The Importance Of Beach Erosion

Long Island is a densely populated geographical area of New York State, it extends 118 miles east of New York City with population of 7.5 million, the south shore of Long Island is known for its great beaches. Although these beaches are rated among the best in the country they suffer from extreme beach erosion all year round, seasonal weather taking toll on the size of the beaches as well. These beaches endured the harsh summer storms and hurricanes as well as the bitter winter winds and blizzards. Beach Erosion is the removal of sand by the ocean and/or wind from the beach. According to USGS Beach Erosion occurs when the waves and the currents from the ocean remove sand from the beach ecosystem. Due to beach erosion, the beach becomes lower in elevation with less land and a retreat if the shoreline. Beach Erosion affects all aspects of life amongst the people and wildlife of the Southern Shore of Long Island, it especially affects those who rely on the

In the past decade Long Island's south shore has been significantly impacted by various major storms that have directly resulted in severe Beach Erosion and flooding in the communities that reside on the south shore. It has been estimated that the value of both public and private buildings, parks and property that suffer from the severe flooding and erosion are worth over $10 billion, areas such as Dune Road in Westhampton Dunes exceeding that by much due to the expensive homes and properties. Although many of the major storms that hit the south shore are not long in duration, they have a significant impact of how the shoreline appears and behaves for the next hundreds of years or even more. When the storm first hits the damage is obvious to all those who take notice but it will become even more apparent how the storm had harmed or helped the ecosystem and shoreline in the years to