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Download a zip file that includes all the web pages and downloadable files from the student materialsFor the Instructor
These student materials complement the Coastal Processes, Hazards and Society Instructor Materials. If you would like your students to have access to the student materials, we suggest you either point them at the Student Version which omits the framing pages with information designed for faculty (and this box). Or you can download these pages in several formats that you can include in your course website or local Learning Managment System. Learn more about using, modifying, and sharing InTeGrate teaching materials.Storms
Large storms in coastal settings typically produce strong winds that can create larger than normal waves. Increased wave heights, and thus the energy associated with the waves, can very quickly change the overall morphology of coastal environments that are exposed to the storm. Even relatively smaller scale storms such as thunderstorms can, with strong enough winds, create substantial changes to a beach or other environments within the coastal zone if they occur with a high frequency during the course of several days or weeks.
Wind can also modify coastal environments. For example, strong winds steadily blowing across a fine-grained beach and dune system for several days can lead to the transport of some of that sand from the beach and dunes and its deposition elsewhere. As a result, environments exposed to strong winds during the course of several days can be reduced in elevation through a process known as deflation.
There is a wide range of scale when it comes to discussing storms. Although capable of inducing change, it is not the random small-scale thunderstorm or even weeks of continuous thunderstorms that cause the most modification to coasts. The most powerful storms to potentially impact a coast are tropical cyclones.
