Open AccessField observations of swash zone infragravity motions and beach cusp evolution
Author(s) -
Ciriano Yolanda,
Coco Giovanni,
Bryan K. R.,
Elgar Steve
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: oceans
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.67
H-Index - 298
eISSN - 2156-2202
pISSN - 0148-0227
DOI - 10.1029/2004jc002485
Subject(s) - swash , beach morphodynamics , geology , cusp (singularity) , plage , geophysics , surf zone , dispersion (optics) , field (mathematics) , physics , geometry , geomorphology , sediment transport , oceanography , shore , mathematics , sediment , optics , pure mathematics
Fluid flows consistent with low‐mode edge waves were evident in video observations of swash motions during a field experiment in which beach cusps developed on an initially smooth beach. As beach cusps grew, energy lying along low‐mode dispersion curves increased. The most energetic edge‐wave propagation direction changed from upcoast to downcoast as the orientation of the cusp horns rotated. These observations suggest a coupling between morphodynamics and hydrodynamics, and are evidence that beach cusp evolution might control low‐mode edge wave dynamics.