How do high lake levels increase shore erosion?
They can have a significant effect when strong winds create large waves. High lake levels enable storm waves to run up and break higher on the shore. Some coastal areas have virtually no protective beaches at the highest lake levels. Any time the wind blows strongly toward or along the shore, storm waves break directly against the bluffs or banks on these coasts, removing soil at the bases of these slopes and making the upper portions of the slopes unstable, hastening erosion. Shoreline erosion and flooding of Red Lantern Restaurant at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Lake Michigan (National Park Service photo by R.
