Barrier Island Research Paper

Living on the gulf coast in the United states means that one faces the threat of the damaging effects of a massive hurricane. This was no different for the people of Galveston, Texas in the beginning of the 20th century. Galveston is situated in the southeastern part of Texas and sits on what is called a barrier island. Barrier Island formation is strongly influenced by four main factors: a low seabed gradient, shallow water depth, abundant existing sediment supply, and a moderate-to-strong storm climate (Pilkey et al., 2009). Galveston Island is considered an active island, meaning that is currently experiencing ongoing destruction (Pilkey et al., 2009). Ongoing destruction means that the shoreline of these islands erodes away into the gulf as waves and other factors remove the sediment from the island. At the time of the hurricane, Galveston was the 4th largest city in the state of Texas and was one of the richest cities in America (“Galveston”). It was one of the nation’s most important port cities at that time. Galveston was also a …show more content…
A hurricane is defined as being a, “rotating, organized system of clouds and thunderstorms that originates over tropical or subtropical waters and has a closed low-level circulation” (“Tropical”). Hurricanes need many factors to help develop from a simple storm to a tropical storm and from a tropical storm to a hurricane. They need warm sea surface temperatures, low atmospheric winds, and a rotating area of air to form these storms (Gray, 1994). Hurricanes start when the atmospheric pressure is lower than the pressure around it. This change in pressure evaporates water from the ocean and creates the clouds and storms that we know as hurricanes (Gray, 1994). As pressure drops, the winds increase. When these things occur, a hurricane is formed and wreaks havoc on all those in its path. This is what happened to Galveston in