Carolina Environmental Diversity Explorations
Evidence of rising sea level · By Dirk Frankenberg
An eroded dune
Figure 3. Erosion of dunes threatens this beachfront housing. (Photograph by the author. More about the photograph)
Figure 3 shows an eroded dune in front of a beachfront condominium project. As in the case of the house in Figure 2, this beach and dune eroded rapidly during Hurricanes Bonnie and Fran, but rising sea level played a role by bringing the sea up to a level where storm waves could attack the dune itself rather than dissipating their force over the wide and gently sloping beachface (shown on the right-hand side of the photograph).
