Barrier Island Overwash Research Articles

Investigating Controls on Barrier Island Overwash and Evolution during Extreme Storms

Over short periods of time, extreme storms can significantly alter barrier island morphology, increasing the vulnerability of coastal habitats and communities relative to future storms. These impacts are complex and the result of interactions between oceanographic conditions and the geomorphic, geological, and ecological characteristics of the island. A 2D XBeach model was developed and compared to observations in order to study these interactions along an undeveloped barrier island near the landfall of Hurricane Florence in 2018. Beachface water levels during the storm were obtained from two cross-shore arrays of pressure sensors for comparison to model hydrodynamics. Aerial drone imagery was used to derive pre-storm and post-storm elevation data in order to quantify spatially varying erosion and overwash. Sediment grain size was measured in multiple locations, and we estimated spatially varying friction by using Sentinel-2 satellite imagery. The high spatial and temporal resolution of satellite imagery provided an efficient method for incorporating pre-storm spatially varying land cover. While previous studies have focused on the use of spatially varying friction, we found that the utilization of local median grain sizes and full directional wave spectra was critical to reproducing observed overwash extent.

Long-term washover fan accretion on a transgressive barrier island challenges the assumption that paleotempestites represent individual tropical cyclones

Barrier island overwash occurs when the elevation of wave runup exceeds the dune crest and induces landward transport of sediment across a barrier island and deposition of a washover deposit. Washover deposition is generally attributed to major storms, is important for the maintenance of barrier island resilience to sea-level rise and is used to extend hurricane records beyond historical accounts by reconstructing the frequency and extent of washover deposits preserved in the sedimentary record. Here, we present a high-fidelity 3-year record of washover evolution and overwash at a transgressive barrier island site. During the first year after establishment, washover volume and area increased 1595% and 197%, respectively, from at least monthly overwash. Most of the washover accretion resulted from the site morphology having a low resistance to overwash, as opposed to being directly impacted by major storms. Washover deposits can accrete landward over multi-year time scales in the absence of large storms; therefore, paleotempestites can be more complex than single event beds.

Monitoring overwash using water-level loggers resolves frequent inundation and run-up events

Long-term (months to years) data on barrier-island overwash are lacking, but necessary for the proper parameterization of models addressing island response to rising sea levels, increased storminess and anthropogenic changes. Here, we present a method for recording overwash events that requires little maintenance and can endure storms. This technique uses water-level data loggers suspended in shallow wells that are anchored deeply into the ground. The loggers are placed close to the highest elevation of the barrier island along a cross-shore transect and record high-resolution (±1cm) and high-frequency (2minute) water-level measurements. We developed a schema for differentiating between tidal fluctuations in groundwater, run-up overwash and inundation overwash based on the pattern of water-level changes. Interpretations were validated using trail cameras aimed at the well and programmed to take a photograph every 5min during daylight hours. There were some data gaps in the record caused by siltation of the logger in the well, repairing a corroded severed cable that was suspending the logger, and limited logger data storage. We constructed a year-long record of overwash frequency and magnitude from October 2012–2013 that included 43 distinct overwash events at a washover fan that initially formed in August of 2011 on Onslow Beach, NC, USA. The record revealed a shift in overwash intensity at the study site, reflecting both changing water levels and changing barrier morphology. The high number of overwash events that occurred at the washover fan 14months after its initial formation is likely not unique to this site; however, overwash frequency needs to be measured along other shorelines using this method.

Evaluation of wave runup predictions from numerical and parametric models

Wave runup during storms is a primary driver of coastal evolution, including shoreline and dune erosion and barrier island overwash. Runup and its components, setup and swash, can be predicted from a parameterized model that was developed by comparing runup observations to offshore wave height, wave period, and local beach slope. Because observations during extreme storms are often unavailable, a numerical model is used to simulate the storm-driven runup to compare to the parameterized model and then develop an approach to improve the accuracy of the parameterization. Numerically simulated and parameterized runup were compared to observations to evaluate model accuracies. The analysis demonstrated that setup was accurately predicted by both the parameterized model and numerical simulations. Infragravity swash heights were most accurately predicted by the parameterized model. The numerical model suffered from bias and gain errors that depended on whether a one-dimensional or two-dimensional spatial domain was used. Nonetheless, all of the predictions were significantly correlated to the observations, implying that the systematic errors can be corrected. The numerical simulations did not resolve the incident-band swash motions, as expected, and the parameterized model performed best at predicting incident-band swash heights. An assimilated prediction using a weighted average of the parameterized model and the numerical simulations resulted in a reduction in prediction error variance. Finally, the numerical simulations were extended to include storm conditions that have not been previously observed. These results indicated that the parameterized predictions of setup may need modification for extreme conditions; numerical simulations can be used to extend the validity of the parameterized predictions of infragravity swash; and numerical simulations systematically underpredict incident swash, which is relatively unimportant under extreme conditions.

Simulation of storm-induced barrier island morphodynamics and flooding

Prediction of coupled storm hydrodynamics and morphodynamics is essential for accurately designing coastal flood protection measures. A numerical simulation methodology was developed and implemented to evaluate and assess engineering design solutions for storm damage reduction along the south shore of Long Island, New York, USA. This simulation methodology was applied to compute bay water levels for two major coastal storms taking into account contributions from storm surge, waves, wind, and barrier island overwash and breaching. Simulation results for breaching and bay flooding compare well to historically documented barrier island morphological change and bay high water marks.

LOW-PROFILE BARRIER ISLAND OVERWASH AND BREACHING IN THE GULF OF MEXICO

An analysis of 17 tropical cyclone impacts along barrier islands in the Gulf of Mexico has led to the following conclusions: 1) tropical cyclones are the primary mechanism of barrier island overwash and breaching, 2) landward-directed and seaward-directed overwash flow can breach barrier islands, 3) storm track orientation to the shoreline controls the direction of barrier island breaching, 4) shore-normal and right-oblique hurricane impacts breach barrier islands by landward-directed overwash flow, and 5) left-oblique hurricane impacts breach barrier islands by seaward-directed overwash flow.