STATUS OF SAND RESOURCE ASSESSMENTS FOR GEORGIA COASTAL RESILIENCY AND RECOVERY

Hurricane Sandy caused billions of dollars in damages to coastal communities along the east coast of the United States. Given the eventual likelihood of similar storms in the future, coastal communities have begun to develop strategies to increase their resilience to, and speed their recovery from, such an event. A detailed understanding of the distribution and character of nearshore and inner continental shelf sand resources is a critical component in developing these strategies. These sand resource data are critically needed in Georgia, as the sand resources on the continental shelf are the most poorly known of all the states along the East Coast. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the NOAA Sea Grant Program are funding efforts to collect, analyse and synthesize new, high resolution datasets to build an understanding of the beach-qulaity sand resources available on the Georgia shelf. Three developed barrier islands along the Georgia coast (Sea, St. Simons and Jekyll Islands) are without identified renourishment resources and are the focus of these studies. This talk will describe the status of these projects, present new and existing samples and datasets compiled for these studies, and outline goals for the future. Eventually, sediment character, bathymetry and sediment trend data will be integrated into a predictive geospatial framework in support of future nourishment efforts.