News
Coverage of House Collapses in October 2025
WPTF Afternoon News with Jeff Hamlin
Oct. 6, 2025 | More homes collapsed into the ocean on the Outer Banks of North Carolina Wednesday night, resulting from a pair of offshore hurricanes that produced large swells and helped bring about the collapse of six other unoccupied homes in a 24-hour span. It marks 19 homes that have collapsed on Outer Banks beaches in the past five years. Laura Moore, Professor at Coastal Environmental Change Lab and a professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, joined Jeff Hamlin to discuss potential solutions.
‘Such a difficult problem’: UNC professor suggest solutions after 19 Outer Banks homes collapse
Oct. 1, 2025 | WRAL News
The complex story behind collapsing homes in the Outer Banks
Oct. 2025 | Fox Weather
How the North Carolina Coastline is Being reshaped by Water
Oct. 2025 | Fox Weather
Ocracoke Adaptation Study Press Coverage
Study presents modeled views of Ocracoke highway’s future
Sep. 19, 2025 | Coastal Review
Researchers present findings on Ocracoke’s NC 12 problems, possible solutions
Sep. 12, 2025 | Ocracoke Observer
New study suggests ways to preserve NC 12 in Ocracoke
Sep. 11, 2025 | Outer Banks Voice
Study Shared at Ocracoke Community Meeting Warns of a Difficult Road Ahead for NC Highway 12
Sep. 10, 2025 | Island Free Press
Meeting on the threats to NC 12 scheduled for Sept. 10
Sep. 4, 2025 | Ocracoke Observer
Why efforts to protect Highway 12 could be making flooding worse
Aug. 20, 2025 | WRAL
Researchers share results from study to evaluate how erosion may impact transportation systems on Ocracoke Island
Aug. 19, 2025 | Press Release
2024 Ocracoke Adaptation Study Press Coverage
N.C. researchers study how to safeguard Ocracoke Island against climate change
Sep. 3, 2024 | WHRO Public Media
Multi-year study on erosion and transportation systems on Ocracoke Island
Aug. 21, 2024 | 13newsnow.com
Researchers begin study to evaluate how erosion may impact transportation systems on Ocracoke Island
Aug. 21, 2024 | National Park Service
How Saving Island Life Can Sink the Island
April 23, 2024 | Duke Nicholas School of the Environment
Other CECL News
Laura Moore named NSF-EPF Ocean Decade Champion
Oct. 2024 | The U.S. National Science Foundation, in collaboration with Every Page Foundation (EPF) announced 22 women science leaders as the 2024 NSF-EPF Ocean Decade Champions. Laura Moore is one of those recipients.
Transdisciplinary Research Supports the Sustainability of Barrier Island Systems Threatened by Climate Change
Sep. 2024 | Patrick Barnard and Davina Passeri of the USGS published a commentary in highlighting coupled human-natural dynamics work from CECL
Publication Citation
Barnard, P. L., & Passeri, D. L. (2024). Transdisciplinary research supports the sustainability of barrier island systems threatened by climate change. Earth’s Future, 12, e2024EF004854. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024EF004854
The Effect of Sand Fencing on the Structure of Natural Dune Systems
May 2020 | NOAA NCCOS features a recent paper by CECL Ph.D. student Michael Itzkin, Moore and colleagues.
CSDMS 2020 Award
May 2020 | CSDMS awards CECL Ph.D. student Ian Reeves the Syvitski Student Modeler Award.
C-CoAST Funded
April 2020 | C-CoAST, a new network of coastal researchers, practitioners and stakeholders, for which Moore serves as Director, was funded by the National Science Foundation in April 2020.
Rollover
April 2018
A staged reading of Rollover, a new play written by Laura J. Moore, took place in April 2018. Rollover conveys the impacts of climate change on barrier communities and landscapes, and is in development.
Keepers of our Coast
April 11, 2017 | Endeavors Magazine; Story and video by Mary Lide Parker
North Carolina’s barrier islands are dynamic landforms in a state of constant change. UNC researchers want to better understand how those changes happen and what they mean for the future of our coast.
A Day in the Field
March 14, 2017 | Endeavors Magazine; Photo essay by Mary Lide Parker
Elsemarie deVries, a PhD student in the UNC Coastal Environmental Change Lab uses a variety of approaches to investigate the interactions between different dune-building processes. Now she is taking her expertise to a South Carolina beach recovering from the effects of Hurricane Matthew.
