ABSTRACT
Through analyses of historical changes in the shoreline and overwash zone (storm-surge penetration zone) along 630 km of the mid-Atlantic coast, we have determined that there are along-the-coast patterns of the rates of change of the shoreline. These arcuate patterns are present both before and after the passage of severe storms and are persistent through time. Severe storms do not result in a total restructuring of the shore zone. Like most natural systems, coastline processes and coastline forms are organized in both time and space, so high hazard zones are predictable from a probabilistic standpoint. Based on our studies this predictability extends down in scale to just a few hundreds of meters along the coast.
