Brown, E.A., Mickelson, D.M., Wu, Chin, Edil, T.B., 2001, Temporal variation in coastal retreat rate and historical lake level, wave climate and storm activity along two Wisconsin shoreline reaches: International Association for Great Lakes Research, 44th Conference on Great lakes Research, Program and Abstracts, p. (01-1)

Lake level, wind-generated waves, precipitation and extreme storm events have an effect on the rate of erosion of bluffs at two sites on the Lake Michigan shoreline. Recession-rate measurements are determined from digital orthophotos from at least once every decade from the 1940s to present. Average annual and epoch-average lake levels are considered for the period 1860-present. Wave data from the USACE WIS wind-wave hindcast project, available on a 3-hourly basis between 1956 and 1997, are used to determine wave-impact height (height above the base of the bluffs to which the waves reach). Total annual and epoch-averaged annual precipitation amounts, the number of storms per year, and the epoch-average number of storms per year were also computed. At the time intervals of 5 to 15 years considered for the recession data, both the toe of the high-bluff site and the crest of the low-bluff site show recession-rate patterns that closely match the changes in the epoch-averaged lake-water level. The overall trends of the annual average monthly peak wave-impact heights show very good agreement with recession-rate measurements. Precipitation rates and storm activity do not, on their own, appear to influence the variations in recession rates over time at the time scales considered.