Dr. Charles Flagg took another flight over the Breach at Old Inlet on Fire Island on March 9, 2021. The flyover mosaic is available below. Dr. Flagg noted that there is a lot of sand building in the breach and it would appear that the breach is on the verge of closing.
Dr. Flagg’s latest report on the breach is available in Inlet Report 24. He notes that the salinity records taken at Bellport are lower than they have been in the past, and that the depth of the channel, now a meandering path, is much more shallow.
All undefended openings in barrier islands eventually close through natural processes. So we should not be surprised that it may be happening here. The benefits of the breach have been significant in terms of reduced eutrophication in Bellport Bay and portions of Patchogue Bay and in the response of the fish, clams, oysters and sea grass. If the breach does close, it will be of more than academic interest to see to what extent and how quickly these ecological benefits wane.
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.
