MORPHOLOGICAL RESPONSE OF A NOURISHED BEACH WITH BURIED GROINS TO A SERIES OF WINTER STORMS

JUN CHENG; CHRISTIANA FIOCCO; MICHAEL HEUSER; AMY JOHNSON; ERIN MCGRATH

Autores

JUN CHENG Assistent Professor at the Department of Environmental and Sustainability Sciences, Kean University
CHRISTIANA FIOCCO Undergraduate student at the Department of Environmental and Sustainability Sciences, Kean Ocean.
MICHAEL HEUSER Undergraduate student at the Department of Environmental and Sustainability Sciences, Kean Ocean
AMY JOHNSON Undergraduate student at the Department of Environmental and Sustainability Sciences, Kean Ocean
ERIN MCGRATH Undergraduate student at the Department of Environmental and Sustainability Sciences, Kean Ocean

Palavras-chave:

Seasonal beach changes, Winter storms, Hard structures, Coastal processes, New Jersey

Resumo

Ortley Beach, located along the Atlantic coast of New Jersey, is an erosional hot spot with shore protection measures including beach nourishment and a buried groin field. 5 beach profiles were measured with dense spatial (about 100 m apart along the shoreline) and temporal intervals (2-3 weeks) from February 10 to May 12 in 2023. During the energetic winter season from February 10 to March 17, a large longshore variation of beach changes was measured. Beach accretion was observed at southern part of the study area due to impoundment effect of buried groin interacting with northerly-directed longshore sediment transport. Severe beach/dune erosion was measured at profiles at the northern part of the study area adjacent to the downdrift of the groin field. The shoreline offset did not occur exactly at the place of the groin, instead sediment bypassed the buried groin and the deposition extended tens of meters downdrift of the groin. Later, as the weather transitioned to spring, the frequency and intensity of large waves subside, substantial beach accretion occurred at all the measured beach profiles. Another winter storm in late April eroded the beaches back to the previous stage. With wider pre-storm beach profile, no distinctive shoreline offset was created by buried groin field induced by this storm in late April. This suggests the status of the pre-storm beach profile playing an important role in controlling long-shore variations of beach changes. Systematic beach profile monitoring is essential to investigate the threshold of beach width for the occurrences of shoreline offset induced by the buried groins. In addition, this study was conducted with undergraduate students when the coastal study program at Kean University (Hispanic-Serving Institution) just started, thus it can also serve as an example in initiating and conducting field-based coastal research with students.

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