Airphoto Analysis of the Impact of Hurricane Alicia on Galveston Island

摘要

The advent of Hurricane Alicia at Galveston Island in August 1983 brought not only widely reported structural damage but significant, less-publicized shoreline erosion as well. The purpose of the study was to quantify the erosional impact of Alicia and to determine whether that impact was a departure from, or merely a continuation of, the ongoing pattern of mid- to long-term shoreline movement on the island. The study compared aerial photography taken shortly after Alicia's passage with similar photographic sequences taken in 1979, 1977, 1967 and 1952 as well as a number of individual photos from 1970 and 1980. Structural damage from Alicia, which seems to have been a major hurricane but not an extreme one like Carla, Celia or Allen, was concentrated along the beachfront and on the southwestern half of the island.