Two field data sets of near‐bed velocity, pressure, and sediment concentration are analyzed to study the influence of infragravity waves on sand suspension and cross‐shore transport. On the moderately sloping Sand Motor beach (≈1:35), the local ratio of infragravity wave height to sea‐swell wave height is relatively small (HIG/HSW<0.4), and sand fluxes are related to the correlation of the infragravity‐wave orbital motion with the sea‐swell wave envelope, r0. When the largest sea‐swell waves are present during negative infragravity velocities (bound wave, negative correlation r0), most sand is suspended here, and the infragravity sand flux qIG is offshore. When r0 is positive, the largest sea‐swell waves are present during positive infragravity velocities (free wave), and qIG is onshore directed. For both cases, the infragravity contribution to the total sand flux is, however, relatively small (<20%). In the inner surf zone of the gently (≈1:80) sloping Ameland beach, the infragravity waves are relatively large (HIG/HSW>0.4), most sand is suspended during negative infragravity velocities, and qIG is offshore directed. The infragravity contribution to the total sand flux is considerably larger and reaches up to ≈60% during energetic conditions. On the whole, HIG/HSW is a good indicator for the infragravity‐related sand suspension mechanism and the resulting infragravity sand transport direction and relative importance.

Current coastal-evolution models generally lack the ability to accurately predict bed level change in shallow (< ∼ 2 m) water, which is, at least partly, due to the preclusion of the effect of surface-induced turbulence on sand suspension and transport. As a first step to remedy this situation, we investigated the vertical structure of turbulence in the surf and swash zone using measurements collected under random shoaling and plunging waves on a steep (initially 1:15) field-scale sandy laboratory beach. Seaward of the swash zone, turbulence was measured with a vertical array of three Acoustic Doppler Velocimeters (ADVs), while in the swash zone two vertically spaced acoustic doppler velocimeter profilers (Vectrino profilers) were applied. The vertical turbulence structure evolves from bottom-dominated to approximately vertically uniform with an increase in the fraction of

In the light of the currently increasing drought frequency and water scarcity on oceanic islands, it is crucial for the conservation of threatened insular vertebrates to assess how they will be affected. A 4000 yr old fossil assemblage in the Mare Aux Songes (MAS), southwest Mauritius, Mascarene Islands, contains bones of 100 000+ individual vertebrates, dominated by two species of giant tortoises Cylindraspis triserrata and C. inepta, the dodo Raphus cucullatus, and 20 other vertebrate species ( Rijsdijk, Hume, Bunnik, Florens, Baider, Shapiro et al. (2009) Mid-Holocene vertebrate bone Concentration-Lagerstätte on oceanic island Mauritius provides a window into the ecosystem of the dodo ( Raphus cucullatus). Quaternary Science Reviews 28: 14–24). Nine radiocarbon dates of bones statistically overlap and suggest mass mortality occurred between 4235 and 4100 cal. yr BP. The mortality period coincides with a widely recognized megadrought event. Our multidisciplinary investigations combining geological, paleontological and hydrological evidence suggests the lake was located in a dry coastal setting and had desiccated during this period. Oxygen isotope data from a Uranium-series dated stalagmite from Rodrigues, an island 560 km east of Mauritius, supports this scenario by showing frequently alternating dry and wet periods lasting for decades between 4122 and 2260 cal. yr BP. An extreme drought resulted in falling water-tables at MAS and elsewhere on the island, perhaps deprived these insular vertebrates of fresh water, which led to natural mass mortalities and possibly to extirpations. In spite of these events, all insular species survived until at least the seventeenth century, confirming their resistance to climatic extremes. Despite this, the generally exponential increase of combined human impacts on islands including loss of geodiversity, habitats, and stocks of fresh water, there will be less environmental safe-haven options for insular endemic and native vertebrates during future megadrought conditions; and therefore will be more prone to extinction.

Abstract. We present a downscaling approach for the study of wave-induced extreme water levels at a location on a barrier island in Yucatán (Mexico). Wave information from a 30-year wave hindcast is validated with in situ measurements at 8 m water depth. The maximum dissimilarity algorithm is employed for the selection of 600 representative cases, encompassing different combinations of wave characteristics and tidal level. The selected cases are propagated from 8 m water depth to the shore using the coupling of a third-generation wave model and a phase-resolving nonhydrostatic nonlinear shallow-water equation model. Extreme wave run-up, R 2 % , is estimated for the simulated cases and can be further employed to reconstruct the 30-year time series using an interpolation algorithm. Downscaling results show run-up saturation during more energetic wave conditions and modulation owing to tides. The latter suggests that the R 2 % can be parameterized using a hyperbolic-like formulation with dependency on both wave height and tidal level. The new parametric formulation is in agreement with the downscaling results (r 2 = 0.78), allowing a fast calculation of wave-induced extreme water levels at this location. Finally, an assessment of beach vulnerability to wave-induced extreme water levels is conducted at the study area by employing the two approaches (reconstruction/parameterization) and a storm impact scale. The 30-year extreme water level hindcast allows the calculation of beach vulnerability as a function of return periods. It is shown that the downscaling-derived parameterization provides reasonable results as compared with the numerical approach. This methodology can be extended to other locations and can be further improved by incorporating the storm surge contributions to the extreme water level.

Short‐wave sand transport in morphodynamic models is often based solely on the near‐bed wave‐orbital motion, thereby neglecting the effect of ripple‐induced and surface‐induced turbulence on sand transport processes. Here sand stirring was studied using measurements of the wave‐orbital motion, turbulence, ripple characteristics, and sand concentration collected on a field‐scale laboratory beach under conditions ranging from irregular nonbreaking waves above vortex ripples to plunging waves and bores above subdued bed forms. Turbulence and sand concentration were analyzed as individual events and in a wave phase‐averaged sense. The fraction of turbulence events related to suspension events is relatively high (∼50%), especially beneath plunging waves. Beneath nonbreaking waves with vortex ripples, the sand concentration close to the bed peaks right after the maximum positive wave‐orbital motion and shows a marked phase lag in the vertical, although the peak in concentration at higher elevations does not shift to beyond the positive to negative flow reversal. Under plunging waves, concentration peaks beneath the wavefront without any notable phase lags in the vertical. In the inner‐surf zone (bores), the sand concentration remains phase coupled to positive wave‐orbital motion, but the concentration decreases with distance toward the shoreline. On the whole, our observations demonstrate that the wave‐driven suspended load transport is onshore and largest beneath plunging waves, while it is small and can also be offshore beneath shoaling waves. To accurately predict wave‐driven sand transport in morphodynamic models, the effect of surface‐induced turbulence beneath plunging waves should thus be included.

This paper reviews the initiation, development, and closure of foredune blowouts with focus on biotic-abiotic interactions. There is a rich body of literature describing field measurements and model simulations in and around foredune blowouts. Despite this abundance of data there is no conceptual framework available linking biotic and abiotic observations to pathways of blowout development (e.g., erosional blowout growth or vegetation induced blowout closure). This review identifies morphological and ecological processes facilitating the transition between blowout development stages and sets them in the context of existing conceptual frameworks describing biotic-abiotic systems. By doing so we are able to develop a new conceptual model linking blowout development to the dominance of its governing processes. More specifically we link blowout initiation to the dominance of abiotic (physical) processes, blowout development to the dominance of biotic-abiotic (bio-geomorphological) processes and blowout closure to the dominance of biotic (ecological) processes. Subsequently we identify further steps to test the proposed conceptual model against existing observations and show possibilities to include it in numerical models able to predict blowout development for various abiotic and biotic conditions.

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On steep beaches, the cross-shore movement of sand in response to 'erosive' storm waves and 'accretive' swell waves can lead to temporal changes between a barred winter profile and a non-barred summer profile with a pronounced berm in the upper swash zone. Despite recent improvements in predicting berm formation and evolution within process-based morphodynamic models, substantial demand for improvement in understanding swash processes and associated surf-swash sand exchange remains. Here, we analyze bed level data collected on a near-prototype, 4.5-m high and 75-m wide sandy beach (median grain diameter D 50 = 430 µm) with a lagoon situated at its landward side. In particular, we distinguish between surf-swash exchange (time scale of tens of minutes to hours), the net effect of single and multiple swash events on the entire beach face (time scale