Directional wave measurement at Haifa, Israel, and sediment transport along the Nile littoral cell

Abstract

Results of three years of directional wave measurement at the Eastern Mediterranean coast of Haifa, Israel are presented. The wave-height and energy-flux distributions reveal a moderately high-energy coast with a bimodal annual cycle. The rate of wave-induced longshore sediment transport is estimated from the directional energy flux distributions. It describes an annual cycle with a maximum northward transport of 75 ± 14 × 10 3 m 3/month in midwinter and a southward transport of 26 ± 5 × 10 3 m 3/month in summer. The net annual transport is northward and computed at 110 ± 100 × 10 3 m 3/yr. We show that a wave-induced transport is sufficient in explaining the apparent transport of sediments in the Nile Littoral Cell, from the Nile Delta source to the Haifa Bay sink.