The UW Sediments Dynamics Lab joined up with the Wetland Ecosystem Team from UW SAFS and Megan Dethier from UW FHL to study the impact of bluff armoring on the beach and nearshore ecosystems. This project was funded by the ESRP which is conducting a Puget Sound wide study of armoring-from the bluffs to the nearshore. Our lab is focused on studying the bluff to beach connection through geomorphology, grain size, and available sediment.

We conducted field work in the summer of 2022 and visited 20 sites around Puget Sound. Using an RTK-GPS we were able to take elevation measurements, a drone was used to image map the beach and bluff, and we took detailed photographs of grain size at varying tidal elevations.

Since then we’ve been working to produce orthophotos and DEMs of the beaches, create profiles of beach slope, and study grain size variation. From there the orthophotos will be run through a deep learning algorithm to study grain size distribution.