Dr. Charles Flagg took another flight over the Breach at Old Inlet on Fire Island on April 25, 2022.  The flyover mosaic is available below.  Dr. Flagg noted that everything continues to point to a closure. He reports that salinity is back at levels similar to before Superstorm Sandy and there are no longer any clear channels to allow water in and out of the bay. There is a significant build-up of sand on the western side that would require more than just another storm to clear it out.

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. The full size image is also available.

For more information, please visit Dr. Charles Flagg’s website.