The abstracts of the Summer 2024 issue (Vol. 92, No. 3) are below.
Note that ASBPA members only now have access to a full Digital edition of Shore & Beach (click here).
Become a member now to get immediate access to the latest issue!
From the Editor’s Desk: “Something for everyone . . . on their way to the beach”
Lesley C. Ewing
Abstract: The Editor of Shore & Beach highlights the contents of the Summer 2024 issue.
“One hundred years of inlet processes and barrier adjustments at North Inlet, SC”
Patrick Barrineau
Abstract: Debidue Beach and North Inlet are a coupled mixed-energy inlet-barrier system along the South Atlantic Bight in South Carolina, USA. Long-term chronic erosion along much of Debidue throughout the 20th century is the result of a shoreline adjustment triggered by an avulsion in the main channel of North Inlet occurring between 1926 and 1934. We use a historical database of shoreline positions compiled by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the Analysis of Moving Boundaries Using R (AMBUR) package to quantify changes in the Debidue Beach shoreline over nearly 150 years from 1872 to 2011. This analysis documents relatively large-scale shoreline changes (and equivalent volumetric changes above local depth of closure “DOC”) following the shift in channel position, and a logarithmic decrease in erosion rates over the following decades. Mixed-energy ebb-dominant inlets have considerable effects on adjacent beaches due to their ability to retain and shed large quantities of sand relatively quickly. This study demonstrates that even systems exhibiting long-term stability — like North Inlet — are indeed migrational landforms and should be considered as such when formulating shoreline management plans along adjacent beaches.
“Planning protected area networks for surfing resources”
Dan R. Reineman, Michael L. Blum, Jesse Reiblich, and Diego A. Sancho-Gallegos
Abstract: Surf breaks are vital cultural resources on coastlines worldwide, but are vulnerable to myriad threats, including climate change and coastal development; as such, efforts to protect them have proliferated. Hitherto, spatial protections (e.g., marine protected areas; MPAs) have been pursued for surf breaks as single, individual reserves. This situation is comparable to the early days of biodiversity MPAs, which eventually progressed to networked reserve design, initially culminating in California’s 124 networked MPAs. Here, we apply the analogy of networked biodiversity reserve design to networked reserves for surf break protection. We examine the proposition that the effectiveness of surfing resource conservation can be improved by a “networked” approach. We conclude that specific characteristics of surf breaks, including their size, type, carrying capacity, quality, value, accessibility, spacing, vulnerability, and cultural and historic significance could all be considered and balanced to yield more effective, equitable conservation outcomes.
“Influence of structure characteristics on wave transmission and shoreline response at a low-crested segmented breakwater in Little Egg Harbor Township, NJ”
Katherine M. Gannon, Matthew S. Janssen, and Jon K. Miller
Abstract: Graveling Point Beach, a public beach within Little Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, has been experiencing long-term erosion. To address the issue, a living shoreline project consisting of four low-crested rubble-mound breakwaters and a beach nourishment was constructed beginning in fall 2022 (structures) and finishing in spring 2023 (beach nourishment). A variety of field methods were used to investigate the influence of the breakwater system on wave transmission and beach fill evolution. The observations are then compared to common empirical estimations. A median wave transmission coefficient of 0.4 was measured for incident waves with a median height and peak period of 9 cm and 2 sec, respectively. The observed transmission coefficient was higher than that predicted by models such as Briganti et al. (2003) and Van der Meer and Daemen (1994) suggesting other processes such as diffraction may be influencing the results. Structure from Motion (SfM) was used to generate a series of Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) which show salients forming behind the structures. The resulting salient growth was compared to the model of Suh and Dalrymple (1987), which was shown to overpredict the amplitude of the salient at Graveling Point. However, the expected relationship of breakwaters with increased offshore distance having shorter salient lengths was generally observed. The equation was refit using the field data at Graveling Point and laboratory data with similar wave heights and periods from Suh and Dalrymple to derive a modified model that may be more appropriate in low-energy environments.
“The recreational and economic value of Florida beaches”
James R. Houston
Abstract: Florida is the world’s top travel destination and if it were its own country, it would have more tourist visits than any other country. Its sandy beaches extend a shoreline length almost as great as the combined lengths of sandy beaches in California, Texas, and North Carolina. Florida’s beaches are easily America’s recreational playground. Every year, Florida beaches attract approximately 70% more day visits than combined attendance at national parks, college and professional sports, amusement parks, cruises, and NASCAR events. Beach tourism plays a huge role in Florida’s economy. Manufacturing and residential construction are major industries in Florida, but their revenues are each a fraction of beach-oriented tourist spending. Florida’s farmland, ranches, and forests cover 75% of its land area, but beach-oriented tourist spending is more than 10 times the total receipts of all Florida agriculture and forestry. Beach-oriented tourists generate $23.3 billion in tax revenues annually. These tax revenues are more than double the combined salaries of Florida public school teachers, law enforcement officers, and instructors at colleges and universities. Some Florida beaches have sand deficits because dams on rivers have blocked sand that normally would flow to the coast, and navigation projects have diverted sand out of the littoral system to ebb and flood shoals. Beach nourishment has then been needed to restore and maintain the beaches. Beaches widened by nourishment have not only been a magnet for tourists but have also protected bill-lions of dollars of shore infrastructure from hurricanes. Beach nourishment has been a bargain, with beach-oriented tourists in Florida generating six times more tax revenues each year than have been spent on Florida beach nourishment during the 80 years from 1944-2023 (in 2022 dollars to account for inflation).Most Florida beach nourishment has been placed in the past 50 years, and beach-oriented tourists have generated $310 dollars in tax revenues and $1070 in Gross Domestic Product (GDP)annually for every $1 spent on beach nourishment. Miami Beach is a good example of the economic benefits of beach nourishment. It had almost no beach in the mid-1970s because of erosion, causing tourism to drop rapidly and itself to become a “seedy backwater of debt-ridden hotels.” Beach nourishment starting in 1978 caused a boom in tourism, and today Miami Beach has the most valuable property in Florida — worth more than the value of all Florida cropland. Miami Beach has had a return of $550 in tourist-generated taxes and $3900 in GDP for every $1 spent on beach nourishment.
Summary: ASBPA Coastal Summit 2024
The ASBPA Government Affairs Committee
Abstract: The American Shore and Beach Preservation Association (ASBPA), established in 1926, is dedicated to preserving and enhancing coastal areas through the integration of science and public policy. The organization advocates for healthy, sustainable, and resilient coastal systems, emphasizing the importance of federal Coastal Storm Risk Management (CSRM) projects. The ASBPA Coastal Summit 2024, themed “Shaping Coastal Futures: Implementing Science-Based Resilience Policies,” convened 111 coastal practitioners in Washington, D.C. The Summit aims to address pressing challenges and advocate for science-based policies to ensure the sustainability and resilience of coastal systems.
Coastal Forum: “The latest sea level rise projections of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change”
James R. Houston
Abstract: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a multi-country organization of the United Nations formed in 1988 to assess science related to climate change (IPCC 2024). In March 2023, the IPCC published its Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), its sixth assessment of climate change since its first in 1990 (IPCC 2023). IPCC (2023) and its supporting reports total almost 8,000 pages (Boehm and Schumer 2023). Hundreds of scientists from around the world worked to develop the IPCC reports, and thousands of scientists peer-reviewed the reports(Boehm and Schumer 2023; Houston 2022).A chapter of AR6 deals with the physical basis for climate change and includes sea level rise projections (Fox-Kemper et al. 2021). These projections were supported by updated projections of the contributions to sea level rise from Antarctica (Oppenheimer 2019) and Greenland (The IMBIE Team 2020). IPCC (2023) presents the final projections. Updated IPCC projections are not expected until its seventh assessment in 2029-2030. I will report on the sea level projections in AR6, and on an online tool that provides sea level rise projections for the world as a whole and at individual tide gauge locations around the world. The IPCC bases its projections on climate response to five scenarios that cover the range of possible future anthropogenic drivers of climate change. “These scenarios combine socio-economic assumptions, levels of climate mitigation, land use, and air pollution controls for aerosols” (Climate Neutral Group 2021). IPCC then determines levels of greenhouse gases(largely carbon dioxide) and temperatures to 2050 and 2100 using complex calculations that depend on how quickly humans curb greenhouse gas emissions. It estimates sea level rise using projected temperatures. Scenarios based on IPCC (2023) are summarized below.