**1. Introduction**

North Captiva is a low-lying barrier island located along the Gulf coast of Florida and is highly susceptible to morphological changes. During the hurricane season and winter storms, natural erosion of frontal beaches and transport of sediments is increased due to higher wave energy, a phenomenon that is also often observed and documented throughout the Caribbean and in tropical and subtropical regions around the world [1,2]. When Hurricane Charley made landfall near the island as a Category 4 hurricane on 13 August 2004, it caused a significant breach of approximately 0.5 km towards the southern end [3]. Interestingly, this breach naturally healed itself over the course of only about three years, without the help of any artificial nourishment. Since 1998, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) along with the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) have conducted a series of LiDAR mapping surveys for the study area, along with the rest of the coastal United States [4]. These data sets are available in the public domain and have been proven to be an effective tool in monitoring long-term evolution of barrier islands and frontal beaches. This study sought to further examine the shoreline evolution, beach erosion characteristics and winter-storm induced longshore sediment transport that could have led to North Captiva Island's rapid and natural recovery, including the healing of the "Charley cut"; the breach that occurred from the landfall of Hurricane Charley. In order to do this, an Arc GIS-based modeling approach was used to quantify the morphological changes of the island from the landfall of Hurricane Charley and subsequent years until 2018, when the latest LiDAR survey was conducted for the region.

**Citation:** Kelly, E.W.; Jose, F. Geomorphologic Recovery of North Captiva Island from the Landfall of Hurricane Charley in 2004. *Geosciences* **2021**, *11*, 358. https:// doi.org/10.3390/geosciences11090358

Academic Editors: Gianluigi Di Paola, Germán Rodríguez, Carmen M. Rosskopf and Jesus Martinez-Frias

Received: 13 July 2021 Accepted: 20 August 2021 Published: 25 August 2021

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