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Abstract: Long-term, net offshore bar migration is a common occurrence on many multiple-barred beaches. The first stage of the process involves the generation of a longshore bar close to the shoreline that oscillates about a mean position for some time, followed by a stage of net offshore migration across the upper shoreface, and finally a stage of decaying bar form through loss of sediment volume at the outer boundary of the upper shoreface. The phenomenon has been previously documented in the Netherlands, the USA, the Canadian Great Lakes, and in New Zealand, but our present understanding of the morphodynamic processes and sediment transport pathways involved in bar decay is limited. In this paper, long-term, net offshore bar migration is investigated at Vejers Beach, located on the North Sea coast of Denmark where offshore bar migration rates are of the order of 45–55ma−1. A wave height transformation model confirmed that the decay of the outer bar results in increased wave heights and undertow speeds at the more landward bar potentially causing this bar to speed up its offshore migration. The causes for outer bar decay were investigated through field measurements of sediment transport at the decaying bar and at a position further seaward on the lower shoreface. The measurements showed that a cross-shore transport convergence exists between the bar and the lower shoreface and that the loss of sediment involved in bar decay is associated with a longshore directed transport by non-surf zone processes. At Vejers, and possibly elsewhere, the net offshore migration of bars and the subsequent loss of sand during bar decay is an important part of the beach and shoreface sediment budget. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seven different bar types are distinguished to provide a framework for comparing morphodynamic studies conducted in different areas. Five types occur in semiprotected or open coast settings, of which two are intertidal and three are subtidal. Two types occur in highly protected settings. The occurrence of a certain bar type is generally determined by the wave energy and tidal range, although the nearshore slope may also be a differentiating boundary condition. The theory behind the generation, evolution and decay of bars has evolved most for the subtidal bars in the semiprotected and open coast settings, for which three types of competing mechanisms have been formulated (breakpoint, infragravity waves, self-organisational). Most research has focused on these processes on the time scale of storm events and post-storm recovery. However, to understand the longer-term behavior of bar systems, knowledge of the role of relaxation time and morphologic feedback is needed as well. At present, such knowledge is very limited. We think it can best be obtained from the analysis of long time series of morphology and forcing conditions, rather than from intensive field experiments. In case of a feedback-dominated response (self-organisational), we expect to find no correlation between the time series of external forcing and the morphologic response. In case of a relaxation time-dominated response, we do expect to find such a correlation, albeit filtered. This discussion is illustrated by a case study of the Dutch coast. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Quantifying fluxes of water, sediment and dissolved compounds through Arctic rivers is important for linking the glacial, terrestrial and marine ecosystems and to quantify the impact of a warming climate. The quantification of fluxes is not trivial. This study uses a 8-years data set (2005–2012) of daily measurements from the high-Artic Zackenberg River in Northeast Greenland to estimate annual suspended sediment fluxes based on four commonly used methods: M1) is the discharge weighted mean and uses direct measurements, while M2-M4) are one uncorrected and two bias corrected rating curves extrapolating a continuous concentration trace from measured values. All methods are tested on complete and reduced datasets. The average annual runoff in the period 2005–2012 was 190 ± 25 mio · m 3 y − 1 . The different estimation methods gave a range of average annual suspended sediment fluxes between 43,000 ± 10,000 t y − 1 and 61,000 ± 16,000 t y − 1 . Extreme events with high discharges had a mean duration of 1 day. The average suspended sediment flux during extreme events was 17,000 ± 5000 t y − 1 , which constitutes a year-to-year variation of 20–37% of the total annual flux. The most accurate sampling strategy was bi-daily sampling together with a sampling frequency of 2 h during extreme events. The most consistent estimation method was an uncorrected rating curve of bi-daily measurements (M2), combined with a linear interpolation of extreme event fluxes. Sampling can be reduced to every fourth day, with both method-agreements and accuracies <±10%, using 7 year averages. The specific annual method-agreements were <±10% for all years and the specific annual accuracies <±20% for 6 years out of 7. The rating curves were less sensitive to day-to-day variations in the measured suspended sediment concentrations. The discharge weighted mean was not recommended in the high-Arctic Zackenberg River, unless sampling was done bi-daily, every day and events sampled high-frequently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The formation of berms and their transformation into beach ridges in a micro-tidal environment is coupled to wave run-up and overtopping during extreme sea levels. A straight-forward comparison between extreme sea levels due to storm-surges and active berm levels is impossible in the semi-enclosed bays along the Baltic Sea. Quite often, the maximum water levels do not coincide with the maximum intensity of the wave driven processes because of seiches in the Baltic. In this paper, we look into the joined distribution of extreme water levels and high-energetic wave conditions at Feddet, a sandy prograding spit on the south-eastern Baltic shores of Zealand, Denmark. The modern, sandy beach at this location consists of a beachface with a shallow incipient berm, a mature berm, and a dune-covered beach ridge. It borders a beach-ridge plain to the west, where more than 20N–S oriented beach ridges and swales are present. Measured water-level data from 1991 to 2012 and topographical observations, carried out during fair weather period and during a storm event, provided the basis for a conceptual model exhibiting berm formation and transformation into the local beach-ridge system. The character of extreme sea level events is identified using thirty-three well described extreme events throughout a period of 15years. Analysis of the meteorological conditions during these events revealed that berm formation only occurred during 20% of all extreme events when onshore winds, high-energy wave action and elevated water coincided. These berm-forming events had a mean return period of once every three years. The average age between successive beach ridges on the beach-ridge plain was about 180years, which means that the transformation of a berm into a single beach ridge is the result of a large number of storm episodes with high-energy waves and extreme water levels. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract Plateau dunes are unique landforms which formed as erosion relicts in blow-out areas in Late Pleistocene sandy deposits. They are negative forms in contrast to normal dunes where sand is accumulated (positive form). Plateau dunes are located in the European Aeolian Sand Belt in the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark and they are flat-topped features with a bog in the central part often covered by a thin aeolian sand layer. A conceptual model of formation and further development of plateau dunes in time are presented in detail, using 14C dates of buried peat layers and OSL dates of sandy sediments. Special focus is on the influence of climate factors, pedology, and human activity on the formation of plateau dunes. Highlights • Conceptual model of plateau dune formation • Pedology as a landforming factor • OSL dating of aeolian deposits • Climate impact on blanket peat formation • Human destruction of pre-existing vegetation cover [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a compilation and analysis of 1099 Holocene relative shore-level (RSL) indicators located around the Baltic Sea including 867 relative sea-level data points and 232 data points from the Ancylus Lake and the following transitional phase. The spatial distribution covers the Baltic Sea and near-coastal areas fairly well, but some gaps remain mainly in Sweden. RSL data follow the standardized HOLSEA format and, thus, are ready for spatially comprehensive applications in, e.g., glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) modelling. We apply a SQL database system to store the nationally provided data sets in their individual form and to map the different input into the HOLSEA format as the information content of the individual data sets from the Baltic Sea area differs. About 80% of the RSL data is related to the last marine stage in Baltic Sea history after 8.5 ka BP (thousand years before present). These samples are grouped according to their dominant RSL tendencies into three clusters: regions with negative, positive and complex (transitional) RSL tendencies. Overall, regions with isostatic uplift driven negative tendencies dominate and show regression in the Baltic Sea basin during the last marine stage. Shifts from positive to negative tendencies in RSL data from transitional regions show a mid-Holocene highstand around 7.5–6.5 ka BP which is consistent with the end of the final melting of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Comparisons of RSL data with GIA predictions including global ICE-5G and ICE-6G_C ice histories show good fit with RSL data from the regions with negative tendencies, whereas in the transitional areas in the eastern Baltic, predictions for the mid-Holocene clearly overestimate the RSL and fail to recover the mid-Holocene RSL highstand derived from the proxy reconstructions. These results motivate improvements of ice-sheet and Earth-structure models and show the potential and benefits of the new compilation for future studies. • A first standardized and publicly available Holocene relative sea-level database for the Baltic Sea is presented. • The database holds 1099 revised data points with an estimation of vertical and chronological uncertainties. • Negative RSL tendencies prevail over the positive and complex tendencies in the Baltic Sea Basin. • Mid-Holocene RSL highstand occurred around 7.5–6.5 ka BP being consistent with the end of the final melting of the LIS. • The contribution of ice loading in the eastern Baltic Sea Basin is likely overestimated in the ICE-5G and ICE-6G_C models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]