Texas Inlets Online

NOT PRESENTLY SPONSORED: CONTINUED SITE DEVELOPMENT PENDING FUNDING

The Texas Inlets Online (TIO) website was developed to provide a comprehensive information dissemination access point for those interested in information related to inlets along the Texas coast. Wind, waves and current act as forcing mechanisms driving sediment transport along the Gulf Coast. Changes in morphology at inlets and adjacent beaches can be observed seasonally as well over longer intervals to determine trends and influence maintenance practices. The data and images provided on this site attempt to reflect the dynamic state of these coastal systems. TIO was originally sponsored by the Coastal Hyrdraulics Laboratory (CHL) and USACE Coastal Inlets Research Program (CIRP) from 2003-2008.

The 350-mile long coast of Texas contains more than 20 permanent and ephemeral inlets that serve both pathways for water exchange and navigation between the Gulf of Mexico and the network of inland bays and lagoons. There are eight federally maintained ship channels (Sabine Pass, Houston-Galveston Ship Channel, Freeport Ship Channel, Colorado River Navigation Channel, Matagorda Ship Channel, Aransas Pass, Port Mansfield Channel, and Brazos-Santiago Pass) together with a number of natural passes and river mouths of interest to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) such as the Brazos River Mouth, and Mitchell’s Cut. Packery Channel, located in Corpus Christi Texas, joined the family of Texas inlets in 2006, after three years of construction that was interrupted both by tropical storms and ultimately by Hurricane Emily which opened the inlet prematurely during July 2005.