Response of the mid shoreface of the southern mid-Atlantic Bight to a «Northeaster

An instrumented, bottom-mounted, tripod deployed off Duck, North Carolina, at a depth of 8 m provided time series of pressure, benthic currents, suspended sediment concentrations and bed-level changes prior to and during a typical northeast storm. A strong jet-like southerly-setting current generated by the northeaster was accompained by downwelling and strong bottom agitation by wind waves. A total bed-level change of over 15 cm was recorded. After a phase of bed erosion, the bed accreted rapidly. Side-scan imagery supports the inference that offshore or alongshore migration of quasidiscrete sediment lobes may have produced the observed pulse-like accretion.