Connecting aeolian sediment transport with foredune development

Abstract

Foredune volume is an important factor for coastal safety and depends on the balance between erosion through wave attack and sediment input via aeolian transport. Dune erosion can be simulated with good accuracy, but predictions of aeolian sediment transport into the foredunes are still difficult to make. As part of a larger project that aims to model foredune development over decades, the goal of this study is to improve the understanding of the temporal variability in sediment transport at the beach. Measurements of aeolian sediment transport at the beach of barrier island Ameland show that within events, wind velocity and rain are dominant controls. After aggregating wind and precipitation into a single meteorological index, it was found that these controls alone are not sufficient to explain the year-to-year variability in foredune growth rates. In contrast to the volume changes, the variability in the amount of elevation change of the foredune slope can be related to the wind climate and precipitation.