Winter/Spring 1990

Vol.

22, No.1

Virginia Sea Grant College Program -Virginia Institute of Marine Science -College of William and Mary

Monday, April 29, 2002 (6).max

rier islands protect the coast. Theproblem with barrier islands isthat they may, and often domigrate. Given the right cir-cumstances, a barrier island maymove quite a distance, leavinghomes virtually at ocean edge.

Erosion because of man-madestructures is not the only threat tocoastal beaches. Particularlyominous is the possibility of an oilor chemical spill. The cost, need-less to say, would be on a multi-tude of levels. Important flora andfauna could be lost, as would theaesthetic appeal of the beach. If ashoreline is unappealing, fewerpeople will travel to it; economiesbased on tourism could sub-sequently suffer. But the threatdoes not have to be environmental,per se, to be serious. Plastic wash-ing ashore is bad enough, but othertypes of waste, such as hypodermicneedles, could be critical. Whenneedles appeared on some North-east beaches, an alarmed publickept at a decided distance from thecoast. .:.

gentler waves of summer push thestored sand back up on the beach.In addition, large amounts of sandcan be moved parallel to a shore bya longshore current, created whenwaves approach from an angle.

Man-made structures can inter-fere with this natural process.Seawalls, structures built backfrom and parallel to the shore, canprevent the exchange of sand be-tween beachfront dunes and the un-derwater beachslope; when sand isremoved by strong storms it maynot be replenished. These wallscan also intensify the longshorecurrent, causing more sand to beremoved from the beach. In othercases a man-made structure maywork perfectly well for a propertyowner, but result in sand being,"robbed" from adjacent lots. Thisis often the case with a groin, awall built perpendicular to theshore. Sand is trapped on one sidebut on the other side land isdeprived of the sand that wouldhave normally been transported bythe longshore current.

Barrier islands are a good ex-ample of just how dynamic a beachcan be. As the name implies, bar-

B eaches appear indestruc- tible. Their apparent

resilience to the onslaught

of people, dune buggies,wind, sea and storms would leadone to believe that they could not

be readily harmed. Not so.Beaches are susceptible to damage

by people and natural forces.Coastal beaches are dynamic

and, in a sense, paradoxical.Erosion helped create them and is

part of the daily and seasonaltransformation of beaches. But

erosion-aided by sea-level rise, a

series of storms timed closelytogether, or misinformed man-made intervention-can also make

beaches disappear.Coastal beaches are landforms

created by the energy dissipatedthrough waves. The sand forminganyone beach is made up of thematerial which is available: river-

supplied particles from uplanderosion, glacial deposits, or par-ticles from nearby bluffs. The rem-

nants of coral, shells, sea-urchinsand other marine life are the base

material of some beaches. Coastal

winds playa role, too, as theytransport material to form dunes

in the backshore areas. Dunes,serving as a sand storage system,enhance the resiliency of the beach

during storms.Even though they seem station-

ary, coastal beaches are in per-

petual motion. The water movingbetween the beachfront and the un-

derwater part of the beachslopetransports sand back and forthwith every wave. Seasonally, theeffect of this motion is much more

dramatic. Winter storms normallycarry more energy; the waves con-

sequently remove more sand fromthe beach, storing it offshore. The

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Sea oats. Photo by Susan Waters.

near the seashore, to sea rockets inoverwas}vupper beach slope areasand, a short distance away, persim-mon in the stable dunes. Many ofthese plants, such as sea oats,serve the utilitarian purpose ofhelping stabilize the dunes; thisplant's extensive root and rhizomesystem not only keeps it in place,

S alt, wind and sea make

shorelines an inhospitable

environment for most lifeforms. It is only through

specialized adaptations that plantsand animals are able to survive.

Plants must be able towithstand routine or sporadic flood-ing by salt water. Further awayfrom the ocean, other plants mustbe able to tolerate ocean spray orstrong winds bearing salty sand.

Plants able to flourish in thisharsh environment are commonlycalled halophytes. Some plants,such as salthay, smooth cordgrassand sea lavender have salt glandswhich actually secrete excess salts.Other species, such as saltwort andseashore-elder are able, throughsucculence, to store fresh water forfuture use. Adaptations are manyand include reducing the totalevaporation surface by curlingleaves during the heat, and someplants have evolved a miniaturegrowth habit in wind swept areas.Occasionally plants use several dif-ferent strategies to survive.

Most amazing perhaps is thesheer number of species which canoften be found from the dunes toslightly inland in undevelopedareas. This is certainly the casewith Virginia's Seashore StatePark, which includes a maritimeforest. There one can findseashore and salt marsh plants,cacti, Spanish moss draped overcypress trees, and the ghostly ~n-dian-pipe, a plant which complete-ly lacks chlorophyll and lives onorganic matter. This is certainlynot the only place in Virginiawhich boasts a large plant popula-tion on and near the ocean. Care-ful observation at many locationswill reveal diverse plant life, fromresilient sea oats in loose sands

but also lessens the movement ofsand.

Animals which live on or nearthe coast are also uniquely adaptedto their environment. The littlegray barnacle lives a precariouslife at the water's edge slightlyabove high-tide mark; it is depend-ent on wave splash for its nourish-

4

the water between grains of sand;a whole host of shellfish-chan-neled and knobbed whelk, bloodark, angel wing, giant Atlanticcockle-inhabit the area rangingfrom intertidal to just below the

ment and to transport its larvae.A burrowing animal like a ghostcrab lives in the sands but mustreturn to sea to lay eggs and to oc-casionally moisten its gills.

While the coast might appear

not be the same without the soundof their different calls.

It goes without saying thatsome life, even though it is notoverly appreciated, is firmlyentrenched at the seashore. Asany seashore enthusiast knows, in-sects make their presence knowndespite their small size.

While there is not enoughspace here to give a comprehensivelist of seashore plants and animals,there is room for a brief mention ofhorseshoe crabs. Related more tospiders than crabs, horseshoecrabs make use of the shorelineeven though they are typicallyfound from near the low-tide lineto water 75 feet deep. In certainparts of the coast, they clamberashore en masse to mate and layeggs. In a few weeks, long afterthe adults return to sea, the minia-ture horseshoe crabs hatch.

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G1?ne Silberhorn's CommonPlants of the Mid-Atlantic Coa.~t isespecially helpful in plant iden-tifzcation. The book not only in-cludes beach, dune and maritime-forest plants, but also a large sec-tion on wetland plants. It can bepurchased at the Virginia Instituteof Marine Science bookstore,Gloucester Point, Virginia 23062.

barren oflife, it is not. Much of thelife is hidden. Sand-dwellinganimals often forage outside of bur-rows at night; minute, even micro-scopic animals and plants are in

low-tide level.Birds are certainly the most

visible wildlife on the shoreline-so much so that the experience ofbeing at the edge of the sea would

5

shoreline, the Atlanticcoast immediatelycomes to mind. But

there are over 5,000 miles of tidalshoreline in Virginia-the majorityof which are estuarine, along theChesapeake Bay and itstributaries.

While estuarine shores mightappear stable on a day-to-daybasis, they can be severely erodedby wave action created by stormslike hurricanes and northeasters.Coping with erosion, that is ensur-ing that land is not lost, began inearnest with a Virginia Sea Grantprogram. Later, demand for thisservice increased, and the programevolved in the early 1980s intoShoreline Erosion Advisory Ser-vice, operated by the VirginiaDepartment of Conservation andRecreation. The Sea Grant advisorbecame the technical assistant tothe new program.

Preventing erosion is the mostobvious goal of the currentShoreline Erosion Advisory Ser-vice. However, effective manage-ment of shoreline aims to preventexcess nutrients from reaching theBay, to create habitat, and in somecases, when sand fill is used, to pro-vide a beach for recreational use.Ideal conditions would call for softstructures such as sand to be usedin shoreline management; how-ever, less than perfect circumstan-ces exist on estuarine shores. As aconsequence, a combination ofstrategies is commonly used.

Shoreline managementstrategies should be addressed ona "reach" basis. A reach is a seg-ment of shoreline wherein theerosion processes and responsesare mutually interactive. A techni-cal assessment of a given reach

would begin with determiningsome of these important variables:*

.Wave height-this variable is inturn dependent upon the fetch(the length of open water facingthe shoreline), the wind speed,direction and duration, and near-shore water depth.

.Depth offshore-shallow water,such as tidal flats, helps reducewave energy better while deeperwater in the nearshore area al-lows a greater proportion of thewave energy to reach the shore.

.Bank height-the height of theshore bank immediately behindthe sediment beach (if present)or shoreline. For a given reces-sion rate, the bank height deter-mines how much materialenters the estuarine system.

.Bank composition-tight clay orwell-cemented sand resisterosion better than soft clay oruncemented sand.

.Width and elevation of sandbeach-a sand beach is anatural buffer to wave activity.

.Abundance of vegetation-vegetation (grasses and vines)on the shore bank nearshoreand beach hold the sedimentand baft1e wave action.

.Shoreline geometry-the generalshape of the shoreline. Ir-regular shorelines like marshestend to break up wave energybetter than straight shoreline.

.Shoreline orientation-thegeneral geographic direction theshoreline faces, along with thefetch, influences the degree of ex-posure to wind wave attack.

6

have been assessing headlandbreakwaters for use on estuarineshorelines. (In this case a break-water is not a long continuous wallbuilt parallel to the shore, butseveral of these structures, withgaps in between. See the abovephoto.) In one study, headed byScott Hardaway and funded jointlyby the U.S. Corps of Engineers andthe Virginia Department of Conser-vation, eight Virginia sites wereanalyzed. Five sites were on theJames River, two on the York, andone on the Potomac. These sitesare representative of215 miles ofestuarine shoreline. Analysis ofthe sites included quarterly shoreprofiles, aerial photography, sedi-ment sampling and analysis, andin some cases computer wave-modeling. All eight sites repre-sented different fetch exposuresand shore orientation.

The Drummond Field BreakwaterProject is on the north shores of the

James River. The purpose of the projectwas to provide maximum protection ofprivate property during southeast and

southwest storm conditions. The projectconsists of six stone-gapped breakwaterswhich vary in length from 70 to 110 feet.

In short, and greatlysimplified, headland breakwatersrepresent an effective approach toshoreline management. They ap-pear to be best suited for.longstretches of agricultural, woodedand unmanaged shorelines.

* The variables listed are froma booklet entitled ShorelineErosion in Virginia, a Sea Grantpublication for the general public.The booklet was written by ScottHardaway and Gary Anderson.

.Boat wakes-waves from boatwakes may severe)y affect ashoreline which is close to or ona boat channel.

The typical protection of es-tuarine shoreline has consisted ofmethods ranging from stone revet-ments to vegetative controls (theplanting of marsh grass to create awave-dampening marsh fringe). Inrecent times a combination ofmarsh grass and breakwaters hasbeen used; marshes, in the correctsetting, are able to absorb stormwave action, the main culprit in es-tuarine shoreline erosion. Thethick mat of roots and rhizomeshelps keep sediments in place.Marshes also act as filters, abatingthe flow of nutrients into the Bay.The configuration of anyone site ishighly dependent on the variableslisted above.

Of late, scientists at the Vir-ginia Institute of Marine Science

7

A number of urban

shorelines in the state

have evolved in recentyears from neglected par-

cels of land, to places whereanyone can walk, shop, dine, beentertained or just enjoy being bythe water. Hampton, Norfolk,Portsmouth and Alexandria are allprime state examples of thisnationwide trend.

Virginia Sea Grant has been in-volved with waterfront develop-ment issues on a number of levels.In addition to conductingworkshops, Sea Grant also per-formed an analysis of Norfolk's an-nual festival, Harborfest. Thiswork was headed by Jon Lucy,Recreational Specialist at MarineAdvisory Services.

In its infancy Harborfest was arather humble event, but itsparked the unexpected: theredevelopment of a long-neglectedbut important part of Norfolk'surban shoreline. The festival basi-cally acted as a catalyst for the am-bitious transformation of the area,from parking lots, to waterfront, adynamic part of the city.

The first official Harborfest in1977 was in response to thepopularity of Operation Sail, anevent in which a number of theworld's tall ships travelled fromport to port in the U.S. OperationSail helped rekindle interest in notonly Norfolk, but many other har-bors in the country. From 1977 on,Haborfest grew by proverbial leapsand bounds. Current estimates,which are quite conservative, placeattendance at 400,000 to 500,000people each year. Harborfest par-ticipants used to be primarily fromthe Norfolk area, but now people

Urban waterfronts likeNorfolk's Waterside andBaltimore's Haborplace are arelatively new phenomenoncreated, in part, by dramaticchanges in shipping and in-dustry. There was a time whenwaterfronts were indispensableworking areas for shippers andmanufacturers. But containeriza-tion made it possible to on andoffioad cargo in a fraction of thetime needed before, makingmany piers unnecessary. Thepopularity of trucking in the postWorld War II years also alteredtraditional shipment patterns.Loading areas no longer neededto be located in a specific port;goods could be shipped to NewJersey, for instance, quickly un-loaded and the trucks dispatched

to receiving markets. Also, asthe national economy shiftedfrom manufacturing to services,a number of industrial complexeson the waterfront were deserted.Urban shorelines soon fell intodisrepair.

The slow but dramaticreclamation of the nation'swaterfronts followed a back-to-the-city movement, a need formore recreational opportunitiesfor city residents and the nation-al drive to clean up waterways.These are some of the major fac-tors which made today'sredeveloped waterfronts possible,but there are undoubtedly more,such as the tax benefits realizedby firms which restored historicbuildings.

8

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It goes without saying that beaches are a tremendousresource for people. Even after sun-worshipers haveabandoned the shore, beaches continue to providerecreational and aesthetic pleasure. Jack Burns, inthe foreground of the photo above, is an avidfisherman and conservationist. Jack believesstrongly in releasing the fish he catches.

are flocking to Norfolk from allover the country, including theMidwest and even Arizona.

In addition to their entertain-ment value, festivals instill orrecreate curiosity about maritimetrades, history and craftsmanship.Renewed interest in Norfolk'swaterfront resulted in the develop-ment of a boat building schoolunder the tutelage of a non-profit,volunteer organization, NauticalAdventures, Inc. The city alsoadopted a Chesapeake work boat,the Skipjack Norfolk, as its water-going envoy to maritime festivalsand also as a support vessel for Ex-plorer Scouts. A watermen'sworkboat race has become aregular and popular feature of theannual Haborfest. All these ac-tivities undoubtedly underscorethe unique character of the com-munity.

Events such as Harborfest andthe many activities planned byFest Events for the harbor areaprovide relatively inexpensive fami-ly entertainment close to home.Virginia Sea Grant's analysis indi-cated that the people who attendHarborfest are very attached to itslocation. Asked if they would at-tend the event if it were locatedaway from the waterfront, 81 per-cent of the participants said "no."How did all of these people find outabout Harborfest? Interestinglyenough, word of mouth was themain way people discovered theevent. Also attesting toHarborfest's success is its highreturn rate; at least 78% of thepatrons told Sea Grant that theyhad attended at least one previousfestival. The overriding messageexpressed to Sea Grant re-searchers was that water eventsare a main attraction. Withoutthese elements festival-goersmight just as well attend a localfair. .:.

9

In undisturbed areas along the coast a unique and extremely rich habitat candevelop behind the dunes. Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on As-sateague Island and Seashore Park are good examples of these unusual ecosys-tems.

PROFILE OF A TYPICAL COASTAL ZONE ECOSYSTEM

( Barrier Island or Barrier Beach)

Maritime Forest Primary Dune

Secondary Dunes Beach

\Swale

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M.." Hi" w ."

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predicting how long a fill will lastat anyone beach. Obviously, bet-ter decisions can be made with thisinformation.

Willoughby Spit is residential-ly developed, and is located at thewest end of the beach system that

Monitoring how the shoreline read-justed itself was done throughbathymetric surveys, which deter-mined the topography underwater; tidal and current measure-ments; bed sediment samples;wave studies; and monthly map-

ping. Analysis of thedata indicated thatthe area studiedloses sand almostequally to tidal cur-rents and waves.This is unusual;waves normally havethe most impact.After the fill theshoreline evolvedrapidly, then slowly,but always tendedtoward its pre-filledshape.

In addition to ex-ploring ways of exact-ly predicting the lifeof a fill, this researchresulted in thedevelopment ofremedial actionswhich could be takento increase the life ofsand fills at Wil-loughby. Ludwickand David Basco, acoastal engineer,met with Norfolk offi-cials. A project wasproposed and adesign produced.Ludwick said that agreat deal of interestwas demonstrated,

and hopes that the project is in theoffing.

forms the southern boundary of theChesapeake Bay. Over the yearsproperty owners have used variousgroin systems to counter shorelineretreat. Ludwick's project studieda western portion of a groin fieldwhich had just been filled with446,000 cubic meters of sand.

eneath the Bay's deceptive--=> ly smooth surface are a

myriad of forces at work,

all of which can causelarge amounts of sand to be lostfrom a shoreline. To counter sandloss, groins-structures built at aright angle to theshore-have beenused since antiquityto trap sand movingalong the shore, andto keep it in place.Some of these struc-tures work exception-ally well, others donot. Despite the longhistory of these bar-riers, relatively littlescientific researchhas been devoted tofield observation andmeasurement of howgroins trap sand.

Sea Grant re-search by John Lud-wick, a Geological

IOceanographer atOld DominionUniversity, set aboutunravelling howthese protective bar-riers operate. Thethree-year project heheaded concentratedon an estuarine groinsystem, WilloughbySpit in Norfolk, Vir-ginia. A substantialamount of researchhas been done on theintricate, if notlabyrinthian, forces at work nearshores. However, Ludwick's workdiffered from many other studiesbecause he took the tidal currentsinto account. In an age when largeamounts of money are spent onreplenishing shorelines, it becomesimportant to discover methods for

This Virginia Sea Grantproject is fully described in CoastalSediments '87, Vol. 2.

12

B alancing coastal develop-

ment, societal needs, and

environmental concerns isa problem-fraught realm,

and it will not become simpler inthe future. Just how difficult theentire process can be is the focus ofan educational program coopera-tively produced by I Video Produc-tions; Virginia Sea Grant; theVirginia Environmental Endow-ment; Virginia Institute of MarineScience, College of William andMary; and The Daily Press/TheTimes-Herald in Newport News.

The program, in part coor-dinated by Sea Grant EducatorFrances Lawrence, aims for a bald-faced realism, and steers clearlyaway from simplistic solutions. Itconsists of a video, which gives anoverview of existing coastaldevelopment problems in Virginia,enough thought-provoking lessonplans for numerous classes, and ad-ditional readings.

The video, entitled Coas-tal Growth: A DelicateBalance, nicely illustratesjust how temporal coastalproperty can be, and howrapidly barrier islands canchange. Some areas, specifi-cally on the barrier islands,were once thriving com-munities, but are now gone-engulfed by the sea, erodedby storms. Importantly, thevideo also addresses an inter-

Those are the essential factsand now each student will serve asa town council member and willrepresent one of these four commit-tees: Real Estate, Beach Manage-ment"Recreation, BeachfrontProperty Owners.

The study program uses class-room dilemma discussions to helpstudents develop analytic anddecision-making skille necessary tounderstanding complex issues. Ina dilemma discussion there is nosingle right answer. Students en-counter numerous viewpoints,learn to take the perspective ofothers and to examine and clarifytheir own thoughts. Examiningthe consequences and implicationsof one's own ideas and reflecting onone's own value system is also partof the process-all good practice forwhat they are bound to encounterwhen they graduate. .:.

related ecosystem found on or be-hind estuarine and seashorecoasts: wetlands. Short interviewswith citizens, officials and scien-tists underscore the divergent view-points which exist.

The lesson plans give studentsan opportunity to learn throughrole-playing. Here is a condensedversion of one of the thornyscenarios that students must con-front:

A homeowner lost hisbeachfront home and much of hiswaterfront lot during a hurricane.He collected money for thedamages and intends to rebuild,just as he did six years ago. Thefamily has lived on the property along time.

The town recently enacted alaw prohibiting building homescloser than 350 feet from the hightide mark. After the storm, thefamily's lot was only 200 feet deep.

Living on the coast hasits perils. This historical

photo depicts ahomeowner's worst

nightmare.

13

VIMS scientist SuzetteKimball's first study focused close.ly on one of the areas defined byHobbs' work. The purpose of herresearch was to find sand sourcesfor Hampton. Not only are thecity's beaches eroding, but

Sand may look like sandto the casual observer,but in the world of beachreplenishment, the typeof material needed for anarea should match or beslightly coarser thanwhat is naturally foundat the location.

Buckroe, Ocean View and CapeHenry. Hobbs' research team wasseeking to locate deposits largeenough-some 5.25 million cubicyards-to be used on Norfolk andHampton shores, and on VirginiaBeach. Twenty and then forty-footlong cores were taken at numerouslocations during the two-partstudy. Not only did the scientistsneed to find large deposits of sand,but they also needed to assess thegrain-size distribution; the percent-age of silt, clay and sand in eachlocation; and the type and depth ofoverlying material at each site.The mixture of sand, silt and clayhas bearing on the mining, as doesthe type of overlying material andthe depth of the deposit. A limitedamount of fine-grained materialoverlying a site would not posethat much of a problem since abeach could be overfilled to compen-sate for the washing away of thefiner-grained material. But a thick-er overlying material could sub-stantially increase the cost of amining venture.

Certainly an important con-sideration in this study was thepotentialenvironmentalramifica-tions of sand mining. Of specialconcern was the impact on benthic,or bottom dwelling, marine life.Hard clams are an important com-mercial fishery, so surveys of siteswere conducted to ascertain theeconomic importance of each site.Because the submarine topographywould be altered by dredging, scien-tists also evaluated the potentialmodification of wave energy.

Instead of locating 5.25 millioncubic yards, Hobbs and his re-search team found more than 230million cubic yards of suitable sandin the southern part of the

Chesapeake Bay.

Hampton's long-term planning alsocalls for an increased use of beachareas. The sand had to be closeenough to Hampton to keep themining costs at a minimum, andthey also had to be located awayfrom navigation channels. Threeareas were targeted; all containmineable sand, and the magnitudeof one deposit, three miles east ofBuckroe Beach, is great enough toprovide Hampton with beach sandfor the next several decades.

Kimball also profiled a largesection of the inner shelf, fromCape Henry down to the Virginia!North Carolina state line. Thesedeposits also needed to be close toVirginia Beach to make miningeconomically feasible. Sedimentcores were used to corroborateacoustic profiles of the deposits.

There were any number ofsand reserves, but only a few wereof beach quality sand. One site, in

T he conventional technical

wisdom of today calls for

using "soft structures,"specifically sand, to com-

pensate for sand lost to everydayerosion and to storms. In the past,sand was taken from upland pits toreplenish shorelines; however,those upland areas have morevalue now in terms of their develop-ment potential and are not readilyavailable for mining.

Above all, foresight is crucialin shoreline protection. Not onlydo back-up sources for long-termprojects need to be found, but alarge quantity of material could beneeded immediately after a violentstorm. With this in mind, scien-tists at the Virginia Institute ofMarine Science (VIMS) conductedvarious studies to locate deposits.The first, headed by Carl Hobbs,III, concentrated on sources withinthe lower Chesapeake Bay; SuzetteKimball's later research focused onone area of Hobbs' work, and inanother study Kimball examinedsand resources off Virginia'scoastline.

Sand may look like sand to thecasual observer, but in the world ofbeach replenishment, the type ofmaterial needed for an area shouldmatch or be slightly coarser thanwhat is naturally found at the loca-tion. An ocean beach exposed tothe full brunt of waves will probab-ly need a coarser sand than aprotected area in the upperreaches of the Bay. If fine sandwere placed on that hypotheticalocean beach, it probably would bewashed away in a short amount oftime.

Hobbs' inventory established abaseline of data about massivesand reserves in the southern mostpart of the Chesapeake, just off

14

In the top photo sand is being pumped to a Scott's buoy (in theforeground). The Scott's buoy acts as a mooring and transfer point,'sand is pumped from the buoy to shore. In the bottom photograph theEast Ocean View beach is being replenished. Ultimately, 133,000cubic yards were placed here during fall of last year. These photos areby Jack Frye, Shoreline Programs Manager, Department ofConservation and Recreation, Division of Soil and WaterConservation. Shoreline Programs started as a Sea Grant project andlater evolved into a state program. The state gives erosion controladvice and technical assistance to tidal shoreline owners.

the vicinity of False Cape, containsat least three million cubic yards ofsand. While this material is at adistance from Virginia Beach, itcould be considered an emergencyreserve in the event the area is hitby a catastrophic storm. Otherareas yielded deposits offine sandand silt which could be used asshort-term relief for an erodingcoastline, but not for prime recrea-tional beaches. The most promis-ing site is a large sand shoal threemiles east of Sandbridge Beach. Aconservative estimate of thevolume of beach quality sand isslightly less than forty millioncubic yards. Kimball believes thatthe site may well contain twice asmuch sand.

In addition to finding sanddeposits, Kimball's study alsoadded to information aboutVirginia's coastline history. Overtime, the coast has receded and ad-vanced a number of times. It isfairly common knowledge amongVirginians that much of what isnow land in the Tidewater areawas once covered by water. But atother times, specifically during theIce Age, the coastline extended fur-ther out than it does now. Hiddenbelow the water is actual physicalevidence of the changes caused byearth's turbulent climatic fluctua-tions. .:.

15

..

Hurricane Hugopoised off the At-lantic coast, andheaded for Char-

leston, SouthCarolina. This

photo of Hugo, atapproximately 1p.m. September

21, 1989, wastaken by theNa-

tional Oceanic andAtmospheric Ad-

ministration(NOAA,).

struck Toronto, Canada. In theToronto area alone Hazel killed 78people, and caused $100,000,000worth of damage. In total that

The storm surge is the mostdangerous part of a tropicalcyclone, according to the NationalOceanic and Atmospheric Ad-ministration. Their figures indi-cate that nine out ten deaths arecaused by the storm surge, a greatswell of water which hits thecoastline near where the eye of thehurricane makes landfall. In an in-teresting analysis by Virginia'sClimatology Office, specialiststhere put forth that Charlestonwas actually spared the full impactof Hugo. The brunt of the stormsurge was north of that SouthCarolina city. "A storm of Hugo'strack and conformation willproduce the greatest damage imme-diately to the north of the eyewall-10 or so miles north of Charleston...Therein lies the foundation of apotentially destructive myth: be-cause Charleston experienced theeye of a powerful hurricane and

~

it. ..if Hugo's center hadintersected the coastabout fifteen miles far-ther to the south, thesurge in Charlestonwould have been ten feethigher, and the struc-tural damage wouldhave been astronomical."

storm system killed between 600and 1,200 people, and caused some$350,400,000 of property damage,a sizeable amount for the time.*

16

heat released from condensingwater vapor.

Over the years a number ofpeople have attempted to translatethe energy of a hurricane intoterms which can be readily under-stood. These estimates of the ener-gy equivalent differ quite a bit butone, put forth by the authors of At-lantic Hurricanes, is enough togive one pause: an average hur-ricane extracts 20,000,000,000 tonsof water out of vapor each day. Itwould take the energy equivalentof 500,000 atomic bombs(Nagasaki-type) to make that sortof heat energy transformation.

*The estimates of damage and lossoflife vary from source to source.These figures are from Atlantic Hur-ricanes, written by Gordon Dunn andBanner Miller, meteorologists from theNational Hurricane Center. .:.

came away without massive deathand destruction, it is therefore rela-tively impervious. In fact, ifHugo's center had intersected thecoast about fifteen miles further tothe south, the surge in Charlestonwould have been ten feet higher,and the structural damage wouldhave been astronomical."

Thankfully, the number oftropical cyclones which threatenthe Atlantic coast are few in num-ber-about six a year. However,that number only reflects anaverage. In 1950 there wereeleven and in other years therehave been none. Tropical cycloneswhich could impact the easternUnited States originate off thecoast of Africa, in the CaribbeanSea and the Gulf of Mexico duringthe months of June throughNovember. They are fueled by the

A structure doesnot have to bedirectly in the

path of ahurricane's eye tosustain damage.

This photo wastaken at least 70

miles north ofwhere Hurricane

Hugo madelandfall. This

photo is by BillJordan, staff

photographer atThe News and

Courier in Char-leston, South

Carolina.

of the greatest contributions evermade to society!

"Very beautiful, interestingand wonderful" were the wordsN atalya and Inna used to describewhat they saw and experienced inthe U.S. The experiences at VIMS,the visits to the Smithsonian werevery educational and would staywith them for a long time, theysaid. At VIMS the studentsworked with mentors on researchprojects in wetlands, fisheries, ben-thic ecology, oyster biology andresource management. But the

18

During that weekend many of thestudents were able to see Sovietships docked nearby, and theocean. ..a first for many students,since their home cities are at a dis-tance from the ocean.

It's hard to convey the extentof the good rapport that was estab-lished between the Soviets andVIMS students, staff and faculty.It has to do with the young en-thusiastic students, two differentcultures which have been led tobelieve throughout the Cold Warthat they were at irreconcilableodds and found out they have morein common than imagined. Truthbe said, by the time the Sovietsboarded the bus there was hardly adry eye in the house.

The VIMS Governor's programwas sponsored by the VirginiaDepartment of Education, Office ofPrograms for the Gifted. ThePeople to People Youth Exchangeprogram hosted the Soviets. .:.

adjust to American food. Yellowapples are apparently not theusual fare in Siberia and withhesitation a few students triedthem, and decided they were gooddespite their color.

Political differences often fallaway when groups of people aretogether-even if their countriesare diverse-and common groundsurfaces. University and politicalsystems, societal needs and pres-sures, seem to engender many ofthe same problems and responses.However, there are many economicdifferences between the two politi-cal systems. Recent changes in theSoviet Union are allowing in-dividuals to earn more money, butthat economic change has been ac-companied by a dramatic crime in-crease, a phenomenon Americanshave all but become used to, butwhich is alarming to Soviets.

During their stay, the studentsworked daily with VIMS mentors,did field work, visited Colonial Wil-liamsburg,Jamestown,NASA andBusch Gar-dens, cruisedon the Bay,and stayed aweekend withcollege facultyand stafffamilies.

week wasn't all science: a very soft-spoken Inna said she rode the LochNess at Busch Gardens lZ times,and was jokingly chagrined at anAmerican beating her with 22rides.

On the more serious side,Eugene thought it was importantthe students see how Americanswork. The entire experience, hethought, would be very useful inthe future, would spark their im-agination. Seeing the natural his-tory part of the Smithsonianmuseum complex was importantbecause the students were able tosee the complexity of naturefirsthand. Too much of science,Eugene said, is taught on a black-board, and within the confines of aroom and only words and mathe-matical formulas to look at, sciencecan become too abstract. Experien-ces in the field, or in a museummake science into a reality whichwill be much more readily remem-bered than a lesson written on ablackboard, he said.

Sweet Hall Marsh, where scien-tists are doing a number of studieson tidal freshwater wetlands,proved to be far different than thelandscape many students wereused to seeing in Siberia, a vastregion of over 5,000,000 squaremiles extending from the Uralmountains to the Pacific. Tundra,a treeless area with a frozen sub-soil, is the fragile ecosystem ofSiberia because it slowly builds upand is easily destroyed. By com-parison, the tidal freshwater mar-shes the Soviets saw here lookedtropical, lush, and deceptivelyresilient (these marshes are alsosusceptible to damage but in a dif-ferent way).

Another thing which was dis-tinctly different for Soviet studentswas the food. Anyone who hasbeen to a foreign country knowsthat the food just doesn't look ortaste the same as it does at home,even if it goes by the same name.It took a few days for the Soviets to

19

Cover photo: American BeachGrass. On the right: civilization

has had a pretty uncivilizedimpact upon beaches. Most of thedebris found on a beach, some 62

percent, is plastic, according tothe National Marine Debris DataBase. (Photos by Susan Waters.)

Sea Grant CommunicationsVirginia Institute of Marine Science

Gloucester Point, Virginia 23062

Address correction requested