Utilization of geoindicators for rapid assessment of coastal-hazard risk and mitigation

Geoindicators provide a management tool for rapid assessment of natural hazard risk potential, either as a supplement to long-term environmental auditing and monitoring, or for initial coastal assessment as in developing countries. Using examples of barrier island and bluffed coasts, indicators of process/response are examined regionally, locally, and site-specifically; the latter being the primary indicators of property-threatening hazards. Tabled evaluation parameters range from general (elevation and vegetation) to specific characteristics such as shoreline stability and configuration, inlet proximity, and barrier-island interior geomorphology. Geoindicators also provide guidance for local mitigation of hazard impacts. A case study of Bogue Banks, North Carolina, shows that the geoindicators approach is applicable to communities with extant management plans. Bogue Banks’ five communities must reevaluate mitigation strategies after every storm and because of changes induced through development. By applying the geoindicators approach, shoreline reaches as well as interior areas may be reassigned as to the level of risk, and appropriate mitigation actions taken.