Reflective beach
From Coastal Wiki
Definition of Reflective beach:
Beach where waves dissipate their energy (wave breaking) close to the shoreline.
This is the common definition for Reflective beach, other definitions can be discussed in the article
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Notes
Usual characteristics of reflective beaches are:
- Steep beach slope
- Coarse sediment
- Long-period waves (swell)
- Small tidal amplitude
The so-called Dean parameter [math]\Omega[/math] [1][2] is often used as a measure of the degree of beach reflectivity. It is defined as
[math]\Omega = \Large \frac{H_s}{wT_p} \normalsize , \qquad(3)[/math]
where [math]H_s[/math] is the offshore significant wave height before breaking, [math]T_p[/math] is the peak spectral wave period and [math]w[/math] is the mean sediment fall velocity. According to Wright and Short (1984) [3] reflective beaches correspond to [math]\Omega \lt 1 [/math].
See for more details: Shoreface profile.
References
- ↑ Gourlay, M. R. 1968. Beach and dune erosion tests. Rep. m935/m936, Delft Hydraul. Lab., Delft
- ↑ Dean, R.G. 1973. Heuristic models of sand transport in the surf zone. Proc. Conf. Eng. Dynamics in the Surf Zone, Sydney: 208-214
- ↑ Wright, L.D. and Short, A.D. 1984. Morphodynamic variability of surf zones and beaches: a synthesis. Mar.Geol. 56: 93-118
