RAPID: Assessing the Morphologic Impacts of Sequential Tropical Cyclones on Texas Barrier Islands

This RAPID project is a field campaign to capture post-storm observations in three morphologically-distinct locations to better characterize storm-induced erosion and deposition across barrier islands from sequential storms. The investigators will leverage and complement a pre-storm dataset, which was collected one week prior to Tropical Storm Alberto along the central Texas Coast. Hurricane Beryl, the earliest Atlantic Basin Category 5 storm in recorded history, made landfall in Texas as a Category 1 cyclone, approximately two weeks after Tropical Storm Alberto. The pre-storm data presents a unique opportunity to tightly constrain the morphologic change due to two sequential, low-intensity tropical cycles. These morphologic changes leave critical signatures in the sedimentary record, which can be easily reworked by natural and anthropogenic disturbances. Therefore, rapid deployment and data collection are necessary to accurately capture and quantify sequential event forcings needed to improve morphodynamic and storm wave and surge models. The project provides research and training opportunities to women and underrepresented minorities in STEM and fosters partnerships between academia and industry. Field-based observations of coastal sedimentology and morphologic change during sequential storms will advance knowledge and predictive abilities by: 1) utilizing bedforms and sedimentary structures to constrain flow velocities, direction, transport stage, and duration of inundation; 2) evaluating compound change from sequential, low-intensity storm events; 3) providing calibration and validation data for morphodynamic and hydrodynamic models; and 4) developing volumetric assessments of coastal sediment transport which are necessary to calculate regional sediment budgets and assess coastal resilience. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.