GIS Analysis
For this project I used the ArcView GIS 3.2. Within this program is used North Carolina population data from the ESRI server. I laid these over maps of the Outer Banks, also from the ESRI server.
There is no current GIS erosional data available for North Carolina. The erosional data that I used was from erosion maps of the OBX from the North Carolina Division of Coastal Management.(maps) I used values extrapolated from the maps and associated them with the maps by editing the tables.
Because increased beach use can speed up the natural process of erosion, I hypothesized that areas of high erosion rates would have higher populations. The following are the layouts I created showing erosion rates and population of the OBX. I narrowed my analysis to the areas between Ocracoke Inlet and Corolla.
This is a layout of my analysis of Ocracoke Island. I divided the map of the island into areas of equal erosion rates. The color graduation of these areas indicates the erosional rate in feet per year. Negative values for the areas indicates accretion.
As you can see from this map, the shore one of the most highly populated areas is actually experiencing accretion.
The following are the other areas that I analysed.
Kitty Hawk to Corolla
