Beach changes along eastern Bogue Banks, North Carolina, resulting from the 1996 hurricane season

Thirteen permanent beach transects established prior to the 1996 hurricane season were used to evaluate the effects of two hurricanes on erosion and a ccretion rates along eastern Bogue Banks, North Carolina. Monthly monitorin g for nearly two years showed that erosion patterns exhibited considerable variability and were highly influenced by the hurricanes. Whereas severely eroded sections of beach, up to 20.4 m (53.2 m(3)/m), had not recovered 1.5 yr after the hurricanes, the areas that accreted immediately following the two storms, up to 17.7 m (12.6 m(3)/m), remained stable. Application of a numerical model, REF/DIF 1 v. 2.51, was used to test the effects of offshor e bathymetry on beach response to the hurricanes. Model results showed that predicted gradients in longshore current velocities correlated well with e rosion rates during the two storms.