The present work characterizes the time-space scales of variability and forcing dependencies of a unique 26 year record of daily to hourly shoreline data from a steep beach at Duck, North Carolina. Shoreline positions over a 1500 m alongshore span were estimated using a new algorithm called ASLIM based on...
Optical remote sensing is used to measure flow patterns in the swash zone. Timestack images are analyzed to measure the asymmetry and the relative duration of the inflow into the swash zone. This varies significantly between individual swashes, contrary to the classical analytical swash model for runup induced by bores,...
A methodology is described for assimilating observations in a steady state twodimensional
horizontal (2‐DH) model of nearshore hydrodynamics (waves and currents),
using an ensemble‐based statistical estimator. In this application, we treat bathymetry as a
model parameter, which is subject to a specified prior uncertainty. The statistical estimator
uses state augmentation...
Swash hydrodynamics were investigated on an intermediate beach using runup data obtained from video images. Under mild, near-constant, offshore wave conditions, the presence of a sandbar and the tidally controlled water depth over its crest determined whether most of the incoming waves broke before reaching the shoreline. This forced a...
Bathymetry is a major factor in determining nearshore and surf zone wave transformation and
currents, yet is often poorly known. This can lead to inaccuracy in numerical model predictions. Here
bathymetry is estimated as an uncertain parameter in a data assimilation system, using the ensemble Kalman
filter (EnKF). The system...
Video measurements of wave runup were collected during extreme storm conditions characterized by energetic long swells (peak period of 16.4 s and offshore height up to 6.4 m) impinging on steep foreshore beach slopes (0.05–0.08). These conditions induced highly dissipative and saturated conditions over the low-sloping surf zone while the...