Abstract
A 12,000 ft long stretch of Atlantic Ocean shoreline in East Hampton Village, Long Island, New York has been observed and studied since 1977. Compilation of data from various sources, published and unpublished, as well as measurements made on aerial photographs and field measurements indicate a long-term tendency to erosion for this bluffed coast. A northward retreat of the beach system at an “average annualized” rate of 0.5 to 1.0 ft/year seems highly likely. Shore protection devices installed in 1977–1978 have “hardened” the base of the bluffs. In places the structures have been overtopped, and bluff erosion has continued behind them. Short stretches of the bluff once fronted by protective structures have retreated northward, and several houses along the bluff crests have been moved inland.
The centers of several concave-to-the-sea beach stretches seem to maintain their positions along the beach, and these beach stretches tend to be more narrow than adjacent areas. Northward bluff base migration tendencies and beach narrowing tendencies are more closely associated with these beach stretches than where the beach is convex to the sea. Calculations suggest that the revetments and bulkheads presently in place can have a long-term narrowing effect on beach width by limiting the sand supplied to the beach from the bluffs.
