Wave-Induced Sediment Transport and Sandbar Migration

Onshore sediment transport and sandbar migration are important to the morphological evolution of beaches but are not well understood. Here, a model that accounts for fluid accelerations in waves predicts the onshore sandbar migration observed on an ocean beach. In both the observations and the model...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2003-03, Vol.299 (5614), p.1885-1887
Main Authors: Hoefel, Fernanda, Elgar, Steve
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Beaches
Coasts
Earth, ocean, space
Environmental aspects
Exact sciences and technology
External geophysics
Migration
Modeling
Ocean currents
Other topics
Perceptual localization
Physics of the oceans
Physiological aspects
Quantum mechanics
Quantum theory
Sand & gravel
Sand bars
Sandbars
Sea transportation
Sediment transport
Sediments
Skewed distribution
Topographical elevation
Waves
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Summary:Onshore sediment transport and sandbar migration are important to the morphological evolution of beaches but are not well understood. Here, a model that accounts for fluid accelerations in waves predicts the onshore sandbar migration observed on an ocean beach. In both the observations and the model, the location of the maximum acceleration-induced transport moves shoreward with the sandbar, resulting in feedback between waves and morphology that drives the bar shoreward until conditions change. A model that combines the effects of transport by waves and mean currents simulated both onshore and offshore bar migration observed over a 45-day period.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.1081448