Modelling the morphodynamic evolution of Galveston beach, Gulf of 1 Mexico, following Hurricane Ike in 2008 2 Antonios Valsamidis a , Jens Figlus b , Benjamin Ritt c , Dominic E Reeve a,* 3 a College of Engineering, Bay Campus, Swansea University, Swansea, SA1 8EN, UK 4 b The Department of Ocean Engineering, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University, 5 Galveston Campus, Galveston, TX 77554, USA. 6 c The Department of Marine Sciences, Texas A&M University, Galveston Campus, 7 Galveston, TX 77554, USA. 8 9 * Corresponding author. E-mail address: d.e.reeve@swansea.ac.uk (D.E. Reeve) 10 11 Abstract 12 A unique set of field measurements taken along Galveston beach have been compiled to give 13 annual shoreline positions over the period 2010-2016. These have been used, in conjunction 14 with statistical and mathematical modelling, to gain insights into the response of the shoreline 15 after the landfall of Hurricane Ike in 2008, which caused extensive erosion and loss of 16 material from the beach. Over the period 2010-2014, a generally accretive trend is observed 17 along the beach. Within this trend, two different patterns are evident. In the area extending 18 westward of South Jetty the accretion rate is fast until April 2011, after which the accretion 19 rate decreases. The remainder of the beach, including the groyne field in front of the city of 20 Galveston, exhibits the greatest accretive trend after April 2011. It is hypothesised that 21 distinct sandbanks lying offshore of Galveston Island were formed during the passage of 22 Hurricane Ike and control these two different patterns of recovery. To test this hypothesis a 23 novel 1-line model, based on linked analytical solutions, was set up to investigate the beach 24 response to various sediment source distributions. The model was tested against existing 25