what amount and frequency placement will be necessary.
Taylor Engineering, Inc.
Natalie Lamb serves as a Geologist at Taylor Engineering. Ms. Lamb assists in the company’s Coastal & Marine Geosciences Lab, specializing in sediment quality evaluation for dredging, shore protection, and sand source investigation projects throughout the state.
Part 1 of this project was a desktop study to quantify sand needs and available sand sources for each county within the SAD over the next 50 years. The project team determined the sand needs based on the nourishment history or recorded erosion rates for all federal and non-federal beach projects. Identified sand sources included offshore, upland, and Regional Sediment Management (RSM) beneficial use sources, such as navigation channels or inlet complexes. The project team compared the sand needs to the available sand sources for each county in the study, calculating the sand balance of each.
Based on the sand balance results of the Part 1 study, the USACE Jacksonville District identified four counties in southeast and southwest Florida for further investigation– Broward, Miami-Dade, Sarasota, and Manatee. USACE chose these counties due to lack of sufficient long-term sand sources currently identified. USACE tasked Taylor Engineering with the collection and analysis of sediment data for these counties, including geophysical surveys and vibracore samples. The project team reviewed preexisting geophysical data and identified new offshore sites for investigation. Before collecting vibracore samples, the team conducted geophysical surveys (multi-beam, sub-bottom, side scan, and magnetometer) to determine which areas had the best potential for beach quality sand deposits and appeared to have sand deposits of reasonable thickness for dredging activities. The team collected 120 vibracores from 75 investigation areas throughout the four counties.
The cores arrived at Taylor Engineering’s Coastal & Marine Geosciences Laboratory in Jacksonville, FL where Taylor’s geologists split, logged, and photographed them. USACE chose samples based on initial draft logs provided by Taylor Engineering, who then analyzed the selected samples for gradation, carbonate content, visual shell, and moist/dry Munsell color. Taylor Engineering deemed core layers as compatible or not compatible based on the beach nourishment sediment criteria for each county. The results showed a total of 54 investigation areas contained beach compatible sediment—of these 54 areas only 36 were volume-contributing based on sediment thickness. The definition of compatible sediments for this study included state and county sand attributes and at least five feet of sediment thickness to align with the industry-standard dredgeable minimum, with an included two-foot dredge buffer (a total of five feet of sand depth). Once compatible layers were identified, Taylor Engineering calculated potential volumes of available sand for each volume-contributing investigation area. The study identified approximately 39 million cubic yards of potential sand across all four counties, with the largest sand deposits found in Manatee County. Further investigations are necessary to better define and permit these investigation areas.
This poster is most applicable for USACE staff, state agencies, staff of local municipalities, local and regional planners, and private industry professionals. The poster will provide an overview of the geophysical and geotechnical sand search results, as well as where new sand deposits in southeast and southwest Florida merit more detailed investigation.
American Shore and Beach Preservation Association
Nicole Elko, Ph.D., is the Science Director for the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association (ASBPA), Executive Director of the South Carolina Beach Advocates, an Executive Director of the U.S. Coastal Research Program (USCRP), and President of Elko Coastal Consulting based in Folly Beach, SC. She serves as a member of the NOAA’s Hydrographic Services Review Panel (HSRP), and is one of the three civilian members of the U.S. Army Corps’ Coastal Engineering Research Board (CERB).
Dr. Elko has over 20 years of experience managing or assisting with coastal preservation projects along the U.S. Southeast and Gulf coasts. Dr. Elko received her Ph.D. (Geology) from the University of South Florida after working with the USGS Coastal Marine Geology Program, St. Petersburg, and while serving as the coastal coordinator for Pinellas County, FL.
University of Delaware
Dr. Gangadharan, Manoj Kumar is a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Applied Coastal Research, University of Delaware, Newark. He received his MS and Ph.D. dual degree in Ocean Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India, for his thesis on “development of a hybrid numerical model for simulating wave structure interaction.” His research interest includes wave structure interaction, extreme waves, hybrid numerical models, computational fluid dynamics, and environmental flows in general.
Washington Department of Ecology
Hannah Drummond is an environmental specialist with the Washington State Department of Ecology Coastal Monitoring and Analysis Program. She works with a team to conduct studies related to coastal natural hazards, coastal erosion, natural resource management, and coastal engineering practices. She holds a B.S. degree in Geology from Saint Lawrence University and recently earned an M.A. degree in Geographic Information Science from Western Washington University.
The dynamic revetment maintenance was coupled with nature-driven adaptive engineering designs and management strategies that incorporate large wood, vegetation, and seaward rock berms. As the revetment accumulated drift logs, other woody debris was introduced above and below the revetment to complement the function of the cobble, building a gentle and stable slope and buffer against storm events. A log groin was constructed and later extended primarily to dissipate infragravity wave energy, but also helped build a sand spit by trapping sediment and woody debris that would otherwise be washed into a nearby drainage ditch. Later, rock berms and rock mounds were placed seaward of the revetment toe for additional wave dissipation. The initial berms were placed along the summer wrack line to enhance the natural summer profile. Later, berms and mounds were added during the winter to stabilize erosion hotspots as they occurred to maintain an overall stable form. The combined rock and wood features contributed to sediment deposition by wind and wave processes and ultimately led to net sediment accumulation. Lastly, vegetation on the upper beach was introduced to facilitate sediment retention and dune-building processes.
The Washington State Department of Ecology Coastal Monitoring & Analysis Program (CMAP) has conducted quarterly monitoring of the project site since June 2018, including topographic surveys, revetment mapping, rock movement tracking, sediment grain-size analysis, and photo monitoring. Additional topographic surveys were performed during winter to determine response and recovery from storm events. This poster provides an overview of the design features described above and gives a brief monitoring update through spring of 2021, two and a half years after the initial construction of the dynamic revetment. An increase in both seasonal and overall vegetation on the upper beach has been observed, and a dynamically stable revetment toe position is shown through beach elevation profiles and revetment mapping results. The monitoring and analysis illustrates how this once rapidly eroding shoreline transitioned to a stable and accreting coastline by integrating multiple complementary design and management techniques determined by natural processes.
*Virtual Participant
US Army corps of Engineers
Dr. Himangshu S. Das graduated from University of South Carolina with a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering. Dr. Das serves as the District’s Subject Matter Expert (SME) providing expert guidance in coastal hydrology and hydraulics. Currently he is serving as the technical lead for the Coastal Texas Mega project – $20 million applied research program to better understand coastal risk and resilience to develop and engineer innovative solution to reduce infrastructure risk specific to the Texas coast from Louisiana to Mexico border. Prior to joining at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, from 2008 to 2017, Dr. Das served as a tenured Associate Professor at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Jackson State University (JSU). At JSU, Dr. Das served as Principal Investigators to numerous research projects. At JSU, he had secured and executed about one and half million-dollar worth of applied and research projects that focused on urban, coastal and near-shore processes, and ocean engineering and have authored or coauthored more than 30 peer reviewed technical publications.
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