An Analysis of the Correlation between Shoreline Curvature and Shoreline Change along the Gulf of Mexico and the Mid-Atlantic Coast of the United States

Abstract

Increasing human development along the coast, together with climate change and sea level rise, has drastically changed the shape of the coastline. Because of the widespread impacts of shoreline change, studies have been conducted by USGS and various researches, in attempt to understand shoreline change rates and its connection to local, regional, and global factors. However, one of such factor, shoreline curvature, is not well-addressed in current literature. As a continuation of work that was conducted by another student last year, the main objective of this project is to expand the scope of the study by examining the shorelines of Texas, and the rest of the East Coast (up till Long Island at New York) of the United States. More importantly, this study aims to investigate how different temporal and spatial scales contribute to different strength, or even direction of the correlation between shoreline curvature and shoreline change.