Clockwise from top-left:

Leavitt Island, Beaufort Sea Coast North Alaska, September 1972. Andy Short and Bill Wiseman surveying the low barrier island amidst patches of snow and small blocks of sea ice, which can be washed ashore at any time during the summer. Larger blocks ground on the crest of the outer bar/s. The survey was part of a 6 month field investigation into Alaskan Arctic coastal processes and morphology by the Coastal Studies Institute, Louisiana State University for the Office of Naval Research. Much of the coast consists of low discontinuous barrier islands, including flying islands that transgress landward and are prone to complete overwashing by storm waves and surges generated by occasional westerly low pressure systems. (Photo: D. Fisher.)

Egmond van Zee, The Netherlands, July 1989. Aart Kroon, David Huntley, unknown, and Leo van Rijn monitoring sediment transport in the inner surf zone at Egmond van Zee beach. (Photo: A.D. Short, School of Geosciences, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia.)

Shelly Beach, Central Coast, NSW, Australia, December 2011. Jamie MacMahan (Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA) leads an intrepid team carrying Lagrangian GPS drifters into a rip current to measure circulation patterns as part of the Rip Current Swimmer and Floater Experiments (RIPSAFE) project led by UNSW Sydney and funded by the Australian Research Council and Surf Life Saving Australia. The lifesaving caps have connected GPS units for measuring rip current escape strategies. No lives were lost during the experiments. (Photo: P. Rynne.)

Stanhope Lane Beach, Prince Edward Island, Canada, October 1989. Phil Osborne (left) and Rob Brander (right) from the Scarborough College Coastal Research Group, University of Toronto between dives during a Canadian Coastal Sediment Transport Programme (C-COAST) experiment – a collaboration between the University of Toronto, Dalhousie University and Memorial University. To keep them happy, divers were supplied with a steady diet of donuts (being gorged on in the photo), and the Argo amphibious vehicle, which they would take for joy rides down the beach and perform their own donuts. (Photo: R.W. Brander, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, UNSW Sydney, Australia.)