SGER: Impact of Hurricane Georges and Recovery Along NE Gulf Coast

最近乔治飓风在密西西比州海岸的登陆为我们提供了一个独特的机会来回答一个尚未解答的问题：“一个典型的富含沉积物的海退/进积系统与一个缺乏沉积物的典型的海侵屏障系统相比，风暴后的反应如何？”富含泥沙的退化系统的风暴后调整还没有进行任何详细的研究。然而，我们的初步调查表明，在沿海环境中，如现代密西西比河三角洲平原，以河流为主的系统的长期演变可能会受到飓风乔治等灾难性事件的显著影响-特别是在它们的向海边缘，那里正在发生亚三角洲增长和分流。虽然对风暴的反应是显而易见的，并将在本研究中更详细地记录下来，但风暴后的调整阶段根本不被理解。此外，我们对严重风暴后障碍岛恢复初始阶段的理解主要基于假设，主要取决于我们对晴朗天气和较小规模风暴期间沿海系统和相关过程的日常动态的解释。我们的主要目标是量化和更好地了解两个不同地貌环境的风暴后调整：一个是位于路易斯安那州鸟脚三角洲的活跃建筑、以河流为主的富沉积物环境，另一个是由钱德勒岛(路易斯安那州)、西船岛(密西西比州)和圣罗萨岛(佛罗里达州)组成的沉积物匮乏的海侵系统，方法是建立关键的监测点，可以随着时间的推移重新占用。

9903984StoneThe recent landfall of Hurricane Georges along the Mississippi coast has afforded us a unique opportunity to address an as yet unanswered question: "How does the post-storm response of a typically sediment rich, regressive/progradational system compare with that of a sediment starved, typically transgressive barrier system?" The post-storm adjustment of sediment rich, retrogressive systems has not been investigated in any detail. However, our preliminary investigations indicate that the longer term evolution of fluvially dominated systems in a coastal environment, such as the modern Mississippi River delta plain, are likely significantly influenced by catastrophic events such as Hurricane Georges---particularly on their seaward margins where subdelta growth is occurring and distributaries are prograding. While the response to the storm is evident and will be documented in more detail in this study, the post-storm adjustment phase is not at all understood. In addition, our understanding of the initial phases of barrier island recovery after severe storms is based primarily on supposition, largely governed by our interpretation of the day-to-day dynamics of coastal systems and associated processes during fairweather and storms of lesser magnitude. Our primary objective is to quantify and better comprehend the post-storm adjustment of two geomorphologically distinct environments: an actively building, fluvially dominated, sediment rich environment located in the Birdsfoot delta, Louisiana and a sediment starved, transgressive system comprised of Chandeleur Island (Louisiana), West Ship Island (Mississippi) and Santa Rosa Island (Florida) by establishing key monitoring sites that can be reoccupied over time.