Exploring Ecological, Morphological, and Environmental Controls on Coastal Foredune Evolution at Annual Scales Using a Process-Based Model

Coastal communities commonly rely upon foredunes as the first line of defense against sea-level rise and storms, thus requiring management guidance to optimize their protective services. Here, we use the AeoLiS model to simulate wind-driven accretion and wave-driven erosion patterns on foredunes wit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sustainability 2024-04, Vol.16 (8), p.3460
Main Authors: Heminway, Selwyn S, Cohn, Nicholas, Davis, Elizabeth H, White, Andrew, Hein, Christopher J, Zinnert, Julie C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Beaches
Coastal erosion
Cyclones
Floods
Flowers & plants
Growth models
Influence
Morphology
North Carolina
Sediment transport
Soil erosion
Storms
Tidal waves
Vegetation
Wind
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Summary:Coastal communities commonly rely upon foredunes as the first line of defense against sea-level rise and storms, thus requiring management guidance to optimize their protective services. Here, we use the AeoLiS model to simulate wind-driven accretion and wave-driven erosion patterns on foredunes with different morphologies and ecological properties under modern-day conditions. Additional sets of model runs mimic potential future climate changes to inform how both morphological and ecological properties may have differing contributions to net dune changes under evolving environmental forcing. This exploratory study, applied to represent the morphological, environmental, and ecological conditions of the northern Outer Banks, North Carolina, USA, finds that dunes experiencing minimal wave collision have similar net volumetric growth rates regardless of beach morphology, though the location and density of vegetation influence sediment deposition patterns across the dune profile. The model indicates that high-density, uniform planting strategies trap sediment close to the dune toe, whereas low-density plantings may allow for accretion across a broader extent of the dune face. The initial beach and dune shape generally plays a larger role in annual-scale dune evolution than vegetation cover. For steeper beach slopes and/or low dune toe elevations, the model generally predicts wave-driven dune erosion at the annual scale.
ISSN:2071-1050
2071-1050
DOI:10.3390/su16083460