Giant boulders and Last Interglacial storm intensity in the North Atlantic
As global climate warms and sea level rises, coastal areas will be subject to more frequent extreme flooding and hurricanes. Geologic evidence for extreme coastal storms during past warm periods has the potential to provide fundamental insights into their future intensity. Recent studies argue that...
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10278/3759161 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1712433114 |
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ftuniveneziairis:oai:iris.unive.it:10278/3759161 2024-04-14T08:15:40+00:00 Giant boulders and Last Interglacial storm intensity in the North Atlantic Rovere A. Casella E. Harris D. L. Lorscheid T. Nandasena N. A. K. Dyer B. Sandstrom M. R. Stocchi P. D'Andrea W. J. Raymo M. E. Rovere, A. Casella, E. Harris, D. L. Lorscheid, T. Nandasena, N. A. K. Dyer, B. Sandstrom, M. R. Stocchi, P. D'Andrea, W. J. Raymo, M. E. 2017 http://hdl.handle.net/10278/3759161 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1712433114 eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pmid/29087331 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/WOS:000415173300046 volume:114 issue:46 firstpage:12144 lastpage:12149 numberofpages:6 journal:PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA http://hdl.handle.net/10278/3759161 doi:10.1073/pnas.1712433114 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/scopus/2-s2.0-85033717522 Climate change Eemian Extreme wave Last Interglacial Superstorms Settore GEO/04 - Geografia Fisica e Geomorfologia info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2017 ftuniveneziairis https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1712433114 2024-03-21T18:22:27Z As global climate warms and sea level rises, coastal areas will be subject to more frequent extreme flooding and hurricanes. Geologic evidence for extreme coastal storms during past warm periods has the potential to provide fundamental insights into their future intensity. Recent studies argue that during the Last Interglacial (MIS 5e, ∼128–116 ka) tropical and extratropical North Atlantic cyclones may have been more intense than at present, and may have produced waves larger than those observed historically. Such strong swells are inferred to have created a number of geologic features that can be observed today along the coastlines of Bermuda and the Bahamas. In this paper, we investigate the most iconic among these features: massive boulders atop a cliff in North Eleuthera, Bahamas. We combine geologic field surveys, wave models, and boulder transport equations to test the hypothesis that such boulders must have been emplaced by storms of greater-than-historical intensity. By contrast, our results suggest that with the higher relative sea level (RSL) estimated for the Bahamas during MIS 5e, boulders of this size could have been transported by waves generated by storms of historical intensity. Thus, while the megaboulders of Eleuthera cannot be used as geologic proof for past “superstorms,” they do show that with rising sea levels, cliffs and coastal barriers will be subject to significantly greater erosional energy, even without changes in storm intensity. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia: ARCA (Archivio Istituzionale della Ricerca) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 114 46 12144 12149 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia: ARCA (Archivio Istituzionale della Ricerca) |
op_collection_id |
ftuniveneziairis |
language |
English |
topic |
Climate change Eemian Extreme wave Last Interglacial Superstorms Settore GEO/04 - Geografia Fisica e Geomorfologia |
spellingShingle |
Climate change Eemian Extreme wave Last Interglacial Superstorms Settore GEO/04 - Geografia Fisica e Geomorfologia Rovere A. Casella E. Harris D. L. Lorscheid T. Nandasena N. A. K. Dyer B. Sandstrom M. R. Stocchi P. D'Andrea W. J. Raymo M. E. Giant boulders and Last Interglacial storm intensity in the North Atlantic |
topic_facet |
Climate change Eemian Extreme wave Last Interglacial Superstorms Settore GEO/04 - Geografia Fisica e Geomorfologia |
description |
As global climate warms and sea level rises, coastal areas will be subject to more frequent extreme flooding and hurricanes. Geologic evidence for extreme coastal storms during past warm periods has the potential to provide fundamental insights into their future intensity. Recent studies argue that during the Last Interglacial (MIS 5e, ∼128–116 ka) tropical and extratropical North Atlantic cyclones may have been more intense than at present, and may have produced waves larger than those observed historically. Such strong swells are inferred to have created a number of geologic features that can be observed today along the coastlines of Bermuda and the Bahamas. In this paper, we investigate the most iconic among these features: massive boulders atop a cliff in North Eleuthera, Bahamas. We combine geologic field surveys, wave models, and boulder transport equations to test the hypothesis that such boulders must have been emplaced by storms of greater-than-historical intensity. By contrast, our results suggest that with the higher relative sea level (RSL) estimated for the Bahamas during MIS 5e, boulders of this size could have been transported by waves generated by storms of historical intensity. Thus, while the megaboulders of Eleuthera cannot be used as geologic proof for past “superstorms,” they do show that with rising sea levels, cliffs and coastal barriers will be subject to significantly greater erosional energy, even without changes in storm intensity. |
author2 |
Rovere, A. Casella, E. Harris, D. L. Lorscheid, T. Nandasena, N. A. K. Dyer, B. Sandstrom, M. R. Stocchi, P. D'Andrea, W. J. Raymo, M. E. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Rovere A. Casella E. Harris D. L. Lorscheid T. Nandasena N. A. K. Dyer B. Sandstrom M. R. Stocchi P. D'Andrea W. J. Raymo M. E. |
author_facet |
Rovere A. Casella E. Harris D. L. Lorscheid T. Nandasena N. A. K. Dyer B. Sandstrom M. R. Stocchi P. D'Andrea W. J. Raymo M. E. |
author_sort |
Rovere A. |
title |
Giant boulders and Last Interglacial storm intensity in the North Atlantic |
title_short |
Giant boulders and Last Interglacial storm intensity in the North Atlantic |
title_full |
Giant boulders and Last Interglacial storm intensity in the North Atlantic |
title_fullStr |
Giant boulders and Last Interglacial storm intensity in the North Atlantic |
title_full_unstemmed |
Giant boulders and Last Interglacial storm intensity in the North Atlantic |
title_sort |
giant boulders and last interglacial storm intensity in the north atlantic |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10278/3759161 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1712433114 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pmid/29087331 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/WOS:000415173300046 volume:114 issue:46 firstpage:12144 lastpage:12149 numberofpages:6 journal:PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA http://hdl.handle.net/10278/3759161 doi:10.1073/pnas.1712433114 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/scopus/2-s2.0-85033717522 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1712433114 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
container_volume |
114 |
container_issue |
46 |
container_start_page |
12144 |
op_container_end_page |
12149 |
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