A long, narrow, offshore island, usually having beaches and dunes on the seaward side, often with lagoons on the landward side, such as the islands enclosing Pamlico Sound, off the coast of North Carolina. The formation of barrier islands has been explained as the drowning of beach ridges (Stutz and Pilky (2002) J. Coastal Res. SI 36) or the progradation of spits (van Mauren (2005) Marine Geol. 224). Most barrier islands and spits are in a state of landwards retreat in response to a combination of eustatic sea-level rise and local land subsidence. See Lentz and Hapke (2011) Geomorph. 126 on the longevity and success of short-term anthropogenic modifications to a coastal barrier system.