ESI98 Project Plan

(Updated 6/8/1998)

Topic:

Assessment of shoreline change as a product of coastal dynamics, relating to sediment availability, sea-level rise, and coastal storm frequency.

Faculty Mentor:

Norbert P. Psuty

Project Team

List of team members.

Description of Project:

This project will involve data gathering and analysis relating to shoreline changes at several scales. In the broader scale, it will focus on the factors that drive the dimensional changes and produce shoreline mobility. On the local scale, there will be measurements of changes over different spatial and temporal domains.

The project team will work with existing imagery and shoreline change maps to produce a developmental sequence of change. The team will also incorporate data on sediment availability and sediment budgets in a spatial matrix, data on storm frequency/magnitude, and scenarios related to changing rates of sea-level rise.

Scientific objectives:

- to gather and display information on the basic concepts and conditions appropriate to an understanding of shoreline change in several temporal and spatial domains.

Educational objectives:

- to gain an understanding of the scientific methodology of problem formulation, data identification, and data collation related to shoreline mobility; and to establish data sets that can be used to demonstrate the application of the key natural variables and the human manipulations of the shoreline.

Resources:

Web-based data sets on coastal storms, coastal water levels, and shoreline change maps will be identified and downloaded. Data sets from State Departments of Environmental Protection, Environmental Conservation, and Natural Resources will be searched for appropriate information. Part of the project will be to identify sites of applicable data and their utility.

Preparation:

Read Waves and Beaches by Bascom. Search web-sites by State and Federal agencies that may contain pertinent information. Gather lists of storms of record that affected the coast during the last 50 years or so.

See also: NJ Shoreline Future.

Woodrow Wilson Leadership Program in Environmental Science lpt@www.woodrow.org
The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation webmaster@woodrow.org
CN 5281, Princeton NJ 08543-5281 Tel:(609)452-7007 Fax:(609)452-0066