Beach changes at Nauset Inlet, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, 1670-1981

Abstract

A historical study of barrier beach and inlet changes for the Nauset Inlet region, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, was performed to document patterns of beach and inlet change as a preliminary to designing and carrying out ffeld studies of inlet sediment transport. 120 historical charts from 1670 and 125 sets of aerial photographs from 1938 formed the basis for this study. Specific aspects of barrier beach and inlet change addressed include onshore barrier beach movement, longshore tidal inlet migration, and longshore sand bypassing past the inlet. In an effort to correlate forcing events with barrier changes, an exhaustive study of the local storm climate was performed. Detailed treatment of the specific mechanisms responsible for Nauset Inlet migration episodes in a direction opposite the dominant littoral drift are treated in a companion paper by Aubrey, Speer, and Ruder (1982). Documentation of the data base available for the Nauset Area is presented herein as appendices.