AN ENGINEERING STUDY OF OCEAN CITY'S BEACHES, NEW JERSEY, USA

Abstract

Ocean City, New Jersey is a major coastal resort in the heavily populated northeastern part of the United States. It is located on a 13 km-long barrier island about 13 km south of Atlantic City and 48 km north of Cape May, the southernmost point in New Jersey. See Figure 1. The barrier island, called Peck's Beach, is bounded on the north by Great Egg Harbor Inlet and on the south by Corsons Inlet. Because wide recreational beaches are important to Ocean City's economy, an engineering study of the beaches was undertaken: a) to quantify natural and man-made shoreline changes, b) to quantify tides, sea level changes, waves, longshore sand transport rates, seasonal variations in beach width and Great Egg Harbor Inlet processes and incorporate them into a sediment budget for Ocean City, c) to determine why past attempts to maintain wide recreational beaches were only partially successful, and d) to recommend a plan to establish and maintain wide beaches.