This paper answers questions about potential climate-induced changes to the storminess along the U.S. east coast and the impact of storms on U.S. east coast beaches. We found that the number of storms that occur annually have not increased over time, but storm strength has increased, albeit modestly, over time. There is also variation in these patterns geographically. Finally, the cumulative impact of successive and large storms can impact beaches for up to 10 years.

We examine differences in glacier extent in the Olympic Mountains, USA, where modern precipitation in east-facing valleys is only 50 % of that in west-facing valleys. During the Last Glacial Period, there were very small glaciers in the east and very large glaciers in the west. We use climate data and glacier models to show that the modern spatial pattern of precipitation is likely to have been similar during the past glaciation and may be sufficient to explain the asymmetry of glacier extent.

The presented automatic deadwood generator (ADG) allows us to consider deadwood in rockfall simulations in unprecedented detail. Besides three-dimensional fresh deadwood cones, we include old woody debris in rockfall simulations based on a higher compaction rate and lower energy absorption thresholds. Simulations including different deadwood states indicate that a 10-year-old deadwood pile has a higher protective capacity than a pre-storm forest stand.

This study provides amphibious investigations of debris flow fans (DFFs). We characterize active DFFs, combining laser scan and sonar surveys at Plansee. We discover a 4000-year debris flow record in sediment cores, providing evidence for a 7-fold debris flow frequency increase in the 20th and 21st centuries, coincident with 2-fold enhanced rainstorm activity in the northern European Alps. Our results indicate climate change as being the main factor controlling debris flow activity.

We measured the shear strength of marsh soils along an estuarine salinity gradient to determine salinity's influence on marsh erodibility. Our work is one of the first studies to directly examine the relationship between salinity and marsh erodibility. We find that an increase in salinity correlates with higher soil shear strength values, indicating that salt marshes may be more resistant to erosion. We also show that both belowground biomass and soil properties drive shear strength differences.