National assessment of hurricane-induced coastal erosion hazards--Gulf of Mexico
Open-File Report
2012-1084
Links
- More information: USGS Index Page (html)
- Document: Report (1.9 MB pdf)
- Dataset: Gulf of Mexico Coastal Erosion Hazards Dataset (325 KB zip)
- Data Releases:
- Download citation as: RIS | Dublin Core
Abstract
Sandy beaches provide a natural barrier between the ocean and inland communities, ecosystems, and resources. However, these dynamic environments move and change in response to winds, waves, and currents. During a hurricane, these changes can be large and sometimes catastrophic. High waves and storm surge act together to erode beaches and inundate low-lying lands, putting inland communities at risk. A decade of USGS research on storm-driven coastal change hazards has provided the data and modeling capabilities to identify areas of our coastline that are likely to experience extreme and potentially hazardous erosion during a hurricane. This report defines hurricane-induced coastal erosion hazards for sandy beaches along the U.S. Gulf of Mexico coastline. The analysis is based on a storm-impact scaling model that uses observations of beach morphology combined with sophisticated hydrodynamic models to predict how the coast will respond to the direct landfall of category 1-5 hurricanes. Hurricane-induced water levels, due to both surge and waves, are compared to beach and dune elevations to determine the probabilities of three types of coastal change: collision (dune erosion), overwash, and inundation. As new beach morphology observations and storm predictions become available, this analysis will be updated to describe how coastal vulnerability to storms will vary in the future.
| Publication type | Report |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | USGS Numbered Series |
| Title | National assessment of hurricane-induced coastal erosion hazards--Gulf of Mexico |
| Series title | Open-File Report |
| Series number | 2012-1084 |
| DOI | 10.3133/ofr20121084 |
| Year Published | 2012 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | U.S. Geological Survey |
| Publisher location | Reston, VA |
| Contributing office(s) | St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center |
| Description | vii, 49 p.; Tables; Spatial Datasets; Metadata |
| Other Geospatial | Gulf Of Mexico |
| Online Only (Y/N) | Y |
| Additional Online Files (Y/N) | Y |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |