Impacts to Beaches, Atlantic Coast of Nova Scotia - Conrads Beach
During Noel seawater flooded and scoured Conrad road which leads to Conrads Beach. It was being repaired and reinforced on Nov. 22 when we resurveyed Lines 2 and 4 on this sand dominated barrier beach. Since closure of a tidal channel (between line 4 and 7) in the late 1980s, the beach has prograded seaward and a new foredune has developed.
Wave runup during Noel extended nearly to the dune crest at 3.6 m to 4.0 m elevation, similar to Hurricane Juan. The upper beach was eroded and lowered, particularly around the boardwalk and at line 3 where dunes had built very rapidly forming a steeper slope. Between Line 4 and 7 where the dunes were lower, water flowed across the wide backshore but its impact was minimal as dense grasses slowed the flow and trapped sediment and debris. In comparison with Crescent Beach. Conrads Beach withstood the negative impacts of Noel mainly because of its longer term building phase, a greater dune width, the protection of a seaward pebble -cobble substrate and a greater distance landward from mean sea level.
At line 2 shown here on (a) Dec 25, 2006 and on (b) Nov 6, 2007, waves during Noel removed the seaward sand cover exposing a pebble -cobble substrate which protected the dunes from further wave scouring.
Conrads Beach quickly recovered from the minor impacts of post-tropical storm Noel and continued with its dune building phase. (a) View westward (photo P5281841) and (b) cross-shore survey of line 2 on May 28, 2008, when 0.3 to 0.5m of sand accumulated across the beach, and sand covered the pebble ridge (see photo Nov. 6, 2007) and formed linear drifts across the foredune.