TY - JOUR
T1 - Four-Year Performance and Associated Controlling Factors of Several Beach Nourishment Projects along Three Adjacent Barrier Islands, West-Central Florida, USA
AU - Roberts, Tiffany M.
AU - Wang, Ping
PY - 2012/12/1
Y1 - 2012/12/1
N2 - To quantify the performance of several beach nourishment projects on three adjacent barrier islands located in west-central Florida, a total of 5200 beach and nearshore-profiles spaced at 300 m were surveyed monthly to bi-monthly from 2006 to 2010. Beach nourishment performance at annual temporal and kilometer spatial scales within the microtidal low-wave energy barrier island coast is most significantly influenced by the interruption of longshore sediment transport by complex tidal-inlet processes. The inlet processes directly influencing adjacent beach nourishment performance include longshore transport interruption resulting from divergence induced by wave refraction over an ebb-tidal shoal, flood-tidal currents along the beach, and total littoral blockage by structured inlets. Secondary factors controlling the nourishment performance include project length and width, shoreline orientation, and antecedent geology. A morphologic indicator of a large longshore transport gradient within the study area is the absence of a nearshore sandbar. These non-barred beaches are characterized by persistent shoreline erosion. The presence of a sandbar indicates the dominance of cross-shore processes, with bar migration in response to wave condition variations and a relatively stable shoreline. The entirety of a barrier island system should be considered when evaluating the performance of a nourishment.
AB - To quantify the performance of several beach nourishment projects on three adjacent barrier islands located in west-central Florida, a total of 5200 beach and nearshore-profiles spaced at 300 m were surveyed monthly to bi-monthly from 2006 to 2010. Beach nourishment performance at annual temporal and kilometer spatial scales within the microtidal low-wave energy barrier island coast is most significantly influenced by the interruption of longshore sediment transport by complex tidal-inlet processes. The inlet processes directly influencing adjacent beach nourishment performance include longshore transport interruption resulting from divergence induced by wave refraction over an ebb-tidal shoal, flood-tidal currents along the beach, and total littoral blockage by structured inlets. Secondary factors controlling the nourishment performance include project length and width, shoreline orientation, and antecedent geology. A morphologic indicator of a large longshore transport gradient within the study area is the absence of a nearshore sandbar. These non-barred beaches are characterized by persistent shoreline erosion. The presence of a sandbar indicates the dominance of cross-shore processes, with bar migration in response to wave condition variations and a relatively stable shoreline. The entirety of a barrier island system should be considered when evaluating the performance of a nourishment.
KW - beach nourishment
KW - longshore sediment transport
KW - cross-shore sediment transport
KW - beach profiles
KW - beach morphodynamics
KW - barrier island beaches
UR - https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/geo_facpub/599
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coastaleng.2012.06.003
U2 - 10.1016/j.coastaleng.2012.06.003
DO - 10.1016/j.coastaleng.2012.06.003
M3 - Article
VL - 70
JO - Costal Engineering
JF - Costal Engineering
ER -