Do storms cause long-term beach erosion along the U.S.East barrier coast?

摘要

In a few hours or days,scores of meters of each width can be lost due to a severe storm.However,newly available shoreline data from the U.S.East Coast show that beaches recover after storms to positions consistent with their long-term (100+yr0 trend.Even the largest storms,such as the Ash Wednesday Stormof 1962,considered to be the most damaging in the twentieth century,appear tohave had litle effecton the long-term trend.The gradual recession of beaches along the U.S.East Coast is mainly controlled by other factors such as sea-level rise and variations of sediment supply.Therefore,it follows that barrier beaches in a coastal plain setting would not expwerience long-term erosion in response to storminpact if the sea were to stop rising and sediment supply did not change.