2012 March. Poster presenter. Research, Innovation and Scholarship Expo RISE2012, Northeastern University, Poster title, Accelerated Erosion and Sea Level Rise, The Case for Adaptive Policies.

1. References
1. Beatley, Timothy, David J. Brower, Anna K. Schwab (2002). An
Introduction to Coastal Zone Management, (2nd ed.), Washington (DC):
Island Press.
2. Bernd-Cohen, Tin and M. Gordon, (1999). State Coastal Program
Effectiveness in Protecting Natural Beaches, Dunes, Bluffs, and Rocky
Shores. Coastal Management, 27:187-217.
3. Borrelli, Mark, (2009). 137 years of Shoreline Change in Pleasant Bay:
1868 - 2005. Technical report submitted to the Pleasant Bay Resource
Management Alliance, Harwich, Massachusetts.
4. Giese, G. and S.T. Mague, S.S. Rogers, (2009). A Geomorphological
Analysis of Nauset Beach/Pleasant Bay/Chatham Harbor For the
Purpose of Estimating Future Configurations and Conditions, for The
Pleasant Bay Resource Management Alliance, Cape Cod, MA.
www.pleasantbay.org.
5. Giese, G. (2008). Land-sea interaction. Provincetown Center for Coastal
Studies, Coastal Processes: Waves, Tides, and Currents. Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institute Sea Grant Online Publications.
6. Google Earth, 2011.
7. Graham, Jennifer (2010). On the Rocks – healing our dysfunctional
relationship with the coast, Nova Scotia, Canada: Ecology Action
Centre.
8. Higgins, Megan (2008). Sea Level Rise Impacts on Beaches and Coastal
Property, Sea Grant Law and Policy Journal, No. 43, pp. 44 – 65.
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Experiences in Three Towns on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Master’s
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10. Kraus, N. (2000). Inlet Geomorphology and Predictive Models. In:
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12. Massachusetts Shoreline Change Project, 2011. Mass. Office of Coastal
Zone Management, Boston, MA.
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Undergraduate/Graduate: Graduate
Category: Social Sciences, Business and Law
Degree Level: PhD
Abstract ID# 408
Accelerated Erosion and Sea Level Rise, The Case for Adaptive Policies
Lisa Granquist, Law & Public Policy
Abstract
50 years of erosion in a matter of months?
50 years of sea level rise in 2 days?
Do coastal zone management policies designed to respond to long term
processes adequately and fairly address situations
of accelerated erosion and sea level rise?
Under what conditions do accelerated erosion occur?
Type I cases: History of stability with periods of accelerated erosion
or sea level rise returning to stability.
Pleasant Bay in Cape Cod & Siasconset Beach on Nantucket Island.
Type 2 cases: Accelerated cycles of erosion or sea level rise
returning to historical cycles of accretion.
Plum Island, Mass.
In these cases of short and mid-term cyclic processes,
adaptive policies are proposed that would allow more aggressive actions
that might be suitable to save existing structures and reduce property loss
and subsequent litigation while fully protecting resource values.
Adaptive Policy Options
Regulatory Application Protection Resiliency
Zoning variances Stream-line process for property
owners and coastal managers
during accelerated events
 
Wetlands resource areas Incorporate provisions for
expansion into private property
during accelerated events.
 
Living shoreline1 Incorporate in Type I and II areas  
Rolling easements Incorporate in Type I areas
and possibly in Type II areas
 
Temporary movable emergency
structures
Allowable during identified accelerated events.
Return to shoreline stability or historical accretion rates
triggers removal of structures.
Floating breakwaters
offshore shore parallel 
Pre-cast concrete groins
shore perpendicular 
Geo-textile tubes
onshore shore parallel or
perpendicular

Note 1: Swann, LaDon, 2008. The Use of Living Shorelines to Mitigate the Effects of Storm Events on Dauphin Island, Alabama,
USA, Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium, Auburn University.
Type I
History of stability with periods of
accelerated erosion, shoreline change,
or sea level rise, then returning to stability.
83.67 ft
March 1995
38.15 ft
Dec 2001
42.64 ft
March 2005
53.29 ft
April 2005
84.01 ft
July 2007
52.27 ft
April 2008
77.8 ft
July 2008
17.61 ft
July 2010
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Mar-95
Oct-95
May-96
Dec-96
Jul-97
Feb-98
Sep-98
Apr-99
Nov-99
Jun-00
Jan-01
Aug-01
Mar-02
Oct-02
May-03
Dec-03
Jul-04
Feb-05
Sep-05
Apr-06
Nov-06
Jun-07
Jan-08
Aug-08
Mar-09
Oct-09
May-10
Feet from vegetation line
to high water line
Date of Measurement
Plum Island
Historical Accretion Cycles
and Accelerated Erosion Events, 1995 to 2010
with trendline and accelerated erosion events in red
Figure 1: Pleasant Bay Cape Cod, Massachusetts
and Nauset Beach barrier spit
Figure 2: Siasconset Beach, Nantucket Island,
Massachusetts
Type 2
Accelerated cycles of erosion or sea level rise,
returning to historical cycles of accretion.
In Type I cases: Accelerated events have clear beginning, middle, and end
stages. For example, around Pleasant Bay and its enclosing barrier spit, Nauset
Beach, changes in tides have been identified and shoals have been stable in
the past. Recently-formed tidal inlets on Nauset Beach have temporarily
increased the tide range by up to 0.3 m.
Historical analyses show that this inlet will migrate south or close.3,4
Pleasant
Bay
and
Nauset
Beach:
Recent
accelerated
events:
1987,
1990,
2007,
2008, 2010
Figure 3, Data source: Mass. Office of Coastal Zone
Management, Shoreline Change Project, Mass GIS
data layers
Figure 4, Data source:
Measurements by
author using Google
Earth linear
measurement tool on
images for years
shown in Fig. 5
Figure 5, Data source: Measurements by author using Google Earth
linear measurement tool and ArcGIS
In the Type 2 case:
At Plum Island, shifting off-shore bars, not instantaneous sea level rise, caused
the accelerated erosion events. Specific locations experienced rapid isolated
short-term increases in erosion rate. There is evidence that the trend will
return to its historical rate. Acknowledgement to my advisers
Prof. Peter Rosen, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Northeastern University
Porter Hoagland, PhD, Senior Researcher, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute
Conclusion
Two hundred years
of inlet migration
and shoreline change
on Cape Cod
Siasconset Beach property loss, January 2010.13