[1] The coupling between hydrodynamics and the evolving topography in the surf zone has been theoretically examined for oblique wave incidence. It is shown that positive feedback can lead to the initial growth of several types of rhythmic systems of sand bars. The bars can be down-current oriented or up-current oriented, which means that the offshore end of the bar is shifted down-current or up-current with respect to the shore attachment. In the limit of strong current compared to wave orbital motion, very oblique down-current oriented bars are obtained with a spacing of several times the surf zone width. When wave orbital motions are dominant, systems of up-current oriented bars and crescentic/down-current oriented bars appear with spacings of the order of the surf zone width. The latter feature consists of alternating shoals and troughs at both sides of the break line with the inner shoals being bar-shaped and oblique to the coast. The growth (e-folding) time of the bars ranges from a few hours to a few days and it is favored by constant wave conditions. The range of model parameters leading to growth corresponds to intermediate beach states in between the fully dissipative and the fully reflective situations. Preliminary comparison with field observations shows qualitative agreement.

This review highlights the important role of the depth‐averaged sediment concentration (DASC) to understand the formation of a number of coastal morphodynamic features that have an alongshore rhythmic pattern: beach cusps, surf zone transverse and crescentic bars, and shoreface‐connected sand ridges. We present a formulation and methodology, based on the knowledge of the DASC (which equals the sediment load divided by the water depth), that has been successfully used to understand the characteristics of these features. These sand bodies, relevant for coastal engineering and other disciplines, are located in different parts of the coastal zone and are characterized by different spatial and temporal scales, but the same technique can be used to understand them. Since the sand bodies occur in the presence of depth‐averaged currents, the sediment transport approximately equals a sediment load times the current. Moreover, it is assumed that waves essentially mobilize the sediment, and the current increases this mobilization and advects the sediment. In such conditions, knowing the spatial distribution of the DASC and the depth‐averaged currents induced by the forcing (waves, wind, and pressure gradients) over the patterns allows inferring the convergence/divergence of sediment transport. Deposition (erosion) occurs where the current flows from areas of high to low (low to high) values of DASC. The formulation and methodology are especially useful to understand the positive feedback mechanisms between flow and morphology leading to the formation of those morphological features, but the physical mechanisms for their migration, their finite‐amplitude behavior and their decay can also be explored.

[1] Patches of transverse finger bars have been identified in the surf zone of Noordwijk beach (Netherlands). They consisted of three to nine elongated accumulations of sand attached to the low-tide shoreline. The bars extended up to 50 m into the inner surf zone, had an oblique orientation with respect to the shore-normal, and were quasiregularly spaced in the alongshore direction. We analyzed nearly 6 years of video data and observed a significant presence of finger bars (14% of the time with good data). Bars were visible on 193 days, gathered in 44 events that persisted from 2 days to 2 months. Obliquely incident waves of intermediate and approximately constant height were dominant during finger bar presence. Shore-normal incident or more energetic wave fields destroyed the bar patches. The underlying bathymetry affected finger bar formation: inner surfzone troughs with cross-shore areas of 100 m 2 and inner surfzone slopes of 0.02 were more conducive to their growth. The mean alongshore wavelength of the finger bar patches was 39 m, ranging from 21 to 75 m. Bar crests deviated up to 40 degrees from the shorenormal against the alongshore current direction (''up-current orientation'') and bar patches migrated at rates up to 22 m/day in the direction of the alongshore current. We used these observations to test existing theoretical self-organization mechanisms for transverse bar formation. The ''bed-flow mechanism'' was the most viable explanation for the generation and persistence of Noordwijk finger bars. Our observations were consistent with most of the predictions of two models that included this interaction, but migration rates differed by 1 order of magnitude.

A morphodynamic model based on the wave-driven alongshore sediment transport, including cross-shore transport in a simplified way and neglecting tides, is presented and applied to the Zandniotor mega-nourishment on the Dutch Delfiand coast. The model is calibrated with the bathymetric data surveyed from January 2012 to March 2013 using measured offshore wave forcing. The calibrated model reproduces accurately the surveyed evolution of the shoreline and depth contours until March 2015. According to the long-term modeling using different wave climate scenarios based on historical data, for the next 30-yr period, the Zandmotor will display diffusive behavior, asymmetric feeding to the adjacent beaches, and slow Migration to the NE. Specifically, the Zandmotor amplitude will have decayed from 960 m to about 350 m with a scatter of only about 40 m associated to climate variability. The modeled coastline diffusivity during the 3-yr period is 0.0021 m(2)/s, close to the observed value of 0.0022 m(2)/s. In contrast, the coefficient of the classical one-line diffusion equation is 0.0052 m(2)/s. Thus, the lifetime prediction, here defined as the time needed to reduce the initial amplitude by a factor 5, would be 90 yr instead of the classical diffusivity prediction of 35 yr. The resulting asymmetric feeding to adjacent beaches prodtices 100 m seaward shift at the NE section and 80 m seaward shift at the SW section. Looking at the variability associated to the different wave climates, the migration rate and the slight shape asymmetry correlate with the wave power asymmetry (W vs N waves) while the coastline diffusivity correlates with the proportion of high-angle waves, suggesting that the Dutch coast is near the high-angle wave instability threshold.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

[1] The hypothesis that the formation and dynamics of large scale shoreline sand waves can be explained by a feedback mechanism between waves and nearshore morphology under very oblique wave incidence is explored with a quasi 2D nonlinear morphodynamic model. Using constant wave conditions it is found that if the wave incidence angle at the depth of closure is larger than about 45 the rectilinear coastline becomes unstable and a shoreline sand wavefield develops from small random perturbations. Shoreline sand waves develop with wavelengths between 2 and 5 km, they migrate downdrift at about 0.5 km/yr and they reach amplitudes up to 120 m within 13 years. Larger wave obliquity, higher waves and shorter wave periods strengthen the shoreline instability. Cross-shore transport is essential for the instability and faster cross-shore dynamics leads to a faster growth of the sand waves. Simulations with variable wave incidence angles (alternating between 60 and 30 ) show that a large proportion of high angle waves is required for spontaneous sand wave formation (at least 80%). Insight is provided into the physical mechanism behind high angle wave instability and the occurrence of a optimal length scale for sand wave growth. The generic model results are consistent with existing observations of shoreline sand waves, in particular with those along the southwest coast of Africa.Citation: van den Berg N., A. Falqués, and F. Ribas (2012), Modeling large scale shoreline sand waves under oblique wave incidence,

A new approach to infer the bathymetry from coastal video monitoring systems is presented. The methodology uses principal component analysis of the Hilbert transform of video images to obtain the components of the wave propagation field and their corresponding frequency and wavenumber. Incident and reflected constituents and subharmonics components are also found. Local water depth is then successfully estimated through wave dispersion relationship. The method is first applied to monochromatic and polychromatic synthetic wave trains propagated using linear wave theory over an alongshore uniform bathymetry in order to analyze the influence of different parameters on the results. To assess the ability of the approach to infer the bathymetry under more realistic conditions and to explore the influence of other parameters, nonlinear wave propagation is also performed using a fully nonlinear Boussinesq-type model over a complex bathymetry. In the synthetic cases, the relative root mean square error obtained in bathymetry recovery (for water depths 0.75 m ⩽ h ⩽ 8.0 m ) ranges from ∼1% to ∼3% for infinitesimal-amplitude wave cases (monochromatic or polychromatic) to ∼15% in the most complex case (nonlinear polychromatic waves). Finally, the new methodology is satisfactorily validated through a real field site video.

Breaker bars in the surf zone of sandy beaches generally evolve between straight bars parallel to the shore and meandering crescentic bars associated with intense (dangerous) currents flowing seaward through rip channels. Understanding the behavior of such systems is fundamental as they control the entire surf zone dynamics, the shape of the coastline, and the exchange of floating material with the shoreface. Although the mechanisms behind the meandering of an originally straight bar have been studied extensively, a clear physical explanation on the crescentic bar straightening was missing. Recent field observations have highlighted that this morphological reset can be due to wave obliquity. By using a two-dimensional horizontal morphological model, we show that the bar straightening by oblique waves occurs because the rip current is both weakened in intensity and shifted downdrift from the channel deepest section. The technique employed is useful for the study of other types of bed forms.Postprint (published version

[1] A morphodynamic model has been applied to explain the characteristics of transverse sandbars observed in the inner surf zone of open beaches. The model describes the feedback between waves, rollers, depth-averaged currents and bed evolution, so that self-organized processes can develop. The modeled bar characteristics, i.e. wavelength (30-70 m), crest orientation (up-current) and the e-folding growth time (about 12 hr) are in good agreement with those of observed transverse bars at Noordwijk beach, the Netherlands, but modeled migration speeds (tens of meters per day), turn out to be a factor 2 larger than those observed. The wavelength increases with the distance between the shoreline and the peak of the longshore current and the migration speed is correlated with the maximum longshore current. The model also explains why transverse bar formation at Noordwijk occurs for obliquely incident waves of intermediate heights. Realistic positive feedback leading to formation of up-current oriented bars like those observed is only obtained if a term related to the turbulence sediment resuspension created by the rollers is included in the transport formula. In that case, the depth-averaged sediment concentration decreases seaward across the inner surf zone, enhancing the convergence of sediment transport in the offshore directed flow perturbations that occur over the up-current bars. This offshore current deflection is mainly caused by frictional torques, but the roller radiation stresses also play an important role.