1Departament of Natural Science, Lab. Atmospherical Science, University of Puerto Rico at Carolina
2Department of Environmental Science, UPR Rio Piedras Campus
3Graduate School of Planning, UPR Rio Piedras Campus
American Journal of Marine Science.
2020,
Vol. 8 No. 1, 1-5
DOI: 10.12691/marine-8-1-1
Copyright © 2020 Science and Education PublishingCite this paper: Rafael Mendez-Tejeda, Kevián Augusto Pérez-Valentín, Maritza Barreto-Orta. Impact of Extreme Weather Events on the Beaches of Puerto Rico: The Case of Ocean Park, San Juan.
American Journal of Marine Science. 2020; 8(1):1-5. doi: 10.12691/marine-8-1-1.
Correspondence to: Rafael Mendez-Tejeda, Departament of Natural Science, Lab. Atmospherical Science, University of Puerto Rico at Carolina. Email:
rafael.mendez@upr.eduAbstract
Extreme weather events (EWE) affecting the island of Puerto Rico have increased in frequency and intensity since 2010, including tropical cyclones, cold fronts, heat waves, etc. The most devastating of these events was Hurricane Maria (HM) in 2017, which caused estimated damages of more than $94 billion dollars and destroyed the coastline of the island . After the hurricane, a series of extreme events has caused further erosion along the coastline, especially along the northern coast, which is eroded by the Atlantic Ocean. Ocean Park Beach is located along the northern coast in San Juan, which was greatly affected by coastal erosion during the summer of 2019 as a result of extreme events and increasing sea level. At the same time, due to the poor planning of coastal infrastructure, these events have severely impacted housing, commercial, and tourism infrastructure (restaurants, hotels, bars, etc.) as well as recreational activities such as beach volleyball, football, paddle surfing, windsurfing, etc.
Keywords