SEA 



SCIENCE 



amic 



The Changing Shape of 

 North Carolina's Coastline 



T 



By Katie Mosher 

 Photographs from 

 ShiftingShorelines: 

 A Pictorial Atlas of 

 North Carolina Inlets 



-o many coastal visitors, North 

 Carolina's barrier islands define the state's 

 coastline, with each island offering a 

 unique personality. 



The inlets separating the islands — 

 and linking the protected sounds to the 

 open ocean — are often overlooked. 



But coastal residents and geologists 

 alike know the power and influence that 

 the inlets have had on North Carolina's 

 coastal history. Each year during hurricane 

 season and on into the winter nor'easters, 

 they ponder the possibility: Will a storm 

 move enough water to cut a new inlet, or 

 enough sand to close an existing one? 



In fact, inlets can influence shoreline 

 erosion and accretion for up to a mile on 

 either side of the channel, explains William 

 J. Cleary, a North Carolina Sea Grant 

 scientist at the University of North 

 Carolina at Wilmington. 



"Inlets are part of a sand-sharing 

 system. They are not just places where 

 water goes in and out," adds Cleary, author 

 of Shifting Shorelines: A Pictorial Atlas of 

 North Carolina Inlets. 



The book — co-authored by Tara P. 

 Marden, who received her master's degree 



from UNC-W — looks at each of the 

 state's 22 inlets, from Oregon Inlet in the 

 northern Outer Banks to Mad Inlet near 

 the South Carolina line. Each inlet is 

 documented with six chronological aerial 

 photographs and a short history. 



While coastal residents easily note 

 even subtle changes in the inlets, visitors 

 may only notice when rapid erosion 

 threatens a building. 



The new book gives historical 

 perspective on the inlets' dynamics, 

 including the impact of major storms. 



"Inlets widen and constrict with the 

 passage of storms," Cleary says. 'Typically 

 during storms the inlets tend to widen and 

 then return to a balance." 



For example, the surge associated 

 with Hurricane Hazel in 1954 widened Mad 

 Inlet to its maximum width of 230 meters. 

 Over time, the inlet narrowed again, until it 

 closed in 1997. 



Oregon Inlet reached a maximum 

 width of 2 kilometers following the Ash 

 Wednesday storm in 1962. The same storm 

 dramatically widened Old Topsail Inlet. 



Old Topsail Inlet had narrowed to the 

 point where it was partially closed in the 



24 HOLIDAY 1999 



