(Fig. 4, completed)
Ebb Tidal Shoal and Inlet Stability
Moffatt & Nichol Engineers (MNE) (2002) compiled recent hydrodynamic and morphology
conditions for Fire Island Inlet. They found a minimum cross-sectional area at the throat of
2.1 x 103 m3, average depth to MLLW of 4.4 m, tidal prism of 8.7 x 107 m3, and a measured ebb-
shoal volume of 3.1 x 107 m3. The measured volume of the ebb shoal may be an underestimate
owing to limited survey coverage. An empirical predictive relation by Walton and Adams
(1976) for the volume of an ebb-tidal shoal as a function of its tidal prism gives a calculated
volume of 3.8 x 107 m3. Therefore, the ebb shoal at Fire Island Inlet is at about 80 % of its