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Masked shoreline erosion at large spatial scales as a collective effect of beach nourishment

Masked shoreline erosion at large spatial scales as a collective effect of beach nourishment
Masked shoreline erosion at large spatial scales as a collective effect of beach nourishment
Sea‐level rise along the low‐lying coasts of the world's passive continental margins should, on average, drive net shoreline retreat over large spatial scales (>102 km). A variety of natural physical factors can influence trends of shoreline erosion and accretion, but trends in recent rates of shoreline change along the U.S. Atlantic Coast reflect an especially puzzling increase in accretion, not erosion. A plausible explanation for the apparent disconnect between environmental forcing and shoreline response along the U.S. Atlantic Coast is the application, since the 1960s, of beach nourishment as the predominant form of mitigation against chronic coastal erosion. Using U.S. Geological Survey shoreline records from 1830–2007 spanning more than 2500 km of the U.S. Atlantic Coast, we calculate a mean rate of shoreline change, prior to 1960, of ‐55 cm/yr (a negative rate denotes erosion). After 1960, the mean rate reverses to approximately +5 cm/yr, indicating widespread apparent accretion despite steady (and, in some places, accelerated) sea‐level rise over the same period. Cumulative sediment input from decades of beach nourishment projects may have sufficiently altered shoreline position to mask "true" rates of shoreline change. Our analysis suggests that long‐term rates of shoreline change typically used to assess coastal hazard may be systematically underestimated. We also suggest that the overall effect of beach nourishment along of the U.S. Atlantic Coast is extensive enough to constitute a quantitative signature of coastal geoengineering, and may serve as a bellwether for nourishment‐dominated shorelines elsewhere in the world.
2328-4277
74-84
Armstrong, Scott B.
83514fef-1710-4477-9e75-64425b2022b1
Lazarus, Eli
642a3cdb-0d25-48b1-8ab8-8d1d72daca6e
Armstrong, Scott B.
83514fef-1710-4477-9e75-64425b2022b1
Lazarus, Eli
642a3cdb-0d25-48b1-8ab8-8d1d72daca6e

Armstrong, Scott B. and Lazarus, Eli (2019) Masked shoreline erosion at large spatial scales as a collective effect of beach nourishment. Earth's Future, 7 (2), 74-84. (doi:10.1029/2018EF001070).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Sea‐level rise along the low‐lying coasts of the world's passive continental margins should, on average, drive net shoreline retreat over large spatial scales (>102 km). A variety of natural physical factors can influence trends of shoreline erosion and accretion, but trends in recent rates of shoreline change along the U.S. Atlantic Coast reflect an especially puzzling increase in accretion, not erosion. A plausible explanation for the apparent disconnect between environmental forcing and shoreline response along the U.S. Atlantic Coast is the application, since the 1960s, of beach nourishment as the predominant form of mitigation against chronic coastal erosion. Using U.S. Geological Survey shoreline records from 1830–2007 spanning more than 2500 km of the U.S. Atlantic Coast, we calculate a mean rate of shoreline change, prior to 1960, of ‐55 cm/yr (a negative rate denotes erosion). After 1960, the mean rate reverses to approximately +5 cm/yr, indicating widespread apparent accretion despite steady (and, in some places, accelerated) sea‐level rise over the same period. Cumulative sediment input from decades of beach nourishment projects may have sufficiently altered shoreline position to mask "true" rates of shoreline change. Our analysis suggests that long‐term rates of shoreline change typically used to assess coastal hazard may be systematically underestimated. We also suggest that the overall effect of beach nourishment along of the U.S. Atlantic Coast is extensive enough to constitute a quantitative signature of coastal geoengineering, and may serve as a bellwether for nourishment‐dominated shorelines elsewhere in the world.

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Armstrong et al 2019 Earth's Future - Accepted Manuscript
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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 15 January 2019
e-pub ahead of print date: 18 January 2019
Published date: 8 February 2019

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 427693
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/427693
ISSN: 2328-4277
PURE UUID: 654b6053-cbcd-4cb5-847f-077b4515235e
ORCID for Eli Lazarus: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-2404-9661

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Date deposited: 25 Jan 2019 17:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 04:28

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Contributors

Author: Scott B. Armstrong
Author: Eli Lazarus ORCID iD

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