Longshore Transport Estimation on Ofir Beach in Northwest Portugal: Sand-Tracer Experiment
Publication: Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering
Volume 142, Issue 2
Abstract
This work aims to shed some light on longshore sediment transport (LST) in the highly energetic northwest coast of Portugal. Data achieved through a sand-tracer experiment are compared with data obtained from the original and the new re-evaluated longshore sediment transport formulas (USACE Waterways Experiment Station’s Coastal Engineering and Research Center, Kamphuis, and Bayram bulk formulas) to assess their performance. The field experiment with dyed sand was held at Ofir Beach during one tidal cycle under medium wave-energy conditions. Local hydrodynamic conditions and beach topography were recorded. The tracer was driven southward in response to the local swell and wind- and wave-induced currents (, , ). The LST was estimated by using a linear sediment transport flux approach. The obtained value () approached the estimation provided by the original Bayram formula (). The other formulas overestimated the transport, but the estimations resulting from the new re-evaluated formulas also yield approximate results. Therefore, the results of this work indicated that the Bayram formula may give satisfactory results for predicting the longshore sediment transport on Ofir Beach.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This work had the support of the research projects PTDC/CTE-GIX/111230/2009 (EROS), PTDC/ECM/099999/2008 (MOZCO) and PEst-OE/CTE/UI4035/2014, funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT, Portuguese Government). S. Fernández-Fernández developed this work during her scientist visit at the University of Aveiro through the Formación de Profesorado Universitario (FPU) Research Stay program (Ministry of Education, Spanish Government). P. Baptista was supported by the FCT grant reference SFRH/BPD/63141/2009, and V. A. Martins was supported by the Programa de Cooperação Técnico-CientÕfico (PROTEC) Convention of Universidade do Rio de Janeiro/Universidade Estatal Amazónica (UERJ/UEA) fellowship. The authors acknowledge D. Santos and E. Aldeano for their help during the fieldwork. The constructive comments of the anonymous reviewers are greatly appreciated.
References
Andrade, C., Pires, O., Taborda, R., and Freitas, M. C. (2007). “Projecting future changes in wave climate and coastal response in Portugal by the end of the 21st century.” J. Coast. Res., 50, 263–267.
ArcGIS 9.2 [Computer software]. ESRI, Redlands, CA.
Bailard, J. A. (1984). “A simplified model for longshore sediment transport.” Proc., 19th Conf. on Coastal Engineering, B. L. Edge, ed., ASCE, Reston, VA, 1454–1470.
Balouin, Y., Howa, H., Pedreros, R., and Michel, D. (2005). “Longshore sediment movements from tracers and models, Praia de Faro, South Portugal.” J. Coast. Res., 21(1), 146–156.
Baptista, P. (2006). “O Sistema de Posicionamento Global Aplicado ao Estudo de Litorais Arenosos.” Ph.D. thesis, Univ. de Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal (in Portuguese).
Baptista, P., Coelho, C., Pereira, C., Bernardes, C., and Veloso-Gomes, F. (2014). “Beach morphology and shoreline evolution: Monitoring and modeling medium-term responses (Portuguese NW coast study site).” Coast. Eng., 84(6), 23–37.
Baptista, P., Cunha, T., and Bernardes, C. (2011). “The validation analysis of the INSHORE system: A precise and efficient coastal survey system.” Environ. Monit. Assess., 179(1–4), 589–604.
Baptista, P., Cunha, T. R., Gama, C., and Bernardes, C. (2012). “A new and practical method to obtain grain size measurements in sandy shores based on digital image acquisition and processing.” Sediment. Geol., 282(1), 294–306.
Battjes, J. A. (1974). “Surf similarity.” Proc., 14th Conf. on Coastal Engineering, ASCE, Reston, VA, 466–480.
Bayram, A., Larson, M., and Hanson, H. (2007). “A new formula for the total longshore sediment transport rate.” Coast. Eng., 54(9), 700–710.
Bertin, X., Castelle, B., Anfuso, G., and Ferreira, O. (2008b). “Improvement of sand activation depth prediction under conditions of oblique wave breaking.” Geo. Mar. Lett., 28(2), 65–75.
Bertin, X., Castelle, B., Chaumillon, E., Butel, R., and Quique, R. (2008a). “Longshore transport estimation and interannual variability at a high-energy dissipative beach: St. Trojan beach, SW Oléron Island, France.” Cont. Shelf. Res., 28(1–3), 1316–1332.
Bertin, X., Deshouilieres, A., Allard, J., and Chaumillon E. (2007). “A new fluorescent tracers experiment improves understanding of sediment dynamics along the arcay sandspit (France).” Geo. Mar. Lett.,27(1), 63–69.
Carvalho, G. S., Granja, H. M., Loureiro, E., and Henriques, R. (2006). “Late Pleistocene and Holocene environmental changes in the coastal zone of Northwestern Portugal.” J. Quat. Sci., 21(8), 859–877.
CERC (USACE Waterways Experiment Station’s Coastal Engineering Research Center). (1984). Shore protection manual, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC.
Ciavola, P., Dias, N., Ferreira, O., Taborda, R., and Dias, J. M. (1998). “Fluorescent sands for measurements of longshore transport rates: A case study from Praia de Faro in southern Portugal.” Geo. Mar. Lett., 18(1), 49–57.
Ciavola, P., Taborda, R., Ferreira, O., and Dias, J. A. (1997). “Field measurements of longshore sand transport and control processes on a steep meso-tidal beach in Portugal.” J. Coast. Res., 13(4), 1119–1129.
Coelho, C. (2005). “Riscos de exposição de frentes urbanas para diferentes intervenções de defesa costeira.” Ph.D. thesis, Univ. de Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal (in Portuguese).
Coelho, C., Silva, R., Veloso-Gomes, F., and Taveira-Pinto, F. (2009). “Potential effects of climate change on northwest Portuguese coastal zones.” ICES J. Mar. Sci., 66(7), 1497–1507.
Coelho, C., and Veloso Gomes, F. (2003). “Wave climate and longshore sediment transport in the Northwest Portuguese coast.” Proc., 3rd Symp. on River, Coastal and Morphodynamics, IAHR, Barcelona, Spain, 1037–1048.
Consulmar. (1999). Melhoria da Barra do Cávado. Processo de Concurso: Vol. 3, Projecto Base, Instituto Marítimo Portuário, Lisbon, Portugal (in Portuguese).
Cunha, T. (2002). “High precision navigation integrating satellite information: GPS; and inertial system data.” Ph.D. thesis, Univ. do Porto, Porto, Portugal (in Portuguese).
Dean, R. G. (1973). “Heuristic models of sand transport in the surf zone.” Proc., 1st Conf. on Coastal Eng., Engineering Dynamics in the Surf Zone, Institution of Engineers, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 208–214.
Esteves, L. S., Williams, J. J., and Lisniowski, M. A. (2009). “Measuring and modelling longshore sediment transport.” Estuar. Coast. Shelf S., 83(1), 47–59.
Granja, H. M., and Soares de Carvalho, G. (1991). “The impact of ‘protection’ structures on the Ofir-Apúlia coastal zone (NW Portugal).” Quat. Int., 9, 81–85.
Guza, R. T, and Inman, D. L. (1975). “Edge waves and beach cusps.” J. Geophys. Res., 80(21), 2997–3012.
Hofmann-Wellenhof, B., Lichtenegger, H., and Collins, J. (1998). Global positioning system: Theory and practice, 4th Ed., Springer, New York.
Ingle, J. C. (1966). The movement of beach sand, Elsevier, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Inman, D. L., and Bagnold, R. A. (1963). “Littoral processes.” The sea, M. N. Hill, ed., Vol. 3. Interscience, New York, 529–533.
Kaczmarek, J., Rozynski, G., and Pruszak, Z. (2005). “Long period oscillations in the longshore current on a sandy, barred coast investigated with singular spectrum analysis.” Oceanologia, 47(1), 5–25.
Kamphuis, J. W. (1991). “Alongshore sediment transport rate.” J. Waterway, Port, Coastal, Ocean Eng., 624–640.
Kamphuis, J. W. (2002). “Alongshore transport of sand.” Proc., 28th. Int. Conf. Coastal Eng., ASCE, Reston, VA, 2478–2490.
Komar, P. D., and Inman, D. L. (1970). “Longshore sand transport on beaches.” J. Geophy. Res., 75(30), 5914–5927.
Kraus, N. C. (1985). “Field experiments on vertical mixing of sand in the surf zone.” J. Sediment. Res., 55(1), 3–14.
Kraus, N. C., Isobe, M., Igarashi, H., Sasaki, T. O., and Horikawa, K. (1982). “Field experiments on longshore sand transport in the surf zone.” Proc., 18th Conf. on Coastal Eng., B. L. Edge, ed., ASCE, Reston, VA, 969–988.
LCHF (Laboratoire Central Hydraulique de France). (1979). “Etude en nature de la côte aquitaine (entre la Pointe de la Grave et l’embouchure de l’Adour).” Rapport établi pour la mission interministérielle pour l’aménagement de la côte Aquitaine. 13–36 (in French).
MARN (1999). “Plano de Ordenamento da Orla Costeira, trecho Caminha-Espinho.” Relatório dos Estudos de Base, Lisboa, Ministério do Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais–Instituto da Água, Lisboa, Portugal. 232 p (in Portuguese).
MARN (2007). “POOC-Caminha Espinho 1999, alterado de acordo com Resolução Conselho de Ministros 2007.” Ministério do Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais, Instituto da Água, Lisboa, Portugal (in Portuguese).
Mariño-Tapia, I., Russell, P. E., O’Hare, T. J., Davidson, M. A., and Huntley, D. A. (2007). “Cross-shore sediment transport on natural beaches and its relation to sandbar migration patterns: 1. Field observations and derivation of a transport parameterization.” J. Geophys. Res., 112(C3), C03001.
Masselink, G., and Short, A. D. (1993). “The effect of tide range on beach morphodynamics and morphology: A conceptual beach model.” J. Coast. Res., 9(3), 785–800.
Mil-Homens, J., Ranasinghe, R., van Thiel de Vries, J. S. M., and Stive, M. J. F. (2013). “Re-evaluation and improvement of three commonly used bulk longshore sediment transport formulas.” Coast. Eng., 75, 29–39.
Miller, H. C. (1999). “Field measurements of longshore sediment transport during storms.” Coast. Eng., 36(4), 301–321.
Nordstrom, K. F., Jackson, N. L., Allen, J. R., and Sherman, D. J. (2003). “Longshore sediment transport rates on a microtidal estuarine beach.” J. Waterway, Port, Coastal, Ocean Eng., 1–4.
Ruessink, B. G., Ramaekers, G., and van Rijn, L. C. (2012). “On the parameterization of the free-stream non-linear wave orbital motion in nearshore morphodynamic models.” Coast. Eng., 65, 56–63.
Ruessink, B. G., Walstra, D. J. R., and Southgate, H. N. (2003). “Calibration and verification of a parametric wave model on barred beaches.” Coast. Eng., 48(3), 139–149.
Sherman, D. J., Short, A. D., and Takeda, I. (1993). “Sediment mixing-depth and bedform migration in rip channels.” J. Coast. Res., SI 15, 38–49.
Silva, A., Taborda, R., Rodrigues, A., Duarte, J., and Cascalho, J. (2007). “Longshore drift estimation using fluorescent tracers: New insights from an experiment at Comporta Beach, Portugal.” Mar. Geol., 240(1–4), 137–150.
Silva, A. M. (2005). “Traçadores sedimentares aplicados ao estudo da deriva litoral.” Training Rep. Univ. de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal (in Portuguese).
Silva, A. N., Taborda, R., Bertin, X., and Dodet, G. (2012). “Seasonal to decadal variability of longshore sand transport at the northwest coast of Portugal.” J. Waterway, Port, Coastal, Ocean Eng., 464–472.
Silvester, R., and Hsu, J. R. C. (1993). Coastal stabilization: Innovative concepts, P T R Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Smith, E. R., Wang, P., Ebersole, B. A., and Zhang, J. (2009). “Dependence of total longshore sediment transport rates on incident wave parameters and breaker type.” J. Coast. Res., 25(3), 675–683.
Soulsby, R. L. (1997). Dynamics of marine sands: A manual for practical applications, T. Telford, ed., London.
Taborda, R., Magalhães, F., and Ângelo, C. (2005). “Evaluation of coastal defence strategies in Portugal.” Environment friendly coastal protection structures, B. Dean and C. Zimmermann, eds., Kluwer, Dordrecht, Netherlands, 255–265.
Tonk, A., and Masselink, G. (2005). “Evaluation of longshore transport equations with OBS sensors, streamer traps, and fluorescent tracer.” J. Coast. Res., 21(5), 915–931.
Van Rijn, L. C. (2014). “A simple general expression for longshore transport of sand, gravel and shingle.” Coast. Eng., 90, 23–39.
Vitorino, J., Oliveira, A., Jouanneau, J., and Drago, T. (2002). “Winter dynamics on the northern Portuguese shelf. Part 1: Physical processes.” Progr. Oceanogr., 52(2–4), 129–153.
Wang, P., and Kraus, N. C. (1999). “Longshore sediment transport rate measured by short-term impoundment.” J. Waterway, Port, Coastal, Ocean Eng., 118–126.
Wang, P., Kraus, N. C., and Davis, R. A., Jr.(1998). “Total rate of longshore sediment transport in the surf zone: Field measurements and empirical predictions.” J. Coast. Res., 14(1), 269–283.
Wang, P., Smith, E. R., and Ebersole, B. A. (2002). “Large scale laboratory measurements of longshore sediment transport under spilling and plunging breakers.” J. Coast. Res., 18(1), 118–135.
White, T. E. (1998). “Status of measurement techniques for coastal sediment transport.” Coast. Eng., 35(1–2), 17–45.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 14, 2014
Accepted: May 15, 2015
Published online: Oct 16, 2015
Published in print: Mar 1, 2016
Discussion open until: Mar 8, 2016
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.