Abstract
The shoreline of northern Colombia is located in the tropical zone along the south coast of Caribbean Sea. Its coastal processes are strongly influenced by the northeast trade wind, which results in the dominating northeasterly approaching wave occurring over 95% of the time. This drives a persistent southwestward longshore sand transport. The state of the beach along the generally northeast-southwest trending northern Colombia coast is strongly influenced by this constant unidirectional longshore sediment transport. At locations where this westward longshore sand transport is interrupted, naturally or anthropogenically, beach accretion occurs along the updrift shoreline coupled with erosion at the downdrift side. Natural interruption of longshore transport can be caused by tidal inlets, protruding headland, shoreline orientation change, and nearshore bathymetry variations. Anthropogenic interruption of the longshore transport along the northern Colombia coast is mainly caused by the construction of groins, as well as harbors at some locations. Numerous groins were constructed due to their local success in creating beach accretion at the drift side. However, severe beach erosion occurs along the downdrift shoreline. Shoreline protection along the northern Colombia coast, and coasts in the tropical area in general, should carefully consider the persistent unidirectional longshore sand transport and should not be misguided by the local updrift accumulation as being a successful project.
Highlights
Coasts along tropical oceans, especially the sandy beaches, are arguably one of the most beautiful earth environments with crystal warm water and colorful diverse marine life
The northeast-southwest trending northern Colombia coast is located in the tropical zone
The state of the beach is strongly influenced by this constant unidirectional longshore sediment transport
Summary
Especially the sandy beaches, are arguably one of the most beautiful earth environments with crystal warm water and colorful diverse marine life. Being popular tourist destinations as well as desirable living areas, tropical coasts can be very valuable economically. Along the Caribbean Sea and tropical Atlantic Ocean, tourism along the coast, at sandy beaches, constitutes the major economical income for many countries and communities. Tropical coasts are very vulnerable to numerous natural and anthropogenic stressors. Managing this delicate environment is a challenging task. Both land and ocean, are dominated by the trade winds, aka, the easterlies. The trade winds blow predominantly from the northeast in the Northern
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