Beach Erosion Mitigation and Sediment Management Alternatives at Wallops Island, VA
Abstract
The Goddard Space Flight Center, Wallops Flight Facility (WFF), is located on the eastern shore of Virginia facing the Atlantic Ocean. The island has experienced erosion throughout the six decades that NASA has occupied the site. Near the south part of the island, at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) spaceport, shoreline retreat from 1857 to the present averaged about 3.7 m/year. Further south, adjacent to Assawoman Inlet, retreat exceeded 5 m/year. Since the early 1990s, part of the island has been protected with a stone rubblemound seawall, a replacement for an older wood wall that deteriorated. Although the seawall has temporarily fixed the shoreline position, the structure is being undermined because there is little or no protective sand beach remaining and storm waves break directly on the rocks. The south end of the island is currently unprotected except for a low revetment around the MARS launch pad. As a result, NASA officials are highly concerned that launch pads, infrastructure, and test and training facilities belonging to NASA, the U.S. Navy, and the (MARS) spaceport, valued at over $800 million, are increasingly vulnerable to damage from storm waves and that the foundations of structures and the Unmanned Autonomous Vehicle (UAV) runway may be undermined as the beach continues to erode.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2006
- Accession Number
- ADA457769
Entities
People
- Andrew Morang
- Greggory G. Williams
- Jerry W. Swean
Organizations
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration