DECADAL SCALE SHORELINE CHANGE ARISES FROM LARGE-SCALE INTERACTIONS, WHILE SMALL-SCALE CHANGES ARE FORGOTTEN: OBSERVATIONAL EVIDENCE

摘要

Storms, and the beach erosion they cause, can destroy homes and infrastructure. However, homes and infrastructure are typically constructed well landward of the shoreline, outside the envelope of storm erosion/recovery cycles. Decadal scale, chronic shoreline erosion—not storm cycles—brings the shoreline into close proximity with structures. Researchers often motivate studies of beach and nearshore changes on the timescales of storm cycles or shorter, and spatial scales of a kilometer or smaller, as necessary for producing an eventual ability to understand and predict longer term shoreline change. While processes and changes on relatively small time and spatial scales are often fascinating in their own right, and can constitute hazards during storm events, recent observations imply that ongoing, chronic shoreline change results directly from larger-scale interactions, not from the accumulation of relatively small-scale, short-term changes.