COASTAL CHANGE DETECTION ALONG THE FIRE ISLAND, US UNDER THE IMPACT OF HURRICANE SANDY BASED ON LIDAR DATA

Abstract

Coastal erosion occurring all over the world is a disastrous coastal geological phenomenon. It can be caused by many natural factors such as wind and waves. Hurricane Sandy made landfall on the east coast of the United States at the end of October 2012 and caused severe damage to the economy and ecological environment. In this paper, we employ the ground-based LiDAR which has higher spatial resolution to observe the coastal change detection at Fire Island, New York where the place is severely affected. The research showed that sediment accumulation occurred away from the coast, up to 2.9 meters, erosion close to the coast, up to 9 meters. The total volume of the study area decreased by 78160.96 cubic meters. The coastline retreated by 32.86 meters on average. In addition, a website has been designed to record coastal erosion anytime and anywhere. We hope this study will help people better understand the impact of hurricanes on coastal erosion, enhance our awareness of environmental protection, and provide scientific information for further study.