The assistant professor in geological sciences is working with heading a team of researchers from USC, Coastal Carolina, and Clemson that is tracking sediment flow along sections of Folly Beach and Myrtle Beach.

"The state of South Carolina has been good at monitoring changes along the coastline, but that is not enough," Voulgaris said. "I want to determine what causes these changes and what drives them. We need to be able to quantify where the beach sand is migrating and the factors that are causing it.

"This is critical information for long-term sustainable coastal planning and engineering design."

Using SeaGrant Consortium funding, Voulgaris' team is studying how the the role oftides interact with the water flow that is driven by the wind and offshore tidal structuresand their effects on beach erosion.

Of particular interest is the role of offshore sand bars, which typically are dredged or pumped onshore for beach renourishment.

"These sand bars might be impeding beach erosion by dumping dispersing wave energy sor changing wave propagation, or they might be accelerating erosion by focusing the waves on particular parts of the beach, or tidal currents," Voulgaris said.

Voulgaris and his studentsthe other researchers also will measure wind speed and wave height and direction using data from instrument buoys. Further, they deploy instruments on the floor of the sea and use acoustic techniques to study how the water and sediment moves in response to the flow.

They'll also look at how the shape of the beaches such as Folly and Myrtle has changed from north to south in the past 10 years.

"This will establish a baseline for comparison with future data so that the state will be able to identify the natural oscillations from erosion trends," he said.

In recent years, South Carolina and other coastal states have turned to beach renourishment as a means of restoring eroded shorelines. In South Carolina, these multimillion dollar projects place tens of thousands of cubic yards of sand on public beaches that are the backbone of the state's tourism industry.

"The average life of a beach renourishment project is five to seven years," Voulgaris said. "It's not land reclamation; it's just a temporary fix. But if we can figure out all of the dynamics of what's happening along our coast, we can try to optimize the effect of beach renourishment and find out if the sources of sediment used in these projects are renewable or are going to be depleted over time."