Alex MacLean

Portfolio: New Work: Sea Level Rise

  • The Wilderness Breach, Fire Island, New York 2018 (180903-0077)I was flying at 4600' when I took this picture over Fire Island, a 32 mile barrier island off the southern shore of Long Island. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy breached Fire Island in three places. Two of the breaches were filled in, but the third breach know as the Wilderness breach has remained open dividing the island in half. The boat and its wake in the western channel gives scale to the breach and the resulting underwater sand bars.
  • Barrier dunes pushed inland from Hurricane Sandy.
  • Shoreline Waves at Smith's Point, Nantucket, Massachusetts 2018 (180930-0404)
  • Sand Bar Island, Newbury Massachusetts 2018 (180901-0358)
  • Barrier islands line the lower Delmarva Peninsula on the eastern shore of Virginia. The shallow bay is partially filled in by marshy wetlands. The circulation through the wetlands is driven by tidal currents, passing through the barrier island inlet, lowering and raising water levels in the lagoon.
  • A sailboat cuts under Mordecai Island in Beach Haven, New Jersey. The island is eroding away due to a history of dredging for navigation as well as mash grass damage due to excess nutrients.
  • Erosion and saltwater intrusion into this maritime forest on Edisto Island, South Carolina have created a “boneyard” of trees that have toppled into the surf and bleached in the sun and salt.
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  • Oyster castles in Chincoteague, Virginia, encourage the settlement of oysters. The restoration of oyster reefs, part of the “Living Shoreline” approach to resilience, is an alternative to building seawalls and breakwaters. Unlike seawalls, oysters reproduce overtime, and keep pace with two inches of sea level rise per year.
  • Oyster castles in Chincoteague, Virginia, encourage the settlement of oysters. The restoration of oyster reefs, part of the “Living Shoreline” approach to resilience, is an alternative to building seawalls and breakwaters. Unlike seawalls, oysters reproduce overtime, and keep pace with two inches of sea level rise per year.
  • Living Oyster Beds, Cape Charles, Virginia 2018 (180905-0143)
  • Boats and Oyster Trays, Cape Charles, Virginia 2018 (180905-0114)
  • Oyster Beds, Cape Charles, Virginia 2018 (180905-0140)
  • Oyster Trays at Winnapaug Pond, Westerly, Rhode Island 2018 (180903-0048)
  • Abandon Dock Pilings
  • Floats, Chatham, Massachusetts 2018 (180930-0293)
  • A private dock with multiple boat slips and a dock house sits high and dry on the shore of Lake Jackson. In the past decade, Lake Jackson has suffered severe drought and water levels have reached record lows. Tracks in the sand reveal the boat owner's now-abandoned effort to reach the receding shoreline.
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  • Barrier Island on Barrier Island, Chatham, Massachusetts 2018 (180930-0309)
  • Sand Ridges Leading to Great Point, Nantucket, Massachusetts 2018 (180931-0327)
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  • This narrow strip of land in Biddeford Pool is frequently close to flooding today, and sea level rise in the future means that the houses will be cut off from land on an almost monthly basis.
  • Named for its many salt marshes that surround brackish estuaries, Marshfield, Massachusetts and its coastal homes like these are threatened by chronic flooding as sea levels rise. Seven hundred are predicted to be at risk by just 2045.
  • Plum Island and Parker River, Newburyport, Massachusetts 2108 (180901-0342)
  • More than a dozen homes on Peggotty Beach in Scituate, Massachusetts were demolished in the 1990’s as part of a federal buyout program following major storms. Current residents struggle to maintain sand in front of their homes and the road that provides access to town.
  • Ref #121114-0437 Digital capture, Lightjet/ chromogenic color print20x24: $2,000Limited Edition of 9 with 2 APs,next available 1/9.24x30: $3,000Limited Edition of 9 with 2 APs, next available 1/9.30x40: $4,500Limited Edition of 9 with 2 APs, next available 1/9.40x60: $7,300Limited Edition of 9 with 2 APs, next available 1/9.Prices and availability are subject to change without notice. 06-03-2019
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  • Hurricane Sandy smashed into Seaside Heights, New Jersey, ripping out its iconic boardwalk and tossing its roller coaster, Jet Star, into the waves. Superstorm Sandy ravaged what Chris Christie famously described as, “the Jersey Shore of my youth.” Images of Jet Star in the ocean and devastation of the pier symbolized the storm’s havoc in the months and years after.
  • The Star Jet roller coaster operated on Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey from 2002 until it was swept into the Atlantic Ocean by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
  • The Rockaway peninsula in Queens, New York, sits between Brooklyn and the Atlantic Ocean. Oceanfront apartments devastated by Hurricane Sandy’s winds, waves, and a subsequent fire in 2012 were cut off from aid due to flooded roads. In recent years, flooded streets from spring tides have trapped residents on a monthly basis.
  • Front row ocean housing completely destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. (Note the roof damage buildigns.)
  • Racks storing boats at a private marina in Rockport, Texas collapsed during Hurricane Harvey.
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  • A spring tide encroaches and floods waterfront homes on the outer edge of the Key Allegro canal community in Rockport, Texas.
  • A house on Ocean Beach, Fire Island, New York, situated in front of the dunes, was pushed off of its stilt foundation by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
  • Heavy equipment is brought in to fortify the shallow shoreline and threatened property against rising seas and extreme weather. A pipe (upper left) feeds in sand that is pumped from the bay to the equipment building up an artificial sand barrier.
  • Using public money, excavators work to replenish sand and widen the beach in front of a Deal, New Jersey home which sold for close to 20 million USD in 2018.
  • Oceanfront estate homes and clubs have benefited from public money renourishing beaches after storms such as Hurricane Sandy.
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  • A backhoe empties sand from a swimming pool at Monmouth Beach, NJ following Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Adjacent to the pool is a consolidation pile of debris from destroyed homes.
  • An 8,000 square foot house in Chappaquiddick, Massachusetts on Martha’s Vineyard is moved inland from a precarious perch on an eroding bluff.
  • Houses built onto the edge of the beach in Scituate, Massachusetts are at the mercy of storm surge and waves.
  • Houses in Nags Head, North Carolina raised on stilts to protect against flooding. Property owners have watched their beaches slip away, and residences that once stood on stable ground are now randomly scattered in the surf zone due to erosion.
  • Houses in Nags Head, North Carolina raised on stilts to protect against flooding. Property owners have watched their beaches slip away, and residences that once stood on stable ground are now randomly scattered in the surf zone due to erosion.
  • Loads of sand are trucked to North Topsail Beach, North Carolina, to replenish the beach and combat erosion that puts a park building at risk.
  • A Fire Island, New York homeowner pushed back overwash from Hurricane Sandy and fortified what was once a front yard with industrial sand bags.
  • Houses in Port St. Joe, Florida, which lost neighbors to Hurricane Michael in 2018, have been repaired, but now lack natural protection from the barrier dune which was washed away.
  • Houses built onto the edge of the beach in Scituate, Massachusetts are at the mercy of storm surge and waves.
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  • Following Hurricane Sandy in 2012, sand was regraded in attempt to create an artificial barrier dune for future high tide and surge protection in Brick, New Jersey.
  • Beach cusps push up against rip rap intended to protect houses from shoreline erosion in Scituate, Massachusetts.
  • Rip rap is commonly used in attempts to protect homes, like these in Swampscott, Massachusetts, but it inadvertently leads to beach erosion in the long run. Waves hit the stone walls and ricochet off them, stripping away sand in the process.
  • Shoring up in front of wash pattern, Duxbury, MA 2018
  • Houses on Turner road in Scituate, Massachusetts sit on the edge of the seawall. In recent years, the seawall has been breached and damaged by storms, flooding some residences and destroying others.
  • Following storms in the first half of the 20th Century, New Bedford, Massachusetts began construction a 3.5 mile dike in the form of a 20 foot high rock wall in 1962. The wall is designed to protect against a 16 foot storm surge, equivalent to a category 3 storm, however if sea level rises 1-2 feet, the wall would be overwhelmed by category 3+ storms.
  • Trouble Above Sea Level, Siasconset, Massachusetts 2018 (180930-0351)
  • Geotubes measuring twenty feet wide and seven feet tall are stacked at the base of Sconsett Bluff on Nantucket Island. The tubes are massive sandbags designed to slow erosion by retaining sand with natural fibers.
  • Waves crash against the end of a seawall in Scituate, Massachusetts, a town which has faced the brunt of many historic storms. Parts of the seawall are 80 years old and in dire need of repair.
  • Beachfront homeowners on Nantucket Island work to prevent erosion with wooden cribs that limit the impact of wind and waves.
  • Stone Defense, Duxbury, Massachusetts 2018 (180930-0240)
  • Oyster Trays in Front of Breakwaters, Cape Charles, Virginia 2018 (180905-0108)
  • Steps to the Water, Point Lookout, New York 2018 (180908-0211)
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  • Beach Sand Nourishment Coming From Offshore, Howell, New Jersey 2018 (180904-0124)
  • Bulldozers redistribute sand that has been pumped from offshore to widen beaches in Deal, New Jersey following Hurricane Sandy.
  • A pump barge sucks sand off the ocean floor, sending it shoreward through a long hose, to be spread on the beach in Seaside Heights, New Jersey. Sand nourishment is a replenishment process that will eventually exhaust the sands available on the offshore floor.
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  • Artificial dune with planted grasses for flood and erosion control to protect boardwalk and coastal roadway.
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  • Artificial Dune Protection and Blue Walks, Margate City, New Jersey 2018 (180904-0467)
  • Artificial dunes with walk overs parallel the boardwalk on the ociean side for flood and erosion control.
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  • Earthen Landscape Materials, Wall Township, New Jersey 2018 (180908-0101)
  • Dune restoration in North Topsail Beach, North Carolina after Hurricane Florence battered coastal homes and washed away sand. After waiting years for federal funding, the town funded its own dune rebuilding, costing millions of dollars.
  • Concrete ships built during World War II steel shortages were sunk in 1948 to provide a breakwater for the Cape Charles, Virginia ferry port. The ferry no longer runs, but the ships continue to shelter the pier and shoreline.
  • Precast anchors make up a breakwater protecting the Malamocco inlet in Venice.
  • Arming the Beach, Brooklyn, New York 2018 (180908-0019)
  • The southern tip of Ocean City, Maryland is the stabilized end of a barrier island that stretches for miles, as far north as Delaware. Though it only has around seven thousand residents, the population swells with tourists to over three hundred thousand on summer weekends, hosting eight million per year.
  • Santa Rosa Island, a barrier island, was hit hard by hurricanes Ivan in 2004 and Dennis in 2005. Rising sea levels erode the coast, yet the tourist industry continues to attract developers eager to build. Between the beach and the buildings, sand is pumped from the bay to the shore, forming a sand wall, similar to a natural barrier dune.
  • The Mystic Island neighborhood of Little Egg township, New Jersey is built on filled in wetlands. Today, it suffers from drops in home prices partially due to flood risk, an easy thought to have after Hurricane Sandy smashed through New Jersey in 2012.
  • Lagoon keys cut into wetlands leaving homes vulneralbe to high tides and storm surges, as well as ongoing problem with sea level rise.
  • Ocean Isle Beach housing with with dug cannals provides direct acces to tidal waters and a connection to the intercoastal water way .
  • Cut and filled lagoon keys are built behind a barrier island in Lavallette, New Jersey, demonstrating the demand for waterfront real estate.
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  • Homes in Bay City, Texas lie in a V flood zone, one of the most extreme designations. During Hurricane Harvey in 2017, one third of Bay City residents chose to stay behind during a mandatory evacuation.
  • Walkovers straddle the dunes in Holden Beach, North Carolina, providing beach access to homeowners while protecting vegetation from being worn down by random foot traffic.
  • A gated community on Pea Island, near Charleston, South Carolina. Houses are elevated, with garages on ground level. Community docks provide access to the ocean, out through the lagoon.
  • Ships docked at the Venice cruise terminal show two worlds of different scale.
  • Docks and boat sheds line the canal coming into the town in Tangier, Virginia. The island, located at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, is predicted to be uninhabitable in the next 30 years due to a combination of sea level rise and subsidence.
  • U.S. Highway 87 and a municipal water drum survived Hurricane Ike, but side streets, homes, and other infrastructure were buried in sand from overwash.
  • Shoreline erosion from Hurricane Ike brings the ocean to the edge of the street on the Bolivar Peninsula in Texas. Today, houses have been rebuilt atop many of the pilings and concrete floors.
  • Single house built to stronger codes remains standing in its neighborhood on the Bolivar Peninsula in Texas following Hurricane Ike. Inland flooding due to storm surge and erosion.
  • The Amtrak line connecting Boston and New York cuts through Sixpenny Swamp in Groton, Connecticut. If the rail line is breached, the whole system is shut down.
  • The 17 mile Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel connects the Delmarva Peninsula to Newport News, Virginia.
  • Located four feet above sea level, Interstate 10 runs southeast through Lake Ponchartrain’s wetlands to New Orleans, Louisiana.
  • A bridge spans Oregon Inlet in Nags Head, North Carolina. The inlet moves an average of 66 feet per year, having moved over two miles south since 1846.
  • The Atlantic Beach Bridge in Morehead City, North Carolina is one of two bridges that connects the nearly 27 mile long barrier island to the mainland.
  • Newtown Creek, an industrial canal, extends New York’s tidal line into Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The Newtown Creek wastewater treatment plant lies on the left bank.
  • The Atlantic County Utilities Authority wastewater treatment facility lies inside wetlands at sea level in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
  • A dredged and filled development of second homes in Mantoloking, New Jersey, each with waterfront access and dockage.
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  • Building a home on stilts in anticipation of flooding in the lagoon keys of Tom’s River, New Jersey. Stilts do not resolve the problems of damage to surrounding homes and infrastructure.
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