Hurricane Sandy: Beach-dune recovery at New Jersey Beach Profile Network (NJBPN) sites

摘要

The Stockton University Coastal Research Center (CRC) continued its biannual measurements of the 105 New Jersey Beach Profile Network (NJBPN) locations to measure beach, dune, and nearshore recovery following the passage of Hurricane Sandy (29 October 2012). Shoreline position and volume changes were recorded from fall 2012 to fall 2015 and provide short-term temporal documentation on recovery to pre-storm conditions. Observations of selected locations from the four ocean-fronting counties are presented to show the influence of human-induced and natural events that followed the storm's landfall, and note local coastal environment and sediment transport patterns on recovery along the Atlantic coast. Passage of Public Law 113-2 allowed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to restore authorized federal projects to their design templates. Approximately 28,281,741 cubic yards of sand were used to rebuild the beaches and dunes. Sixty-three NJBPN profile locations fall within the federal project boundaries and showed significant volumetric gains. The volumes generated through natural recovery did not approach the volumes that were placed via human efforts but the sediment made available to the littoral system benefitted natural beach-dune recovery. The influence of northeast storm events in 2014, October 2015, and again in early 2016 reduced the post-Sandy natural beach-dune recovery.