Abstract
We have analyzed 3 years of daily observations of the shoreline position along a 2 km segment of the coast at Duck, NC. Shoreline variations were found to be dominated by length scales of order 1 kilometer, with an amplitude that was modulated by a seasonal cycle, and a spatial structure that progressed alongshore at an average rate of 1 m/day. Surprisingly, the alongshore-averaged shoreline position did not display an annual cycle. Instead, the most pronounced alongshore-averaged shoreline changes occurred over several years. The dominance of large spatial and temporal scales suggests that short scale studies at Duck (typical duration < 1 month and lengths < 500 m) seriously under-resolve an important component of shoreline variability
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