In other years, however, hurricanes and nor’easters have opened multiple inlets in a single season. The year that these images were acquired was a relatively quiet one for storms. “If you can’t see green vegetation,” Riggs said, “that means the area is ready to break in the next storm to form an inlet.”
The shoreline continues to recede and weak spots form, at which point water from the Atlantic Ocean can break through and form an inlet. These areas are generally eroding and thinning. Skinny parts of the island chain, which appear mostly white without any green vegetation, are “simple” barrier islands. Stanley Riggs, a scientist who in the mid 1960s developed the coastal and marine science program at East Carolina University, pointed out some notable features. Various stages of island evolution-from build-up to erosion-are all visible along the island chain. These images show a moment in time on June 7, 2015, captured with the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on the Landsat 8 satellite. These islands have been in flux long before the park was established, and they continue to change today. It wasn’t until 1953 that the National Park Service acquired enough land to establish the park, and another five years before facilities were in place and the park could formally open. The park’s origins date back to the 1930s, when Congress authorized the creation of this first “national seashore park” in the United States. The images above show a segment of the barrier islands in the vicinity of Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The very existence of these barrier islands is due to the power of wind and water.
But there is evidence all around that this beach is not always so serene. On most summer days, a trip to North Carolina’s Outer Banks means a peaceful day at the beach soaking up the sun and playing in the waves. We are celebrating this milestone with a gallery of images that you can see here. This week marks the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service.
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