nsf.gov - National Science Foundation - NSF awards first coastal sustainability grants for research on world's most populated areas

In wake of storms such as Hurricane Sandy, grants will lead to better management of coastal environments.-

Coastal systems are crucial to regional and national economies. Credit and Larger Version

September 27, 2013

More than half the world's human population lived in coastal areas in the year 2000; that percentage is expected to rise to 75 percent by 2025.

With our large footprint in coastal sands--and in the wake of severe storms such as Hurricane Sandy--how do we co-exist with our coastlines? How do we use them sustainably?

A sustainable world is one in which human needs are met equitably, without sacrificing the ability of future generations to meet their needs. The National Science Foundation (NSF)'s Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability investments aim to address this challenge.

NSF's coastal SEES program is focused on the sustainability of coastal systems: the swath of land closely connected to the sea, including barrier islands, wetlands, mudflats, beaches and estuaries, as well as coastal cities, towns, recreational areas and maritime facilities; the continental seas and shelves; and the overlying atmosphere.

NSF's coastal SEES program has funded its first awards for studies of coasts in the U.S. and around the world. The 11 awards total $13.1 million.

Coastal systems are crucial to regional and national economies. They host human-built infrastructure and provide ecosystem services that sustain our well-being, says David Conover, director of NSF's Division of Ocean Sciences.

"We benefit from coastal environments for enjoyment, housing, food, industrial uses and commerce," says Conover. "In the process, however, we alter them physically, chemically and ecologically."

"These changes influence and interact with natural variability, extreme events and long-term directions to affect the system as a whole, including the benefits humans derive."

We need to better comprehend this coupled human-natural system, he says, so we might make better decisions about its future.

Toward that end, NSF's new coastal SEES projects address topics such as developing high-performance green infrastructure to sustain coastal cities; sustainability of the largest estuary in the U.S., Chesapeake Bay; planning for the hydrologic and ecological effects of sea level rise on coastal water resources; brine discharge from desalination plants; achieving sustainable urban estuaries; and the resilience of coral reefs.

2013 Coastal SEES Awards

Patricia Culligan, Columbia University:

 Coastal SEES (Track 2), Collaborative: Developing high performance green infrastructure systems to sustain coastal cities

Wayne Geyer, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution:

Coastal SEES (Track 2), Collaborative: Toward sustainable urban estuaries in the anthropocene

Thomas Fisher, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences: Coastal SEES (Track 2), Collaborative: Improving Chesapeake Bay water quality by creating sustainable coastal watersheds

Andrew Pershing, University of Maine:

 Coastal SEES (Track 2), Collaborative Research: Resilience and adaptation of a coastal ecological-economic system in response to increasing temperature

Christopher Hein, College of William & Mary Virginia Institute of Marine Science:

 Coastal SEES (Track I), Collaborative: Sediment Supply in a Regime of Accelerated Coastal Erosion (SedS-RACE): Paleo-perspectives, anthropogenic influences and future challenges

Carl Hershner, College of William & Mary Virginia Institute of Marine Science:

 Coastal SEES (Track 1), Collaborative: Chesapeake Bay sustainability: Implications of changing climate and shifting management objectives

Sally Holbrook, University of California-Santa Barbara:

 Coastal SEES (Track 1), Collaborative: Adaptive capacity, resilience, and coral reef state shifts in social-ecological systems

Jonathan Martin, University of Florida:

 Coastal SEES (Track 1): Planning for hydrologic and ecological impacts of sea level rise on sustainability of coastal water resources

Steven Murawski, University of South Florida:

 Coastal SEES (Track 1): Novel approaches to understanding human use patterns and mobility for coastal natural resources management

Adina Paytan, University of California-Santa Cruz:

Coastal SEES (Track 1): Brine discharge from desalination plants--Impacts on coastal ecology, public perception, and public policy

Tamara Ticktin, University of Hawaii:

Coastal SEES (Track 1): Understanding the links between local ecological knowledge, ecosystem services, and community resilience

-NSF-

Media Contacts Cheryl Dybas, NSF (703) 292-7734 cdybas@nsf.gov

Related WebsitesNSF's Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability programs: http://www.nsf.gov/sees
NSF Publication: Discoveries in Sustainability:

 http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2012/disco12001/disco12001.pdf

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. In fiscal year (FY) 2012, its budget was $7.0 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and other institutions. Each year, NSF receives about 50,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes about 11,500 new funding awards. NSF also awards about $593 million in professional and service contracts yearly.

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Useful NSF Web Sites:
NSF Home Page:

 http://www.nsf.gov
NSF News:

http://www.nsf.gov/news/
For the News Media:

 http://www.nsf.gov/news/newsroom.jsp
Science and Engineering Statistics:

http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/
Awards Searches:

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View Video
Understanding coastal seas: NSF grants offer new insights.
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Runoff from coastal cities poses a threat to their sustainability.
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As storm surge buffers, wetlands play an important role in coastal sustainability.
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NSF coastal SEES researchers will study Gulf of Maine species such as lobsters.
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Fertilizer washing into coastal waters causes surface algae blooms, depleting oxygen below.
Credit and Larger Version

Scientists are studying the effects of dredging on sediment transport in urban estuaries.
Credit and Larger Version

The National Science Foundation (NSF)

Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui

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nsf.gov - News - Long-Buried New Jersey Seawall Spared Coastal Homes From Hurricane Sandy's Wrath

Built in 1882, then hidden by drifting sands, seawall mitigated 2012 hurricane's effects.-

Home destroyed in 2012 by Hurricane Sandy, in the main breach in Mantoloking, N.J. Credit: Patrick Lynett

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Relic seawall dating to 1882 in Bay Head, N.J., was uncovered by Hurricane Sandy. Credit: Jennifer Irish

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Jennifer Irish measures Hurricane Sandy flood mark along Barnegat Bay, N.J. Credit: Patrick Lynett

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Scientists Robert Weiss (left) and Patrick Lynett (right) study more than 10 feet of erosion from Sandy. Credit: Jennifer Irish Download the high-resolution JPG version of the image. (2.3 MB) Oceanfront homes destroyed by Sandy in Mantoloking, N.J. Credit: Patrick Lynett Download the high-resolution JPG version of the image. (2.7 MB)

Robert Weiss checks vertical erosion at the Cupsogue Beach, N.Y., hurricane breach. Credit: Jennifer Irish

Download the high-resolution JPG version of the image. (2.8 MB)

Picture two residential beach communities on the New Jersey shore: Bay Head and Mantoloking. They sit side-by-side in Ocean County on a narrow barrier island that separates the Atlantic Ocean and Barnegat Bay.

Before Hurricane Sandy landed on Oct. 29, 2012, a motorist traveling north would pass through Mantoloking into Bay Head. He or she would note few changes in residential development, dunes, beaches or shoreline.

The difference, however, was hidden under the sand.

A long-forgotten, 4,134-feet-long seawall buried beneath the beach helped Bay Head weather Sandy's record storm surges and large waves, says geoscientist Jennifer Irish of Virginia Tech.

The stone structure dates to 1882. Its reappearance in 2012 surprised many area residents, underscoring the difficulties transient communities have in planning for future threats along their shores, Irish says.

"It's amazing that a seawall built nearly 150 years ago, then naturally hidden under beach sands and forgotten, would have a major effect under the conditions in which it was originally designed to perform," says H. Richard Lane, program director in the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Division of Earth Sciences.

NSF funded the research through a rapid response award following Hurricane Sandy.

"This finding should have major implications for coastal planning, as sea level rises and storms increase in intensity in response to global warming," says Lane.

The results, published online this week in the journal Coastal Engineering, illustrate the need for multi-levels of beach protection in coastal communities, Irish and colleagues say. Irish is the paper's lead author.

"Once we got to the site, we immediately saw the seawall," Irish says.

"The beach and dunes did their job to a certain point, then the seawall took over, providing significant dampening of the hurricane waves.

"It was the difference between houses that were flooded in Bay Head and houses that were reduced to piles of rubble in Mantoloking."

With recovery efforts underway and storms still circulating through the area, Irish and Robert Weiss, also a geoscientist at Virginia Tech, along with Patrick Lynett, a civil and environmental engineer at the University of Southern California, assessed the area, documenting high water marks, damage, overwash and breaches of the barrier island.

All oceanfront homes in the two boroughs were damaged, ranging from ground-floor flooding to complete destruction.

As measured by waterlines in the interiors of homes, flooding was similar in both boroughs.

The difference was the extent of the storm's effects.

In Mantoloking, an entire dune nearly vanished. Water washed over a barrier spit and opened three breaches of 541 feet, 194 feet and 115 feet, respectively, where the land was swept away.

In Bay Head, only the portion of the dune located seaward of the seawall was eroded. The section of dune behind the seawall received only minor local scouring.

Later, using Google Earth to evaluate aerial images taken two years before and immediately after Hurricane Sandy, the researchers looked at the area's houses.

They labeled a structure with a different roofline as damaged, one that no longer sits on its foundation as destroyed and the remaining houses as flooded.

The scientists classified 88 percent of the oceanfront homes in Bay Head as flooded, with just one oceanfront home destroyed.

In Mantoloking, more than half the oceanfront homes were classified as damaged or destroyed.

Despite the immense magnitude and duration of the storm, a relatively small coastal obstacle--the seawall--reduced potential wave loads by a factor of two.

The seawall was the difference between widespread destruction and minor structural effects, the researchers say.

"We are left with a clear, unintentional example," says Irish, "of the need for multiple levels of defense that include hard structures and beach nourishment to protect coastal communities."

Additional researchers include Wei Cheng and Stephanie Smallegan of Virginia Tech.

-NSF-

Media Contacts Cheryl Dybas, NSF (703) 292-7734

cdybas@nsf.gov
John Pastor, Virginia Tech (540) 231-5646

jdpastor@vt.edu

Related WebsitesNSF Award: RAPID: Observations of physical impacts following Hurricane Sandy:

 http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1312813&HistoricalAwards=false

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. In fiscal year (FY) 2012, its budget was $7.0 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and other institutions. Each year, NSF receives about 50,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes about 11,500 new funding awards. NSF also awards about $593 million in professional and service contracts yearly.

Get News Updates by Email

Useful NSF Web Sites:
NSF Home Page:

 http://www.nsf.gov
NSF News:

 http://www.nsf.gov/news/
For the News Media:

 http://www.nsf.gov/news/newsroom.jsp
Science and Engineering Statistics:

 http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/
Awards Searches:

http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/

 

Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui

ayabaca@gmail.com

ayabaca@hotmail.com

ayabaca@yahoo.com

 

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ESA - Living Planet Programme - MetOp-A captures Hurricane Sandy

 Europe's polar orbiting weather satellite, MetOp-A, captured this image of Hurricane Sandy just as the huge storm hit the east coast of the US yesterday. The MetOp programme is developed as a joint undertaking between ESA and Eumetsat for operational meteorology.

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Sandy approaches

Hurricane Sandy as it hit the US east coast - as seen by the AVHRR instrument onboard EUMETSAT's Metop-A satellite on 29/10/12 at 14:16 UTC.

Copyright: 2012 EUMETSAT
ESA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
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