Dr. Charles Flagg took another flight over the Breach at Old Inlet on Fire Island on June 1, 2016. The flyover mosaic is available below. Dr. Flagg provided the following report:
Another set of aerial photos and a video mosaic were taken today around 9:30 AM during ebb tide in the bay and near low tide in the ocean. Comparisons with the previous months’ photos shows that very little has changed since mid-April. The spit off the western shore is broader than in previous years but has yet to extend as far as Pelican Island. Last year the spit contacted Pelican Island near the end of June, so there is time left to match last year’s rate of growth. The overall width of the breach remains about 400 meters while the main channel is well defined in these photos and is about 80 meters wide at its narrowest. Offshore, the ebb shoal is very well defined extending well west of the breach opening. To the east of the breach there is evidence of rip currents channeling through the ridge and runnel system.
Mark Lang has assembled all the geo-referenced photo mosaics into a kml file that can be viewed using Google Earth. By clicking between images and using the fade in-out button you can clearly see how the inlet is changing with time. An offline version of the KML file is available as KMZ.
For more information, please visit Dr. Charles Flagg’s website.
