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Tag: Sand dunes

  • ‘We’re going to lose these homes:’ TS Alberto’s storm surge eats away at Bolivar Peninsula sand dunes

    ‘We’re going to lose these homes:’ TS Alberto’s storm surge eats away at Bolivar Peninsula sand dunes

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    CRYSTAL BEACH, Texas – The Houston area dodged the worst of Tropical Storm Alberto, but that doesn’t mean we got away without a scratch.

    Our barrier islands took a beating from Alberto’s storm surge. Galveston Bay and nearby barrier islands saw two to four feet of storm surge roll onto the island.

    For communities on the Bolivar Peninsula, this turned out to be a devastating punch to their solo line of defense when it comes to fending back the angry waters of the Gulf of Mexico: sand dunes.

    Crystal Beach on Bolivar Peninsula after storm surge from Tropical Storm Alberto ate away at the coastline. Photo: June 20, 2024 (Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)

    “This ain’t a storm. This is disturbance out in the Gulf,” said Crystal Beach resident Shane Stone. “It’s 400 miles away and look what it’s done.”

    In some areas of Crystal Beach, roughly 25 yards worth of sand dunes were seemingly washed out overnight.

    Some homes are now exposed to the elements at their foundation with the waves from the Gulf nearly hitting their pilings.

    At one home in the Tidelands community, the entire backyard and dunes were washed away.

    A backyard in Crystal Beach on the Bolivar Peninsula eroded away by the storm surge from Tropical Storm Alberto on June 20, 2024. (Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)

    “Every bit of 10 to 12 foot height. Gone,” said Stone.

    For the second day in a row on Thursday, storm surge was eating away at the beach and dunes.

    Residents recorded video of sand literally washing away in front of them.

    “This used to be all yard. These dunes was over this,” Stone explained. “We’re going to lose these houses.”

    Sand dunes are one of the best ways to hold back the Gulf of Mexico’s destructive storm surge.

    Researchers in Southwest Florida highlighting the importance of dunes after Hurricane Ian in September 2022.

    At Florida Gulf Coast University, researchers are employing the help of LIDAR-equipped drones to map the beach before, immediately and after Hurricane Ian.

    Their findings show that storm surge takes two swings at their target: once on the way in and again on the way out.

    “We realized that the storm surge actually causes problems twice, once coming in the so-called flood surge and once going out the ebb surge,” said Dr. Mike Savarese with The Water School at Florida Gulf Coast University. “And that returning water created, oh, horrendous conditions, in fact, most of the damage.”

    It’s that ebb surge that’s ripping away the dunes from Bolivar Peninsula.

    “Could you imagine if we actually have a hurricane,” Stone said. “A category one, category two. What it’s going to do?”

    A backyard in Crystal Beach on the Bolivar Peninsula eroded away by the storm surge from Tropical Storm Alberto on June 20, 2024. (Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)

    A Galveston County spokesperson told KPRC2′s Gage Goulding on Thursday that crews are still evaluating the extent of the damage.

    Then they’ll be able to devise a plan to mitigate the damage until the end of hurricane season.

    But the reality is, it’ll take time and that’s the one thing residents don’t have with another tropical system already brewing in the Gulf.

    “Unfortunately, I think we’re doomed,” Stone said.

    Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.

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    Gage Goulding, Douglas Burgess

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  • New species with “hieroglyphic” pattern discovered among sand dunes

    New species with “hieroglyphic” pattern discovered among sand dunes

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    A brand new lizard species with a hieroglyphic pattern on its back has been discovered among the sand dunes in eastern Iran.

    The discovery, which was detailed in a study in the journal Zootaxa on November 10, was made back in 2010 in the South Khorasan province of the desert, while researchers were conducting a survey for local reptiles and amphibians.

    The researchers found a total of 10 strange-looking lizards in the sand dunes, all with an unusual pattern on their skin. They discovered that it was actually an entirely new species, now named Eremias graphica, or the “hieroglyphic racerunner lizard.”

    The new species is named using the Greek word “graphikos,” according to the study, as reported by the Miami Herald. This translates to either “drawn” or “written,” and was used because of the lizard’s strange pattern which resembles hieroglyphs.

    A photo shows the new lizard species found in the sand dunes of Iran. A closer look at the creature shows a strange pattern on its back.
    Eskandar Rasegar-Pouyani, Valentina Orlova, Khosrow Rajabizadeh, Hossein Nabizadeh, Nikolay Poyarkov, Daniel Melnikov and Roman Nazarov

    Hieroglyphs are generally associated with Ancient Egypt, though other forms of writing also exited at the time.

    The researchers found that most of the lizards were about 7 inches long and were easily disguised in the sand dunes due to their sandy coloring, according to the study.

    The researchers, who are from multiple organizations from across Russia and Iran, analyzed 93 genetic samples from the lizards in the desert.

    “We hypothesize that the diversification of the Eremias fasciata species complex was largely influenced by the fragmentation of sand massifs in the region,” an abstract from the study read. “This same hypothesis has been used to explain the high level of endemism among the sand-dwelling species of reptiles along the Iranian Plateau in the same area. The two new species described herein can be distinguished from other congeneric species by their phylogenetic position and a combination of morphological characters. We use these data to discuss the taxonomy of Eremias based on morphology, habitat choice, and genetic data.”

    The study noted that the lizards can mainly be found scuttling around the vegetation found in the sand dunes, the Miami Herald reported. They can also be found burrowing for shade and shelter. The researchers reported that they typically eat insects.

    Closer analysis of the creature showed that it was most active during some hours in the morning, and evening. During the rest of the day, it tends to hide under the bushes of the sand dunes.

    So far, the new species has only been found near one road near the city of Tabas, in central-eastern Iran.