Biausque, M.; Senechal, N.; Blossier, B., and Bryan, K.R., 2016. Seasonal variations in recovery timescales of shoreline change on an embayed beach, Proceedings of the 14th International Coastal Symposium (Sydney, Australia). Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue, No. 75, pp. 353–357. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.

Video images acquired during ten years (from January 1999 until June 2009) were analyzed to study cross-shore and alongshore variability of the shoreline on an embayed beach at Tairua Beach (New Zealand). Cross-shore landward migrations occur not only due to high energetic events (such as storms), but are a result of a mix of different parameters. In particular the shoreline of embayed beaches experiences rotation events during which opposite accretion and erosion patterns are observed at the extremities of the beach. When the beach is in an unrotated state, the erosion of the shore is accentuated. The notion of dynamic equilibrium between morphology and wave energy is common approach to understanding the drivers of such shoreline variations. Therefore, to quantify erosion and accretion rates, we used an empirical shoreline prediction model. In this application of the model, we showed that seasonality exists in these rates, between austral summer and winter. The difference in these rates could be because of the influence of the beach rotation on recovery periods. Indeed, the winter beach is generally in a more rotated state than the summer beach.