COAST lab continues monitoring of Jekyll Island


If you were enjoying a beach day at Jekyll Island, GA this month, you might have seen some of our researchers out and about! The Coastal Ocean Analysis and Simulation Team (COAST) recently headed out to continue their quarterly survey to understand how the beach and dunes recover from storm events.

The group set out to work on their GA DNR-funded project: Continuous Beach Observation and Real-Time Inundation Forecasting System (Co-IFS). This project focuses on disaster resiliency and coastal hazards through post-hurricane natural beach and dune recovery and real-time forecasts of coastal water levels, inundation, and waves, and will take place over two years.

Year 1 is focused on establishing a “Living Laboratory” on Jekyll Island, focusing on semi-continuous beach and dune surveys. Hurricanes Ian (category 5, 2022) and Nicole (category 1, 2022) caused substantial beach and dune erosion across Jekyll Island.

From the COAST website’s project page: “The establishment of a Living Laboratory (dedicated field survey site) allows for long-term monitoring of the natural recovery of the beach and dune system and supports both research and education. The outcome of this project is new knowledge of temporal and spatial recovery and beach evolution, which drastically impacts flood risk for the beach- and dune-front properties.”

The goal for Year 2 is to set up a real-time forecasting system of coastal inundation for coastal Georgia. Coastal Georgia is vulnerable to coastal inundation from high tides, winter storms and tropical cyclones. The forecasting system will aim to provide a daily five-day forecast of water levels, waves, and inland inundation. This system would provide emergency managers and local officials with potential impact areas. This project is funded by our partners at the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, and we’re excited to see where it goes! Keep an eye out next time you’re enjoying the waves at Jekyll Island.