Barrier Dynamics and Response to Changing Climate

Dr. Laura J. Moore is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geological Sciences and the Curriculum for the Environment and Ecology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is an expert on large-scale coastal behavior, barrier island response to climate change, coastal dune dynamics, and couplings between physical, ecological and human dynamics in coastal systems. Dr. A. Brad Murray is a Professor in the Division of Earth and Ocean Sciences in the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. He is a geomorphologist studying landscape evolution, including couplings between physical, ecological, and human dynamics, and responses to changing climate and land use, with a strong focus on coastal environments.

Part I: Observations and Conceptual Models of Barrier Response to Changing Climate.- Runaway barrier island transgression concept: global case studies.- Drowned barriers as archives of coastal response to sea-level rise.- Barrier island and estuary co-evolution in response to Holocene climate and sea-level change: Pamlico Sound and the Outer Banks Barrier Islands, North Carolina, USA.- Abrupt increase in washover deposition along a transgressive barrier island during the late 19^th century acceleration in sea-level rise.- Follets Island: A case of unprecedented change and transition from rollover to subaqueous shoals.- Role of the foredune in controlling barrier island response to sea-level rise.- Part II:  Mechanisms of Barrier Response to Changing Climate.- Geometric constraints on long-term barrier migration: From simple to surprising.- Shoreface controls on barrier evolution and shoreline change.- Morphodynamics of barrier response to sea-level rise.- The role of ecomorphodynamic feedbacks and landscape couplings in influencing the response of barriers to climate change.- The role of vegetation in determining dune morphology, exposure to sea-level rise, and storm-induced coastal hazards: A U.S. Pacific Northwest perspective.- Barrier islands as coupled human-landscape systems.

"This text represents an excellent launching point for those in need of a foundational understanding of the science of barrier dynamics, and for any researcher who might be interested in the impacts of climate change on coastal environments. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above; faculty and professionals." (W. Weston, Choice, Vol. 56 (2), October, 2018)

“This text represents an excellent launching point for those in need of a foundational understanding of the science of barrier dynamics, and for any researcher who might be interested in the impacts of climate change on coastal environments. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above; faculty and professionals.” (W. Weston, Choice, Vol. 56 (2), October, 2018)