Cape Espenberg, Alaska; By Owen K. Mason
Cape Espenberg lies on the Arctic Circle at the terminus of a 30 km long mainland attached beach ridge plain at the northern limit of Seward Peninsula, in western Alaska.
Caladesi Island, Florida; By Tonya D. Clayton
Caladesi Island is a small, sandy island perched just off Florida’s sunny west coast. As one of the area’s few undeveloped barrier islands, Caladesi sports a beautiful beach and a rare virgin stand of South Florida slash pine. Sand dunes, a maritime oak forest, and tangled mangrove swamps round out the scenery.
Ancient La Caleta Beach and Cove; By Cecelia Dailey
From the south, the route to the ancient city of Cadiz moves through rolling hills lined with windmills, then miles of estuary and flooded fields along the Andalusian coast of Spain. Abandoned and living mouths of alluvial rivers deposit sediment to the ocean and along the shore here.
Faroe Islands; By Adam Griffith
The Faroe Islands are a group of small volcanic islands that lie between Iceland and Norway in the northern Atlantic. Still unknown to many people, the Faroe Islands have become more familiar to some recently due to a variety of media mentions.
Quendale Beach, Shetland Islands, UK; By Joe Kelley
Quendale Beach is on the southern side Mainland, the largest of island in the Shetlands. The Shetland Islands, of course, are a part of Scotland, though they are usually shown on an inset map of the UK because they are farther north than parts of Norway. This is a treeless landscape with strong winds and large waves during storms. The Quendale Beach is a beautiful and tranquil, however, with visitors who prefer solitude to glitz …
Beachfront Development along the Pacific Coast of Colombia: A good thing? By Orrin H. Pilkey & William J. Neal
When we were studying the Colombia’s Pacific Coast barrier islands, we visited a couple of small villages perched on the edge of rapidly eroding beaches. At first the high-risk location of these villages didn’t make any sense to us. Why should the locals live so dangerously? After a few days, however, we began to understand…
Padre Island National Seashore, Texas; By Katie McDowell Peek
Stretching 80 miles along the Texas shore is Padre Island National Seashore, the world’s longest stretch of undeveloped barrier island…
Cumberland Island National Seashore, Georgia USA; By Chester W. Jackson Jr. & Carol Ruckdeschel
With a barrier island shorescape composed of kilometers of dune ridges, expansive maritime forest, and dynamic shorelines, Cumberland Island is a complex landscape fashioned by natural processes intertwined with a history of human and non-native biological impacts.
D-Day’s Legacy Sands, Omaha Beach; By Earle F. McBride & M. Dane Picard
Before dawn on June 6, 1944, more than 160,000 Allied troops began storming the shores of Normandy, France, in what would be the turning point of World War II. Troops poured out of planes and off ships along an 80-kilometer stretch of coastline. Omaha Beach sand retains evidence of the Invasion…