Dr. Charles Flagg of the Stony Brook University School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences took a flight over the Old Inlet Wilderness Breach yesterday and submitted the report and images below. Dr. Flagg also published a more detailed report last week that can be found here.
A breach flight yesterday revealed some interesting changes from just a month ago. The photos were taken about an hour after low tide in the ocean and a strong ebb flow was evident through the western channel even from the air. And lots of brown tide waters were being flushed from the bay. Two items of note are that the eastern shore has retreated significantly and that the offshore oriented sand shoal in the middle of the breach has greatly increased in size. Roughly 300 meters of the shoal were above water at the time of the photos. With the erosion of the eastern shoreline the previous channel north of Fire Island to the east, seems to have pushed farther into the breach. Hard to tell for sure but with the partial blockage of the main channel south of Pelican Island, perhaps the whole system is shifting back to the east.
Regards, Charlie
Below are a few recent posts on Old Inlet covered by Fire Island and Beyond.
http://www.new.fireislandandbeyond.com/summer-solstice-hike-old-inlet-wilderness-breach/
http://www.new.fireislandandbeyond.com/old-inlet-wilderness-breach-beginning-end/
And be sure to check out our new surf, beach and marina cams livestreaming all day every day!
http://www.new.fireislandandbeyond.com/beach-cam/