THE SOUTH CAROLINA/GEORGIA COASTAL EROSION STUDY: PHASE II OVERVIEW

Millions of visitors each year enjoy the sandy shores of South Carolina's resort communities, bringing in over $15 billion in tourism revenue each year. These popular destinations are continuously threatened by coastal erosion, caused by severe storms in the short-term and by long-term sea level rise. Understanding the processes causing erosion is essential to management: maintaining healthy beaches and providing a renewable, enjoyable, and safe resource to the public.

In 1994, the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium, in partnership with and with funding provided by the U.S. Geological Survey, initiated the Coastal Erosion Study (CES) to improve understanding of coastal change in South Carolina and Georgia. The goal of the CES is to generate information on how the historical geology and present-day physical processes of the area influence coastal erosion patterns, and location of offshore sediment sources, and to provide this information to state and local officials and the interested public in a form they can understand and use. Phase I of the CES (1994-1999) focused on critical areas of erosion along the central South Carolina coast. Researchers learned that much of the South Carolina inner shelf is sediment starved, and that the older, antecedent geology affects the behavior of the shoreline-making some areas much more susceptible to coastal erosion. In other areas, sand was removed from the active beach system by unknown oceanographic processes forming expansive lobes offshore.

Phase II (1999-2004) expands the CES to include the remaining portions of the South Carolina coast and the northern Georgia coast. Researchers are studying offshore and nearshore geology, location of sand sources, historical movement of the shoreline, and sediment volume and transport rates. Variations in tidal ranges and wave heights in the two areas allow for comparison and contrast of major factors, here and along other U.S. coastlines. The data and results generated during the CES are being incorporated into a web-based geographic information system and will be made publicly available. Phase II also includes outreach and education programs and products that transfer the scientific findings to all levels of education and provide resources to planners and policymakers.