Coastal morphological changes associated to consecutive extreme storms along the coast of Rincon, Puerto Rico
Abstract
In less than a year, two storm events affected the island of Puerto Rico causing severe coastal morphological changes, particularly in the west municipality of Rincon. Hurricane Maria, a powerful Category 5 storm (downgraded to a Category 4 at landfall), struck Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017. Maria has been the most destructive storm to impact the island. On March 5, 2018, Puerto Rico was also impacted by the largest swell event in ten years, winter storm Riley. In advance of Hurricane Maria's landfall, a bottom-mounted Aquadopp profiler was deployed in approximately 6 m of water depth to measure currents and waves. Wave data was measured also by the CARICOOS Rincon wave data buoy (located 1.6 km off the coast of Rincon at 33 m water depth) and wind data was recorded by the Rincon wind station. To link measurements of storm hydrodynamics with the morphological changes along the coast of Rincon, pre- and post-storm topographic and bathymetric profiling have been routinely collected since Hurricane Maria. Field measurements during Hurricane Maria showed that offshore and nearshore maximum wave heights were approximately15 m at 10 s from a west-northwesterly direction. These storm waves reached the coastline causing extreme erosion and leaving the coast strewn with debris from nearby structures. Meanwhile, during winter storm Riley, a nearshore maximum wave height of 5 m at 15 s from a north-northwesterly direction was measured. CARICOOS Rincon buoy measured a wave height nearly twice as that recorded by the Aquadopp during the peak conditions. Post-storm field observations indicated that the westerly swell generated by Hurricane Maria induced severe erosion, whereas the north-northwesterly swell generated by Riley helped accrete the nearshore. The post-storm recovery will continue to be evaluated through measurements of offshore and nearshore hydrodynamics and beach profiling. In an attempt to learn more about the extent of post-storm recovery, field measurements will be used to implement, test and validate numerical models that could simulate the morphodynamic processes on sandy beaches with fringing reefs and exposed to frequent high energy swells. Important features from these unique data sets will be highlighted in the presentation.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018AGUFMEP23C2313R
- Keywords:
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- 0442 Estuarine and nearshore processes;
- BIOGEOSCIENCESDE: 1625 Geomorphology and weathering;
- GLOBAL CHANGEDE: 1641 Sea level change;
- GLOBAL CHANGEDE: 3020 Littoral processes;
- MARINE GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICS