Beach Monitoring Reports
The table above is derived from actual measurements of the beach sand elevation at typical points along East beach. The colours are used to provide an approximate indication of the sand level along the beach compared with historical levels. The range of sand levels and the values at which the colours change are shown in the colour legend at the bottom of the table.
The percentage represents the current sand height compared to the historical minimum and maximum heights ever measured at that location since 2013. These values are calculated from the measurements used to produce the profile charts that give additional information about the sand dynamics at that monitoring point.
These three columns give an overview of the sand level now, how it has changed since the previous measurement and how it compares to last year's results.
A positive number in a red square is usually not a concern but if the number is negative, it indicates that a new low sand level has been detected and further consideration of all the data at that point should be investigated.
9th July 2024 Report -
Date: Tuesday, 9th July 2024
Monitoring Team: Blake, Nick, Peter S
Analysis & Report: David Bills-Thompson, PFCG Technical Officer and Data Co-ordinator
Commentary:
The QST shows significant gains in sand levels for the foreshore area of East Beach. However, there is clear evidence that much of this sand gain has come from sacrificing sand from the dune face and up to the dune crest in the area between the old Land Fill and Belfast Reserve.
Behind Post 9 just northeast of the Land Fill site ten metres behind the post, the dune face has lost 1.76 metres in height in the last ten months and at 11m behind the post, the sand elevation is minus 45%. The dune crest has recessed about two metres in that time. Refer to chart 9B.
Behind Post 10 near the Belfast Reserve at seven metres behind the post, the dune face has lost 1.68 metres of height in 14 months. The dune crest has recessed about one metre in that time. Refer to chart 10B.
Around the Night Soil site there is still a large secondary dune protecting the main dune and the profiles in charts 5 and 6 show sand accretion.
Closer to the town, charts 1 and 2 show beneficial accretion at these popular locations.
In the absence of direct measurements at the posts, mapping validation was by Elevation History of fixed points in Propeller Aero and showed high confidence in the measurements.
Two minor adjustments have been made to the colour break points in the QST. Red is now any value less than 5% and green is any value greater than 57% which is the average of the average percentage heights in the foreshore area.
As yet we have not quantified the sand loss behind post 7 south west of the land fill site but this will be included in the next report due in about 6 weeks.
Charts for individual Posts
More information
Please contact us if you would like more detailed information.
We can provide:
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spread sheets of all data
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photos for each monthly measurement.