RCN: Inundation Signatures on Rocky Coastlines (ISROC)

Rocky coastlines around the world often show signs of storm or tsunami inundation in the form of long-lived coastal boulder deposits. However, their interpretation remains controversial. It is still not possible to infer the magnitude of inundation with any accuracy, or in some cases even to determine whether the deposits were generated by storm waves or by tsunamis.

The Inundation Signatures on Rocky Coastlines (ISROC) Research Coordination Network will bring together researchers from the United States and other countries around the world to define the field as a whole, establish standards, bring together existing and new data into a central database, and define priority research topics. Collaborations may be both virtual and in-person, all dependent on safety protocols.

Student training will be a priority during this 5-year project, with the HBCU University of the Virgin Islands serving as the home site for the Year 3 Student Conference and Workshop, and a second Workshop in Year 5 at a different site. Short-term research exchanges and student visits will take place throughout the project.

Coastal boulder deposits (CBD) are signatures of extreme marine inundation found on many rocky shorelines worldwide. However, their interpretation remains contentious, with debate extending to whether clasts were deposited by storm waves or tsunamis, and the immediate implications for risk and planning. Reconstruction of the hydrodynamic conditions and climatology leading to CBD generation has even greater uncertainty.

Nevertheless, these long-lived deposits provide what are sometimes the only records of historic and prehistoric inundation, so reconstructions have direct application to understanding past and present conditions, and high predictive value for future inundation regimes. Here, the Inundation Signatures on Rocky Coastlines (ISROC) Research Coordination Network is proposed to (1) Define the overall CBD problem chain and associated research gaps by developing a network of researchers from different disciplines, locations, and backgrounds; (2) Extend and train the community of researchers, in particular to include groups underrepresented in STEM at locations where CBDs are found; (3) Develop CBD disciplinary standards for gathering and archiving data; (4) Develop and implement cyberinfrastructure for researchers to upload, visualize, and analyze CBD data; and (5) Create opportunities for cross-disciplinary, in-person, and online collaboration and exchange.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.