Abstract
Barrier island overwash and breaching are caused by inundation from ocean storm surge and waves or from elevated levels of bay water. According to numerical simulations, a developed barrier island in New Jersey experienced major overwash and some breaching during Hurricane Sandy in 2012 as a result of an extreme rise in bay surge within Barnegat Bay 6 h after peak ocean surge. In this study, a sensitivity analysis was conducted on the effects of peak bay-surge timing and magnitude on the morphological change in the presence and absence of a seawall. Results from the numerical model indicate that the timing of the peak bay surge in the northern portion of Barnegat Bay was a major contributor to the damage observed at nearby locations along the barrier island. By shifting bay-surge timing, island erosion was reduced up to 130%, mostly on the back barrier, the location of the majority of coastal infrastructure. Additionally, simulations show that a seawall protected the island from severe erosion by preventing ocean and bay surge from flowing freely across the island. In the absence of a seawall, the elevation of the island was significantly eroded under Hurricane Sandy conditions, where erosion was exacerbated by increases in bay-surge magnitude.
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Acknowledgments
This material is based on work supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, via award NA14OAR4170093 to Virginia Sea Grant; the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program via grant DGE-1148903; and National Science Foundation via grant EAR-1312813. The authors acknowledge Advanced Research Computing at Virginia Tech (http://www.arc.vt.edu) for providing computational resources and technical support that have contributed to the results reported within this paper.
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Published In
Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering
Volume 143 • Issue 5 • September 2017
Copyright
© 2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 12, 2016
Accepted: Mar 2, 2017
Published online: Jun 7, 2017
Published in print: Sep 1, 2017
Discussion open until: Nov 7, 2017
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