The coastal unit framework is a relatively untested and novel approach to coastal analysis that allows for characterization of the shoreline in a way that is both locally specific and regionally applicable. This is an example of coastal units we generated by prioritizing sediment loss.
This website interface, currently in development, allows users to generate a set of coastal units based on selected priorities, such as sediment loss/gain, coastal habitat, and erosion.
New York Healthy Coasts and Communities
The New York Healthy Coasts and Communities project aims to characterize coastal forces (wind, waves, longshore transport), the geologic and geomorphological contexts, and the social/cultural conditions along the Lake Erie shoreline of New York. This regional information will be assembled, mapped, and analyzed to identify a series of coastal ‘units’ that group reaches of the shoreline based on the above factors. Then, the plan will identify strategies that leverage these conditions to achieve needed benefits and outcomes. This work is meant to serve as a framework for future, more site-specific design and engineering projects that take advantage of passive sediment management (PSM) strategies. The goal of this working method is to establish possible design solutions that are both contextually specific and transferrable to other geographies that share similar attributes. This project is funded by the Cornell Water Resources Institute and supported by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation.
Led By: Sean Burkholder