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Laura J. Moore

Laura J. Moore

Professor

laura.moore@unc.edu
(919) 962-5960
212 Mitchell Hall, CB#3315
Google Scholar Profile

Coastal Environmental Change Lab


Education

B.A. Colgate University, 1993
Ph.D. University of California Santa Cruz, 1998

Research Interests

Coastal Geomorphology and Coupled Human-Natural Dynamics

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Research and Activities

My interdisciplinary research program focuses on the response of low-lying coastal environments to climate change and the development of new approaches to communicating climate change impacts to the general public. Recent and ongoing work relies on the merging of observational and numerical approaches to investigate barrier island response to sea level rise; coastal foredune dynamics and the role of dunes in island evolution; couplings among barrier islands, back-barrier marshes and bays; large-scale coastline response to changing wave climate; feedbacks and interactions between human activities and natural processes that affect coastline evolution; and novel arts-based approaches to climate change education. My work involves collaborations with ecologists, economists, engineers, hydrologists, oceanographers, education researchers, behavioral scientists, computer scientists and dramatic artists, as well as coastal stakeholders.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Selected Publications

*Reeves, I.R.B., Moore, L.J., Murray, A.B., *Anarde, K.A., & Goldstein, E.B., 2021. Dune dynamics drive discontinuous barrier retreat. Geophysical Research Letters. DOI: 10.1029/2021GL092958. *Reeves, I., Moore, L.J., Goldstein, E.B., Murray, A.B., Carr J., and Kirwan, M., 2020. Impacts of seagrass dynamics on the coupled long-term evolution of barrier-marsh-bay systems. Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences. DOI: 10.1029/2019JG005416. *Itzkin, M., Moore, L.J., Ruggiero, P., Hacker, S.D., 2019. Effects of sand fencing on the morphology of natural dune systems. Geomorphology. DOI: 10.1016/j.geomorph.2019.106995. Hacker, S.D., Jay, K.R., Cohn, N., *Goldstein, E.G., Hovenga, P.A., *Itzkin, M., Moore, L.J., Mostow, R., *Mullins, E. and Ruggiero, P., 2019. Species-specific functional morphology of four U.S. Atlantic Coast dune grasses: biogeographic implications for dune shape and coastal protection. Diversity, 11(5). DOI: 10.3390/d11050082. Zinnert, J., Via, S., Nettleton, B., Tulley, P., Moore, L.J., Stallins, J., 2019. Connectivity in coastal systems: barrier island influences upland migration in a changing climate. Global Change Biology. DOI: 10.1111/gcb.14635. Cohn, N., Hoonhout, B.M., *Goldstein, E.B., de Vries, S., Moore, L.J., *Durán Vinent O., and Ruggiero, P.R., 2019. Exploring marine and aeolian controls on coastal foredune growth using a coupled numerical model. In Special Issue of Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, G. Ruessink and C. Schwarz, eds., 7(13). DOI: 10.3390/jmse7010013. *Goldstein, E.B., Moore, L.J., and *Durán Vinent, O., 2017. Vegetation controls on maximum coastal foredune ‘hummockiness’ and annealing time. Earth Surface Dynamics, 5, 417-427, DOI: 10.5194/esurf-5-417-2017. Moore, L.J., Ruggiero, P. and *Durán Vinent, O., 2016. Vegetation control allows autocyclic formation of multiple coastal dunes. Geology, v. 44, n. 7. DOI: 10.1130/G37778.1. Elko, N., Brodie, K., Stockdon, H., Nordstrom, K., Houser, C., McKenna, K., Moore, L., Rosati, J., Ruggiero, P., Thuman, R. and Walker, I., 2016. Dune management challenges on developed coasts. Shore & Beach, v. 84, n. 1, pp. 15-28. *Durán Vinent, O. and Moore, L.J.., 2015. Bistability of barrier islands induced by biophysical interaction. Nature Climate Change. DOI: 10.1038/nclimate2474. *Johnson, J., Moore L.J., Ells, K., Murray, B., Adams, P., Jaeger, J., MacKenzie, R. 2015. Recent shifts in coastline change and shoreline stabilization linked to storm climate change. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. DOI: 10.1002/esp.3650. *Walters, D., Moore, L.J.,*Duran, O., Fagherazzi, S., and Mariotti, G. 2014. Interactions between barrier islands and marshes affect island system response to sea level rise: Insights from a coupled model. Journal of Geophysical Research—Earth Surface. DOI: 10.1002/2014JF003091 Moore, L.J., McNamara, D.E., Murray, A.B, and *Brenner, O., 2013. Recent shifts in large-scale coastline erosion patterns linked to storm climate change. Geophysical Research Letters, 40, DOI: 10.1002/2013GL05731. *Duran Vinent, O. and Moore, L.J., 2013. Vegetation controls on the maximum size of coastal dunes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1307580110. * UNC-CH student or postdoc