68pc of beaches in New England, Mid-Atlantic region eroding: Study
By ANIThursday, February 24, 2011
WASHINGTON - A U.S. Geological Survey report has reported that an assessment of coastal change over the past 150 years has found 68 percent of beaches in the New England and Mid-Atlantic region are eroding.
Scientists studied more than 650 miles of the New England and Mid-Atlantic coasts and found the average rate of coastal change - taking into account beaches that are both eroding and prograding-was negative 1.6 feet per year. Of those beaches eroding, the most extreme case exceeded 60 feet per year.
The past 25 to 30 years saw a small reduction in the percentage of beaches eroding - dropping to 60 percent, possibly as a result of beach restoration activities such as adding sand to beaches.
“This report provides invaluable objective data to help scientists and managers better understand natural changes to and human impacts on the New England and Mid-Atlantic coasts,” said Anne Castle, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Water and Science.
Beaches change in response to a variety of factors, including changes in the amount of available sand, storms, sea-level rise and human activities. How much a beach is eroding or prograding in any given location is due to some combination of these factors, which vary from place to place.
The Mid-Atlantic coast - from Long Island, N.Y. to the Virginia-North Carolina border-is eroding at higher average rates than the New England coast. The difference in the type of coastline, with sandy areas being more vulnerable to erosion than areas with a greater concentration of rocky coasts, was the primary factor.
The researchers used historical data sources such as maps and aerial photographs, as well as modern data like lidar, or “light detection and ranging,” to measure shoreline change at more than 21,000 locations.
The report, titled “National Assessment of Shoreline Change: Historical Shoreline Change along the New England and Mid-Atlantic Coasts,” is the fifth report produced as part of the USGS’s National Assessment of Shoreline Change project. An accompanying report that provides the geographic information system (GIS) data used to conduct the coastal change analysis is being released simultaneously. (ANI)
