LARGE-SCALE RESPONSE OF FORESHORE SLOPE TO STORM EVENTS

摘要

This paper examines the relation between storm-induced shoreline change and foreshorernslope change to address two questions: 1. How consistent is the classic “berm profile” to “barrnprofile” beach response to storms, and 2. Can hotspots of storm erosion be differentiated from nonhotspotsrnon the basis of the slope response? Data consist of trios of pre-storm, storm, and post-stormrnsurveys within three study areas: 45 km of outer Cape Cod, Massachusetts, coast, 70 km of NorthrnCarolina coast north of Oregon Inlet, and 65 km of North Carolina coast south of Oregon Inlet.rnResults show that while the majority of storm observations are consistent with the classic response,rnthere are many exceptions and a great deal of variability in the response. This variability occursrnboth between study regions and within a single region when considering different storms, and cannotrnbe predicted by the magnitude of shoreline change suggesting that other factors are likelyrnresponsible (but are not examined here). Contrary to expectations, areas of coast that can be definedrnas hotspots of storm erosion show no significant difference in slope response from non-hotspotrnareas. This challenges the notion that hotspots represent areas of coast that exhibit a strong classicrnprofile response while non-hotspots are areas that are somehow sheltered from this response.