One of the longest-running beach surveys in the world

GSO students Emily Hall and Dasan McElroy conduct a survey in Fall 2022.

The Beach Survey Program at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography monitors sandy shorelines along the south shore of Rhode Island.

Beach Survey Supervisor

Professor of Oceanography

Marine Geology and Geophysics

401.874.6233
jpwalsh@uri.edu

Survey Assistant


Overview

Emily Hall hand signals to Dasan McElroy during a beach survey.

The Beach Survey Program was established at GSO in the early 1960s at a few select sandy barrier beaches to measure and document shoreline change. Measurements have been taken regularly ever since, and the survey dataset is one of the longest of its kind.

Beach elevation measurements are taken monthly in the summer and twice-monthly in the fall, winter, and spring to account for the rapid changes that can occur on beaches due to winter storms like Nor’easters. The modern survey collects data from seven sites: Moonstone Beach, Greenhill Beach, Charlestown Town Beach, two sites at East Beach, Weekapaug Beach, and Misquamicut State Beach.

Surveys span the width of the beach from the dune crest to the waterline and have historically been taken with a transit instrument and stadia rod with respect to a GPS-referenced point. Collected data is then processed to measure beach erosion and sediment transport and has been utilized in several graduate student research projects over the years.

Victoria Fulfer and Jake Harrington prepare for an RTK survey at East Beach in 2024