Sediment Dynamics Field Experiment: Sunday’s River

A field exercise was performed on a high-energy beach east of the Sunday's River in Algoa Bay on the east coast of the Republic of South Africa in the latter half of April 1983. Recorded data include nearly continuous wave data at 7 stations within the breaker zone with simultaneous waverider recordings in a water depth of 10 m, suspended sediment data gathered by means of 'bamboo' poles and instantaneous bottle samplers, daily topographical measurements of the beach and inshore area, data on rip current intensity and spacing for a 10 km coastal strip, more than 3,000 bottom sediment sample analyses and visual observations of wave height and longshore current velocity at hourly intervals through the recording period. Analysis of the data has been completed and interpretation and correlation of various measured phenomena are underway. A second exercise was performed in August 1984, when the emphasis was on nearshore circulation patterns.