Title: 68 Percent of New England and Mid-Atlantic Beaches Eroding
Author: None Listed
Publication: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey
Date: 2.23.2011
Link: http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=2707&from=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+UsgsNewsroom+%28USGS+Newsroom%29&utm_content=Google+Reader
Summary
In the past 150 years, it has been found that 68% of beaches on New England and Mid-Atlantic region are eroding. This is a result of beach restoration activities such as adding sand to beaches. Beaches change because of things like amount of available sand, storms, sea-level rise and human activities. Erosion is determined on these very factors. There is erosion in both regions, (Mid-Atlantic and New England), and they are a big hazard throughout both. "It is very difficult to predict what may happen in the future without a solid understanding of what has happened in the past," says Dr. Cheryl Hapke. Researchers are now using aerial maps to study future erosion along the coasts at more than 21,000 locations.
Graphic: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://whyfiles.org/091beach/images/erosiondia1.gif&imgrefurl=http://whyfiles.org/091beach/3.html&usg=__A4E-eaQ_04jc5Awb_86uKiyOMMQ=&h=170&w=299&sz=17&hl=en&start=0&sig2=JF7Ps-L8X-Z2Nu2nHqF4UA&zoom=1&tbnid=m7TWM2uOzkHpSM:&tbnh=107&tbnw=189&ei=O251TcK_JuS10QGan6jFAQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbeach%2Berosion%2Bdiagram%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D593%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=143&vpy=125&dur=2666&hovh=136&hovw=239&tx=190&ty=46&oei=O251TcK_JuS10QGan6jFAQ&page=1&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0
I thought this was a really good diagram of how erosion happens.
Opinion
Well this is NOT good! As for me, I go down to the beach every summer, and I know some people who actually live there. If the beach keeps eroding at this pace, we may not have any left. I really think that researches and scientists should do something about this. It may not be for a long time, but beaches along the Mid-Atlantic (which is where the Jersey Shore is) could possibly erode to non-existence. I hope this gets better. :-)
Questions:
1. Do you really think researches are actually doing something about this, or do you think they are just saying it?
2. Are you worried at all that the beaches might be gone?
3. Do you think the beaches will keep eroding at the same pace, or will it get better as the years go by?
By: Becca :-)
Opinion: I think this is a bad thing. Over time, when the beaches are gone, the waters will start to erode the city further in shore and it will be an ongoing process. Eventually, the whole earth will be eroded away by water and there will be no more "above sea level" land. Like Mrs. DeLuca noted, once the fresh water mixes with the salt water, it would be all salt water. So once that happens, our earth will be 100% salt water (but humans wouldn’t be able to experience it because we would have no land.) In all, it would just be a very bad result.
ReplyDeleteAnswers to questions:
1) I think they are saying it because they are just researchers, not architects. Now that they have information on the issue, builders and planners will develop a plan and execute it to solve the problem.
2) I'm not worried that all the beaches will be gone because they won’t. Once part of the beach erodes, (which I don’t think it can because of what I’m about to point out) they will just be covered with sand from the last layer and the beach would just stay the same.
3) I think the rate will increase due to the fact that there is the same amount of water around less amount of land, so the water can actually gang up on little sections of land to erode them faster.
Questions: 1) What technologies do we have now that can reverse this effect?
2) Does this impact sea life as well as impacting life on land?
3) Do you think that since this is a change over time, it is a perfect time for species to adapt?
I thought that this was a very interesting article that was chosen. The study shows that almost 68% of the New England and Mid-Atlantic Beaches are gone. This is an astonishing percent of beaches that are eroded. My concern is that we are losing water. Although these beaches contain salt water, this water can be purified and filtered for human use. I’m sure that part of the reason that these beaches are eroding occurs naturally, but most likely the reason that these beaches are eroding is because of human activity. I enjoy going to the beach and the boardwalk during the summer and enjoy playing in the sand and the ocean. If these beaches, keep eroding at this pace in possibly 10-15 years I will have no sand or water to play in. All in all, I thought that this is was a very important issue and that something needs to be done about this beach erosion along the eastern coast.
ReplyDeleteExpansion: http://whyfiles.org/091beach/ This is an interesting link as to where beach erosion takes place and what causes beaches to erode.
Questions Answers
(Answer to #1): I think that the researchers are just conducting research that shows that these beaches are eroding and somebody else needs to fix this problem. These researchers are not going to take action, but rely on another group of people to.
3 Questions:
1. What causes the beaches to erode?
2. Is there anything that we can do to prevent the beaches from eroding at such a rapid pace?
3. How do these beaches eroding affect human activity and our daily lives?
This article was a very interesting article. I think that this erosion is good and bad. The erosion of 68% of New England's beaches worries me because New England's beaches are tourist attractions to many people, and if there are no beaches than the economy might drop. This also worries me because it might affect the wildlife, and food chain on the beaches of New England. The last reason that this worries me is because it shows that there has been a change in the water in the past 150 years. I think that this is due to human activity and possibly global warming. I think that this erosion is good because it is part of nature, and it is an interesting thing to watch over time. This could be a learning point for many of us. I think that in the future the water will erode further into the land creating more beaches, but we would have to move our cities further in the land as-well. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE going to the beach, and I wouldn't want the beach to be gone. I hope that this doesn't happen to a lot of beaches because then I would not be able to take time for myself to go to the shore.
ReplyDeleteAnswers to Questions:
1) I do think that researchers are doing something about the erosion of the beaches. I know that in the past the Jersey shore has added so much sand that the beaches stop eroding at a fast rate.
2)I am not worried about losing all of the beaches because it would take a really long time for them to erode, and new beaches would eventually form.
3)I don't think that the beaches will continue eroding at the same pace because I think that researchers will find a way to stop this.
New Questions:
1)Should we let nature do its thing by eroding the beaches?
2)Do you think animal life would be harmed by this erosion?
3)How do you think we can find an efficient way to fix this?
Expansion:
http://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publications/publications.htm?seq_no_115=167315
This article explains erosion in greater detail.
Opinion
ReplyDeleteIt is very bad that erosion is occuring to beaches. This must be occuring naturally, however human activity could have added to it and made the erosion of beaches even worse. Beaches are main attraction sites for people to go on vacation, this worries me because, beaches might become so small they will become over crouded with people, or people might not be able to go to the beach at all! When I go to the beach, I see many spots were there is a smaller amount of land and as I keep on going down the beach I see places where the land is even larger. Whats happening is ersoion is occuring at one part of the beach,and the sand is being placed at another part of the beach. My uncle lives in Avalon, New Jersery, at the very begining of the island, and huge rocks or boulders, have been places to stop erosion from occuring at that end of the island. When travel down farther along the island, there is more sand and beach land. I guess that is where all the sand is being placed by the waves. Also, when I went to Mexico, I saw boulders put at in the shallow part of the ocean to stop erosion from occuring. Scientists are doing many things to stop erosion.
Link: This is what I saw in Mexico
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/media/ALeqM5g0aAb5ip-PF1uW0ylAHT3f_og7Uw%3Fsize%3Dl&imgrefurl=http://www.goablog.org/posts/coastal-erosion-threatens-goas-idyllic-beaches/&usg=__JP4q_CYlgjkgWSfYtibZcJSh-YI=&h=340&w=512&sz=46&hl=en&start=57&sig2=46KITdUbs96qDk34dhtigQ&zoom=1&tbnid=GCKp1Q-8BVW6HM:&tbnh=106&tbnw=136&ei=Ltt2Tc_EGcKugQfHv-zSBQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dersion%2Bon%2Bbeaches%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1362%26bih%3D528%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C1302&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=393&vpy=127&dur=16&hovh=183&hovw=276&tx=200&ty=113&oei=ANt2Te6ZH6GM0QHZh6W6Bw&page=4&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:10,s:57&biw=1362&bih=528
Answer to Questions:
1)Yes, I do think researchers are doing something about the erosion on beaches I have seen it many times, as I have said above.
2)Yes I am worried about the beaches being gone, however I do not think that beaches will be completely gone, one parts of some because the sand has to go somewhere and I've seen sand moved to farther down on beaches.
3)I am not sure if beaches will keep eroding in the same place, it seems that way when I look at beaches I've been to. But this all happens because of the moons pull of gravity on the ocean and if that changes then maybe the places where erosion occurs will change too.
That is a cool picture Annette, I have never seen those before.
ReplyDeleteNice job group!!! Good comments.