NSF Award to Study Seafloor Dynamics from Hurricane

February 13, 2019
Hurricane Florence crossed the North Carolina coast on September 14, 2018.

COASTL Receives NSF RAPID to Study Florence’s Impact on the Seafloor

Many communities in central-to-southern NC suffered beach and dune erosion from Hurricane Florence. Figure from Greg Rudolph with the Carteret Count Shore Protection Office.

The North Carolina coast was hit hard by strong winds, powerful waves and flooding from Hurricane Florence.  As a result, many beach communities experience substantial beach and dune erosion, such along Bogue Banks (pictured).   Offshore sand sources are anticipated to be used in the future to renourish impacted areas as funding allows. 

This National Science Foundation (NSF) RAPID grant will support immediate multibeam and seismic-reflection data collection to understand how waves and currents affected the offshore seabed.  Specfically, work will focus on a sand borrow source to determine recent dynamics.   Data collection will be spearheaded by Geodynamics, LLC. in Morehead City, and Walsh from COASTL will work with Geodynamics and partners at East Carolina University in the analysis.  Data will be compared to pre-hurricane data to help understand how storms impact borrow areas as well as how dredged zones may be naturally reworked.