WIND, WAVES AND SURGE: AN ANALYSIS OF THE MOVEMENT AND POST-STORM RESPONSE OF BUSHY POINT BARRIER BEACH IN GROTON, CT

Barrier beaches are highly dynamic systems that respond to both changes in wave energy and changes in relative sea level. Bushy Point barrier beach is a barrier spit located in Groton, Connecticut. This particular beach is significant because it is one of the last untouched barrier systems in the State of Connecticut. Since 1934, the morphology of the barrier beach has been changing in response to storm events as well as the local rise in sea level. On September 21, 1938, a category three hurricane made landfall in southern New England and devastated many southern-facing beach dwelling communities, including a summer community on Bushy Point barrier beach. More recently, the storm surge that came ashore with Hurricane Sandy also caused wash over and retreat of the barrier spit. Multiple elevation transects were performed, sediment samples were collected and analyzed, and data from multiple previous elevation surveys taken in 2003 after Hurricane Isabel and 2007 after tropical storm Noel was mapped, creating a history of the beach’s movement in response to major storm events during that period. Five new survey locations were added to the original collection of data, in order to determine the morphology of the system as a whole. These profile measurements, coupled with GIS mapping of historical data demonstrate that the rate of inland movement and post-storm recovery of the system changes throughout the length of the barrier. Bushy Point barrier beach in Groton, Connecticut is moving inland at a rate that directly corresponds with the number of over-wash events. The system itself is moving inland at higher rates at different points on the barrier, as you move towards Bushy Point and Pine Island to the west. Locations along the barrier that are closer to Pine Island are more vulnerable to over-wash, and are therefore moving inland at a faster rate than other locations closer to Bluff Point itself. The vulnerability of the west end of the barrier is directly related to the established energy regime of the barrier system, which incorporates fetch, sediment size, and prominent wind directions during major storm events.