Barrier islands can be violently impacted by severe storms because their main purpose is to lessen the blow experienced by the mainland (Smith et al., 2006). These islands therefore can be highly impacted by storms in terms of shoreline erosion, sediment transfer, and foredune reduction. Depending on the frequency and severity of storms, the level of shoreline retreat can be very large (Kish and Donoghue, 2013). On Santa Rosa Island, Kish and Donoghue (2013) measured a 300-meter shoreline retreat after a violent storm. This amount of erosion causes a reduction in the size and location of the foredunes on these islands. When storms repeatedly hit an area over a relatively small amount of time the beaches and foredunes do not have time to redevelop, …show more content…
Salt-water intrusion can lead to plant death and fleeing of animals from their former habitats (http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/surge/). The animals that nest on these beaches and foredunes are also negatively impacted. Nests can either be washed away or covered with large amounts of sediment, dramatically lessening the breeding success of these populations for that year. A potential benefit of these storms on barrier islands is that they deter humans from developing the land in these areas, which allows the biodiversity to grow and flourish. Another benefit is that storms hitting these islands lessen the impact on the mainland, which helps reduce the loss of developed land in these …show more content…
There has been some evidence of irregularity in the flow and heat transport throughout its history. A study done by Lund et al. (2006) using foraminifera from sediment cores found that the density gradient was lower and therefore the flow of the Gulf Stream was slower during the Little Ice Age. It is estimated that the volume of the Gulf Stream was about 10% less than it is today. The paleoclimatic records indicate that reduced heat transport during the Little Ice Age may have led to cooler northern temperatures (Lund et al.,