UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, FIRE ISLAND NATIONAL SEASHORE AND COASTAL CAROLINA UNIVERSITY JOIN TO STUDY SEDIMENT MOVEMENT ON THE BEACH AND OFFSHORE OF FIRE ISLAND

In early September a group quietly moved into their two week headquarters in Kismet from which they left everyday at 6AM to pursue their study.

The Team:

Left to right: Jeff Marshall, Clay McCoy, Shinobu Okano, Rich Viso, and Jamie Phillips. 

Clay McCoy, PhD, Senior Research Scientist, manage BERM program (Beach Erosion, Research, and Monitoring) at CCU and conducted surfzone survey in this project

Rich Viso, PhD, Assistant Director, Center for Marine and Wetland Studies, CCU, manage multibeam data collection (offshore work in larger boat) for this project

Captain Jamie Phillips, Project Manager, boat captain

Jeff Marshall, Chief Hydrographer, oversees data collection and processing

Shinobu Okano, Hydrographic Technician, data collection and processing

Reason for study:

This is a joint project with the United States Geological Survey, Fire Island National Seashore, and Coastal Carolina University to study sediment movement on the beach and offshore of Fire Island .  We were up for 2 weeks to map the seafloor in two sites:  Lighthouse and Watch Hill.  Data will be presented at professional meetings and published in journals and will be utilized by coastal managers of Fire Island.  Below is some verbiage from the proposal we submitted.

The Goal:

This study is designed to provide first-of-its kind data on the nearshore bathymetry (0 – 10m water depth) within two sites along FIIS, to begin to address the issues of onshore/offshore transport of sand to and from the beach and its impact on beach erosion. It builds on the initial pilot project completed in September 2007 using only single beam instrumentation. Here is the goal of the 2007 data and the additional work conducted in 2009 was to expand the work from the very nearshore areas (<1/2 mile to about 3 miles offshore)

More Reasons for the Study:

The data collection effort will complement ongoing studies of mapping changes on the beach, and the data derived from both analyses can be combined to provide a topographic/bathymetric surface (maps). These data, in turn, can be combined with older, existing bathymetric data collected further offshore to provide the necessary foundation for modeling impacts of storm waves.  This will help to provide information on how the removal of material (sand) from the proposed borrow sites (borrow sites are locations sand is taken for renourishment and placed on the beach) may alter wave patterns, and ultimately impact beach (increase or decrease erosion rates)

Clay McCoy, PhD

Coastal Processes Specialist

Coastal Carolina University

South Carolina Sea Grant Extension Program

cmccoy@coastal.edu