Part of an ongoing series of maritime forests feeling the effects of strong tropical storms, these photographs focus on the stark effects of exposure to chronic storms and an unforgiving sea. This particular affected area is a diminishing forest of longleaf pines in the southern Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Saltwater intrusion gradually drowned their root systems, weakening the trees, which eventually snapped off at ground level. Over time, the unstable three feet of topsoil has been washed away, revealing the base of each trunk as a ghost-like stump.