Experimental Study of Wave Runup Variability on a Dissipative Beach

Abstract

Wave runup (hereafter referred to simply as runup) is defined as the maximum excursion of water level at the shoreline. It is an important process that contributes to the deposition and erosion of sediments onshore (Alsina et al., 2018;Ruggiero et al., 2001). Very large runup events are also a hazard to beachgoers in certain regions of the world (García-Medina et al., 2018).Understanding and predicting runup is essential to managing flooding, erosion, and safety at the coast, and there have been numerous studies on the topic. Many of these studies focus on the bulk parameterization of runup, that is, the prediction of a representative runup magnitude-For example, the commonly used 2% exceedance value of runup (R. Holman, 1986;Stockdon et al., 2006). These predictions are usually made considering incident wave parameters, such as offshore wave height and wavelength, and nearshore geometry, such as foreshore beach slope (