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Spatial and temporal scales of shoreline morphodynamics derived from video camera observations for the island of Sylt, German Wadden Sea

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Abstract

Spatial and temporal scales of beach morphodynamics were assessed for the island of Sylt, German Wadden Sea, based on continuous video camera monitoring data from 2011 to 2014 along a 1.3 km stretch of sandy beach. They served to quantify, at this location, the amount of shoreline variability covered by beach monitoring schemes, depending on the time interval and alongshore resolution of the surveys. Correlation methods, used to quantify the alongshore spatial scales of shoreline undulations, were combined with semi-empirical modelling and spectral analyses of shoreline temporal fluctuations. The data demonstrate that an alongshore resolution of 150 m and a monthly survey time interval capture 70% of the kilometre-scale shoreline variability over the 2011–2014 study period. An alongshore spacing of 10 m and a survey time interval of 5 days would be required to monitor 95% variance of the shoreline temporal fluctuations with steps of 5% changes in variance over space. Although monitoring strategies such as land or airborne surveying are reliable methods of data collection, video camera deployment remains the cheapest technique providing the high spatiotemporal resolution required to monitor subkilometre-scale morphodynamic processes involving, for example, small- to middle-sized beach nourishment.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded through the DFG-Research Center for Marine Environmental Sciences MARUM. C. Daly acknowledges funding from the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg as a Junior Fellow in the project WIMO (Wissenschaftliche Monitoringkonzepte für die Deutsche Bucht). The authors gratefully acknowledge the Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht (HZG) for hosting the video camera system and for graciously providing wave buoy and wave model data via the COSYNA project (Coastal Observation Systems in the North Sea and Arctic, http://www.hzg.de/institutes_platforms/cosyna). Additional wave buoy data were provided by the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH), and additional wave model data originate from the Deutscher Wetterdienst DWD model. Tidal data were provided by the Federal Administration of Waterways and Navigation (Wasser- und Schifffahrtsverwaltung des Bundes, WSV) and the German Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG). The authors would like to thank two anonymous reviewers whose comments helped clarifying this manuscript.

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The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest with third parties.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MARUM, Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, Leobener Strasse, 28359, Bremen, Germany

    Brice Blossier, Christopher J. Daly & Christian Winter

  2. Coastal Marine Group, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Waikato, 3240, Hamilton, New Zealand

    Karin R. Bryan

  3. University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago

    Christopher J. Daly

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  1. Brice Blossier
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Correspondence to Brice Blossier.

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Responsible editor: B.W. Flemming

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Blossier, B., Bryan, K.R., Daly, C.J. et al. Spatial and temporal scales of shoreline morphodynamics derived from video camera observations for the island of Sylt, German Wadden Sea. Geo-Mar Lett 37, 111–123 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-016-0461-7

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