Sediment is the currency of coastal barrier island change

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration awarded Florida Gulf Coast University a Cooperative Agreement totaling $251,232 on June 1, 2026, under the Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research Coastal Ocean Program (CFDA 11.478) to model barrier landscape change in southwest Florida over annual to multidecadal timescales and assess management approaches for flood protection.

The recipient will characterize coastal geomorphology, tides, currents, and vegetation in southwest Florida communities by analyzing sediment cores and historical shorelines to estimate past sediment fluxes, assessing topography from existing and new LiDAR and publicly available bathymetric datasets, conducting tide flow analyses from current meter and pressure sensors, and performing vegetation surveys in areas of rapid accretion or erosion. The project will also assess the efficacy of different dune vegetation and sand placement treatments for increasing dune health by conducting field monitoring of natural sites recently disturbed by storms that have received either no intervention or sand placement and/or revegetation. The work will provide the basis for a cost-benefit analysis of management approaches including artificial beach and dune nourishment as well as strategies that enhance natural infrastructure such as dune planting and biophysical modification of dune systems.

The period of performance runs from June 1, 2026, through May 31, 2030. Work is performed in Fort Myers, Florida. The $251,232 obligation represents the full award amount.

The quantity and distribution of sediment can determine the fate of the physical landscape, its ecosystems, and human infrastructure. Yet, multi-scale efforts to quantify the ecomorphological impacts of sediment availability over both short (EVENT-ANNUAL) and long (ANNUAL-DECADAL) timescales are lacking at regional levels. Filling this information GAP would allow coastal stakeholders to better coordinate for and manage the acute and chronic impacts of storms, high water levels, and variations in sediment supplyfactors which directly alter sediment availability through time. In this project, barrier landscape change in southwest florida will be modeled over ANNUAL to multidecadal timescales to reveal the short- and long-term sustainability of the coastal system and provide the basis for a cost-benefit analysis of management approaches to inform effective flood protection projects. Approaches include artificial beach/dune nourishment, as well as other strategies that enhance natural infrastructure, such as dune planting and biophysical modification (e.g. to elevation and plant species) of dune systems. Specifically, this work will: characterize coastal geomorphology, tides/currents, and vegetation in southwest florida communities to construct baselines of current and past environmental conditions. This task will include an analysis of sediment cores and historical shorelines to estimate past sediment fluxes, assessments of topography from existing and new lidar and publicly available bathymetric datasets, tide flow analyses from current meter and pressure sensors, and vegetation surveys in areas of rapid accretion or erosion. Assess the efficacy of different dune vegetation/sand placement treatments for increasing dune health in southwest florida. This will include field monitoring of natural sites recently disturbed by storms that have received either no intervention or sand placement and/or revegetation. Field monitoring will evaluate the effects of sand and plant placement on dune structure in situ, and mesocosm experiments EX situ will test key restoration parameters. Communicate with stakeholders to understand their management approaches and what benefits they are looking to achieve from preserving or enhancing flood protection. This will be accomplished through guided meetings with stakeholders to ascertain their needs in the context of potential cost-benefit analyses. Assess short-term/acute impacts to barrier island stability using process-based scenario modeling of different regimes of beach/dune nourishment and dune vegetation treatments under fair weather conditions and different scenarios of storminess. This task will derive EVENT- and ANNUAL-scale rates of landscape change, including sediment flux rates, by incorporating real-world parameters from environmental baselines. Assess long-term/chronic impacts to barrier island stability by combining results of shortterm modeling with a long-term model of morphologic change to explore the influence of changing water levels and different scenarios of storminess. This task will model the position of the ocean shoreline and dune boundaries over DECADAL timescales using projected water levels (sweet ET AL., 2017; 2022). IT will also explore scenarios of storm type/timing in changing barrier island morphologic outcomes. Combining the results of the previous objectives, execute the cost-benefit analyses defined by guided discussions with stakeholders. These will explore flood protection strategies utilizing different beach/dune nourishment and dune vegetation treatments based on water level. Analyses will be tuned based on community interests (e.g. recreation, preservation, protection, etc.). Results will be shared with the stakeholders.