Changing Carolina Coast

Danny, an adult Loggerhead Sea Turtle, with an amputated front flipper, swims in the tank at the Loggerhead Marine Life Center Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2023, in Juno Beach, Fla. By most measures, it was a banner year for sea turtle nests at beaches around the U.S., including record numbers for some species in Florida and elsewhere. Yet the positive picture for turtles is tempered by climate change threats, including higher sand temperatures that produce fewer males, changes in ocean currents that disrupt their journeys and increasingly severe storms that wash away nests. (AP Photo/Cody Jackson)

Sea turtle nests break records on US beaches, but global warming threatens their survival

Associated Press

It's been a record-breaking year for sea turtles in Florida. Just as they have for millions of years, the turtles have crawled onto beaches, digging pits in the sand to lay their eggs. Florida's preliminary count shows more than 133,840 loggerhead turtle nests and 76,500 green turtle nests, breaking records set years ago. Other southeastern U.S. states also report high numbers. But only one in 1,000 hatchlings lives to adulthood and climate change is threatening their species as beaches disappear under rising seas. Hotter sand makes more females, and the hatchlings are smaller and slower. Experts say their future remains ominous.

Park superintendent Dave Hallac stands in front of two homes the National Park Service purchased in September.

Environment

National Park Service demolishes two Outer Banks homes in a new erosion mitigation program

Zachary Turner

National Park Service deconstructed two threatened homes to avoid future oceanside collapses.

Environment

New Report: Sea Level Rise Will Accelerate In NC

Dave DeWitt

A new paper focused on sea-level rise along the North Carolina coast largely backs up the findings outlined in the most recent draft report from the鈥�

Environment

The Changing Carolina Coast: Camp Lejeune And Climate Change

Dave DeWitt

For a coastal geologist, a vibracore is like a time machine. As a generator vibrates a long aluminum tube, Professor Antonio Rodriguez and his two鈥�

Environment

The Changing Carolina Coast: An Iconic Creature Faces An Uncertain Future

Dave DeWitt

October is clearly not happy. And when a 250-pound loggerhead isn鈥檛 happy, caretakers at the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center鈥�

Environment

The Changing Carolina Coast: When Storms And Dreams Collide

Dave DeWitt

As you stroll out toward the end of the Rodanthe Fishing Pier, it is impossible not to notice that it鈥檚 not entirely straight.It goes a little bit up. It鈥�

Education

The Changing Carolina Coast: Sand Is Everywhere, Except When It Isn't

Dave DeWitt

Jockey鈥檚 Ridge State Park in Nags Head is North Carolina鈥檚 most famous giant pile of sand鈥攁nd the tallest natural sand dune in the eastern United鈥�

Image of geovisualization of potential inundation due to sea level rise in the Albemarle- Pamlico Estuarine System.

Environment

Preparing For A New North Carolina Coast

Frank Stasio

A few weeks ago, the ocean washed away a 200-foot stretch of Highway 12 in Kitty Hawk. It wasn鈥檛 destroyed by a hurricane or a Nor'easter. It was just鈥�

Environment

Preparing For A New North Carolina Coast

Frank Stasio

A few weeks ago, the ocean washed away a 200-foot stretch of Highway 12 in Kitty Hawk. It wasn鈥檛 destroyed by a hurricane or a Nor'easter. It was just鈥�

Environment

The Changing Carolina Coast: Managing The Threat Of Rising Water

Dave DeWitt

North Carolina鈥檚 most recent Sea-Level Rise Report is the product of decades of tidal gauge data, computer modeling and hundreds of years of collected鈥�

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Changing Carolina Coast