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Beach-fill equilibration and dune growth at two large-scale nourishment sites

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Abstract

Natural dune growth after nourishment is often observed, and such growth plays an important role in beach management for coastal communities. Nourishment sand equilibration after construction is another important topic for project planning and design. Large-scale nourishment projects at Nags Head (NC, USA) (completed in 2011) and Bridgehampton–Sagaponack (NY, USA) (completed in 2014) are under comparatively high-wave energy conditions and offer new insight regarding these topics. After nourishment, a natural beach and inshore morphology were produced with high rates of dune growth by eolian transport. At Nags Head, volumetric dune growth averaged 8 m3/m/yr over the first 5 years following project completion, while Bridgehampton–Sagaponack averaged 9 m3/m/yr over the first 3 post-project years. Results are compared with the Bagnold (1941) analytical model predictions of dune growth and are shown to correlate and decay closely with dry-sand beach width as the nourished profile equilibrates. The extra volume and elevation in the dunes have provided a higher level of storm protection and have helped the sites avoid any major damage to oceanfront properties during hurricanes or numerous severe winter storms.

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Acknowledgements

All data collection was by CSE staff scientists and technicians, including Drew Giles and Luke Fleniken. The manuscript was prepared with assistance of Trey Hair and Diana Sangster. The authors thank anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions for improvement of the original manuscript.

Funding

This research was sponsored by the Town of Nags Head (NC, USA) and the Town of Southampton (NY, USA) as part of the annual monitoring of each project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Coastal Science and Engineering, Inc., PO Box 8056, Columbia, SC, 29202-8056, USA

    Haiqing Liu Kaczkowski, Timothy W. Kana & Steven B. Traynum

  2. Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Delft, The Netherlands

    Ruben Visser

Authors
  1. Haiqing Liu Kaczkowski
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  2. Timothy W. Kana
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  3. Steven B. Traynum
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  4. Ruben Visser
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Haiqing Liu Kaczkowski.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Aart Kroon

This article is part of the Topical Collection on the 8th International conference on Coastal Dynamics, Helsingør, Denmark, 12-16 June 2017

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Kaczkowski, H.L., Kana, T.W., Traynum, S.B. et al. Beach-fill equilibration and dune growth at two large-scale nourishment sites. Ocean Dynamics 68, 1191–1206 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10236-018-1176-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10236-018-1176-2

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