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Nearshore Currents
Oral
Liliana Velasquez Montoya, MSc, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Scholar
North Carolina State University
Elizabeth Sciaudone, PhD, PE
Research Assistant Professor
North Carolina State University, Dept. Civil, Construction & Environmental Engineering
This study assesses the effects of Pea Island breaching on the hydrodynamics of the back-barrier sound and Oregon Inlet (OI) in the northern Outer Banks of NC. Changes in flow velocities of OI caused by a new inlet are computed by means of numerical modeling experiments. Analyses of OI are completed combined with an actual breach that occurred in 2011, idealized inlets at the same location of the breach with different geometries, and another idealized inlet scenario at a vulnerable location on the island. It was found that the original Pea Island Breach did not modify the dynamics of OI.