Date: Sunday 31 May 2015
 

Monitoring Team: Kevin, Nick, Paul, Jenny & Max
 

Analysis & Report:  Beach Monitoring was conducted in what was described as the worst conditions yet encountered for monitoring.

 

The photo (left) indicates the difficulty of obtaining significant profile readings.

Evidence at the 30 metre distance of the beach profile suggests that storm damage in the foreshore area has caused the loss of twice the depth of sand compared to this time last year after a similar storm event. See: Chart 30m Height 0615.pdf

 

Note that only Post 9 was able to provide a reading at the 30 m distance for the 8-9-10 Average group of posts.

The beach profile charts high light the increased vulnerability of the lower parts of the beach in the foreshore area, ie the part of the beach that is only exposed at low tides and for the greater part of time are subjected to wave action.

 

This interaction between beach height and time subjected to wave action is easily seen at post 4. Here, the sand height range is minimal at the post where sand height is greatest but a larger range of sand height occurs where the beach is subjected to more wave action beyond the 20m distance.

We have seen these profile patterns before but did not recognize the mechanics of the process until the 30 metre chart was derived from the profile data.

The procedures for profiling at and around post 8 will need to be reviewed as teams are finding difficulty in referencing the profile heights back to the post height.

 

 

• Dune toe 0615.pdf (28KB)
   

• 30m height 0615.pdf (12KB)
   

• Sand height post series (13 KB)