Estimation of Depth of Closure Near Gangneung Port in Korea

Abstract

Kang, H., Chun, I., and Oh, B., 2018. Estimation of the Depth of Closure Near Gangneung Port in Korea. In: Shim, J.-S.; Chun, I., and Lim, H.S. (eds.), Proceedings from the International Coastal Symposium (ICS) 2018 (Busan, Republic of Korea). Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 85, pp. 1361–1365. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.Various methods to cope with coastal erosion have been tried in the East Coast of Korea, among which the regional sediment management (RSM) is now being perceived as a very efficient way for managing limited sand resources in a macroscopic scale in both time and space. To apply RSM, it is necessary to set up the littoral cell, a control volume concept whose offshore boundary is given by the depth of closure (DOC). In this study, an independent littoral cell near Gangneung Port was set up, and a method to determine its DOC was proposed and applied utilizing the existing data of deep-water wave climate. Within the method, several formulas were tested, and the results showed that that the average DOC of the study area varied from 10 m to 52 m depending on sediment size, wave condition, and the formula used. Finally, the Hallermeier's formula of outer DOC was postulated to give a reasonable DOC of the Gangneung littoral cell.