LiDAR and bathymetric surveys were used in conjunction with aerial imagery to evaluate the impact of Hurricane Ike (2008) on Follett’s Island (FI), a sediment-starved barrier island on the Upper Texas Coast (UTC). Elevations from LiDAR surveys were interpolated onto cross-shore transects, documenting the coastal response of the beach and dune system to the passing of Ike, as well as five years of subsequent recovery. Pre-Ike and post-Ike bathymetric surveys were compared along these transects to evaluate the long-term impact of Ike to the subaqueous shoreface. It was found that the beach and dune systems experienced a net increase in sediment volume and an advancement of the shoreline after five years of recovery. This increase to the subaerial portion of the island represents less than 5% of the subaqueous volume loss to the shoreface. Sediment carried to the nearshore and back barrier by Hurricane Ike replenished sediment to FI that had been lost to decades of starvation, allowing nearshore and aeolian processes to then restructure the island. This raises the question of whether hurricane overwash is critical to sustaining barrier islands in starved systems, and if so, whether coastal management strategies should be reconsidered for sediment starved barrier islands.
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