Barrier Beach

Barrier beaches are narrow, low-lying strips of beach and dunes that are roughly parallel to the coastline and are separated from the mainland by a body of water or wetland. Hundreds of barrier beaches line the Massachusetts coastline. These landforms were created and are constantly changed by coastal processes, such as erosion, overwash during storms, dune movement, and inlet formation and migration. These dynamic systems are a tremendous resource providing recreation opportunities for beachgoers, fishermen, and off-road vehicle users; storm and flood protection for mainland areas; and habitat for plants and wildlife, including numerous rare and endangered species. In addition, many of these barrier beaches have been developed for recreational, residential, and commercial purposes. Managing barrier beaches to meet these competing uses is a complex task facing many local communities, organizations, and homeowners. [Massachusetts CZM]

Coastal Morphology

The science of natural morphodynamic processes, which are responsible for shaping the coastal zone. The meaning of the Greek word "morphè" is form or shape. These natural processes, which involve wind, tides, currents, waves, biota, soil and sea-level changes, interact with the materials from which the coastal zone is built. Coastal zones around the world are shaped in highly diverse ways. The term coastal morphology is also used for the description of these very diverse coastal forms. [CoastalWiki.org]

Culvert

The traditional definition of a culvert is a small structure that forms a hole through an embankment and has no superstructure, substructure or deck. This definition has become somewhat distorted in recent years with the introduction of the precast concrete rectangular box culverts (three- or four-sided), which can be installed with no fill on top of them. The traditional culvert was a simple round shape constructed of galvanized corrugated steel or of reinforced concrete. [DOT]

Ditching

A salt marsh agricultural practice in dating back to early colonial days and up until the early 1900s when marsh hay farming was ultimately abandoned, allowing the marsh to flood as agricultural infrastructure fell into disrepair. During the Great Depression, vast re-ditching programs were launched to drain the marsh, in some cases for mosquito control in areas viewed as swampy, nuisance land. By the late 1930s nearly 94% of New England salt marshes had been re-ditched, negatively altering the ecology of this important habitat. Today, the remnants of these ditches continue to disrupt natural tidal flow by not allowing for natural draining, drowning the plants.

Intertidal Zone

Intertidal zones exist anywhere the ocean meets the land, from steep, rocky ledges to long, sloping sandy beaches and mudflats that can extend for hundreds of meters. [NOAA. What is the intertidal zone?]

Living Shoreline

Living shorelines are a green infrastructure technique using native vegetation alone or in combination with offshore sills to stabilize the shoreline. Living shorelines provide a natural alternative to “hard” shoreline stabilization methods like stone sills or bulkheads, and provide numerous benefits including nutrient pollution remediation, essential fish habitat provision, and buffering of shoreline from waves and storms. Living shorelines are known to store carbon (known as carbon sequestration), which keeps carbon out of the atmosphere. Continued use of this approach to coastal resilience will result in increased carbon sequestration and storage, potentially mitigating the effects of climate change. [NOAA. What is a living shoreline?]

Marsh Migration

When marshes shift gradually inland with sea level rise onto formerly dry land. [NROC. Make Way for Marshes]

Nuisance Flooding

High tide flooding, sometimes referred to as "nuisance" flooding, is flooding that leads to public inconveniences such as road closures. It is increasingly common as coastal sea levels rise. [NOAA. What is high tide flooding?]

Resilience

Coastal resilience means building the ability of a community to "bounce back" after hazardous events such as hurricanes, coastal storms, and flooding, rather than simply reacting to impacts. [NOAA. What is resilience?]

Salt Marsh

Salt marshes are coastal wetlands that are flooded and drained by salt water brought in by the tides. They are marshy because the soil may be composed of deep mud and peat. Peat is made of decomposing plant matter that is often several feet thick. Peat is waterlogged, root-filled, and very spongy…These intertidal habitats are essential for healthy fisheries, coastlines, and communities-and they are an integral part of our economy and culture. They also provide essential food, refuge, or nursery habitat for more than 75 percent of fisheries species, including shrimp, blue crab, and many finfish. Salt marshes also protect shorelines from erosion by buffering wave action and trapping sediments. They reduce flooding by slowing and absorbing rainwater and protect water quality by filtering runoff, and by metabolizing excess nutrients. [NOAA. What is a salt marsh?]