Beach Nourishment: A Critical Look – Gary Griggs | Journal of Coastal Research

An aerial view of the Virginia Beach Hurricane Protection and Renourishment project. which replenished 1.25 million cubic yards of sand, increasing the beach from 150 and 280 feet wide to as much as 300 feet (Courtesy of the Norfolk District, U. S. Army Corps of Engineers CC BY 2.0 via Flickr).

More than $15 billion, mostly federal dollars, have been spent moving sand to the shoreline for both recreational and shoreline protection benefits. Still, whether in New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Florida, or California, the life span of the sand added artificially to these beaches in many cases has been relatively short and in some instances has been less than a year…

Looting of the sea: the great sand theft – ABC

Sand mining, Mizoram, India (by Karen Conniff CC BY-NC 2.0 courtesy of Water Alternatives Photos via Flickr).

It is the most demanded raw material after water. It is used to make concrete, chips, detergents, paints… and even artificial islands. The big cities are hungry for sand and to satisfy it, the world’s beaches are being plundered….

Denial and Deception – Gary Griggs

Hackberry Gas Pumps, Route 66, Arizona (by Eric Kilby CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED via Flickr).

Earth’s temperature continues to climb to uncharted levels. Two weeks ago, NOAA announced that April was the 11th month in a row that set a new record for the highest monthly temperatures. While there are many enviable records, in sports for example, when it comes to global temperatures, this is not a record anyone wants to own. While 2023 was the hottest year on record since we began tracking temperatures nearly 150 years ago, there is a high probability based on the first four months of this year that 2024 will surpass 2023. Another statistic in which we cannot rejoice…

Where Seas are Rising at Alarming Speed – the Washington Post

Southeastern United States, after winter rains brought sediments from rivers flowing to the East of the Rockies into the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Coast (captured by the VIIRS instrument aboard the NOAA-20 satellite on December 18, 2023, courtesy of NASA/OB.DAAC).

One of the most rapid sea level surges on Earth is besieging the American South, forcing a reckoning for coastal communities across eight U.S. states…At more than a dozen tide gauges spanning from Texas to North Carolina, sea levels are at least 6 inches higher than they were in 2010 — a change similar to what occurred over the previous five decades…