Abstract
The Ocean City Inlet was created in the early 1930s by a strong
hurricane mobilizing the sediment and thus separating Ocean City from
Assateague Island, making the Maryland coastal bay a two-inlet system,
with Chincoteague Inlet 60 km to the south. Ecological and hydrodynamic
impacts of tropical storms on coastal regions have been well-documented.
However, little work has been conducted comparing the impacts of
extratropical winter storms with hurricanes, specifically at two-inlet
systems. Observed winds, water levels, and waves from NOAA’s National
Data Buoy Center (NDBC) and predicted data from the North American
Regional Reanalysis (NARR) and Finite Volume Community Ocean Model
(FVCOM) models were compiled for 2016 to 2018 to compare the magnitude
of forces driving volumetric flow during tropical and extratropical
storms. Although the inlets are around 60 km apart, the water level
responses were similar during the three blizzard events examined. During
each blizzard, the water level increased at the initial arrival of the
low-pressure system and then decreased at both inlets over the course of
the storm, potentially owing to sustained wind pushing water out of the
inlets. The wind and wave forcing on both inlets will be compared using
field data to validate modeled data for one blizzard and hurricane per
each year. This study, along with the validated hydrodynamic models that
were utilized, will assist in predicting environmental stressors and
potential influences on shoreline zones under varying storm intensities
in two-inlet systems.