9616311 Pilkey It is proposed to conduct immediately a sidescan-sonar, bathymetric, and diver-vibracore survey of the shoreface and inner continental shelf off Wrightsville Beach and Topsail Island, North Carolina. The eye of hurricane Bertha made landfall this location on 12 July. The week prior to the storm, an extensive sidecan-conar, seismic and bathymetric survey off Topsail Island was conducted as par of a regularly scheduled research cruise. Over the past six years, we have also developed a comprehensive database of sidecan-conar, seismic, vibracore data, as well as wave and current measurements on the shoreface and inner shelf off Wrightsville Beach for the ongoing studies of the geologic framework and mobility of the shoreface sediment cover. This situation furnishes a unique and unprecedented opportunity to examine in detail the impact (or lack thereof) of a major storm event on a well-studied barrier island shoreface. Immediate documentation of this event is critical; post-storm processes may quickly modify or erase the storm signature. This rapid-response survey will provide insight into the nature and importance of large-magnitude, short-term events in the longer-term (years to decades) evolution of the shoreface.
