The Outer Banks: North Carolina's Barrier Islands

The Outer Banks are a chain of barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina, USA.

• Length: ~320 km (200 mi) from Corolla (north) to Ocracoke (south).
• Key islands: Bodie, Hatteras, Ocracoke, Portsmouth, Core Banks.
• Separated from mainland by: Currituck, Albemarle, Pamlico, and Core Sounds.
• Famous for: Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, Wright Brothers National Memorial (Kitty Hawk), wild horses (Corolla/Shackleford), shipwrecks ("Graveyard of the Atlantic"), fishing, surfing.
• Vulnerability: Low elevation, hurricane exposure, inlet migration—constantly reshaping.

They are a dynamic geological feature, not fixed land—a ribbon of sand migrating westward with rising sea level.