Monitoring Morphology and Currents at the Hatteras Breach

On 18 September 2003, Hatteras Island, North Carolina, was breached by Hurricane Isabel about 6 miles northeast of Hatteras Inlet to connect Pamlico Sound with the Atlantic Ocean. The breach occurred at a location of minimum island width and elevation. As part of research on coastal inlets, the new...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Wamsley, Ty V, Hathaway, Kent K
Format: Report
Language:English
Subjects:
ATLANTIC OCEAN
BARRIER ISLANDS
BARRIERS
CAPE HATTERAS(NORTH CAROLINA)
CHANNELS(WATERWAYS)
FLOODS
HURRICANE ISABEL
HURRICANES
INLETS(WATERWAYS)
ISLANDS
MONITORING
MORPHOLOGY
NORTH CAROLINA
OCEAN MODELS
OCEANS
PAMLICO SOUND(NORTH CAROLINA)
Physical and Dynamic Oceanography
REPRINTS
SHALLOW WATER
SOUNDS(WATERWAYS)
TOPOGRAPHY
WATER
Online Access:Request full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:On 18 September 2003, Hatteras Island, North Carolina, was breached by Hurricane Isabel about 6 miles northeast of Hatteras Inlet to connect Pamlico Sound with the Atlantic Ocean. The breach occurred at a location of minimum island width and elevation. As part of research on coastal inlets, the new opening was surveyed to provide much-needed data on the hydrodynamic and morphologic evolution of barrier island breaches. Two topographic and shallow water surveys were conducted 10 days apart to capture short-term temporal changes in the breach morphology. Analysis of the survey data indicates rapid morphology change. Ebb and flood shoals formed within 2 weeks of the breach. The main breach channel widened by as much as 125 ft and migrated to the west by as much as 80 ft in the 10 days between surveys. Water levels on both the ocean and sound side of the barrier were also measured. Current velocities were measured with surface drifters and with an ADCP during two field deployments. Maximum current velocities were on the order of 7 ft/sec. The surveys provide quantitative data on the evolution of barrier island breaches that will be applied in development of numerical models of coastal breaching. Published in Shore & Beach v72 n2 p9-14 Spring 2004.