Littoral Current Monitoring Techniques Along Ibeno Atlantic Coastline, South Eastern Nigeria

Abstract

The coastline is a dynamic and complex environment due to the natural processes and the anthropogenic activities impacting it. The major current that affects the coastline is a surface current known as coastal or littoral current greatly influence by wave and wind action. This current which is popularly known as longshore current plays a very significant role in the morphology of the beach. The impact is dynamic. It can be positive when it result to accretion or sediment deposition and it can be negative resulting in sediment alteration or beach erosion. This current plays an important role in the distribution of sediment along the coastline. The features of longshore are Spit, Barrier Island, Tombolo, Lagoons etc. They are three major Littoral current direction in Nigeria, 1. The west-east littoral current along western coastline, 2. The littoral current off the north western flank of Niger Delta, 3. The west-east littoral current between Akasa point and Calabar Estuary. Littoral current can be monitored using Bouys, ADCP and RADAR. The techniques used are Langrarian and Eularian. Control Measures of Littoral Current Impact: Hard and Soft Engineering. Hard Engineering Includes: Goines, Gabions, sea wall, Revetment, Jetties etc. Soft Engineering includes: Beach Nourishment, Coastal realignment, Beach re-profiling and dune Regeneration. Recommendation 1. It is highly recommended that a permanent monitoring station be established along this coastline for continuous data collection that could be used for obtaining oceanographic models on hydrodynamic parameters along the coastline. With the use of modern equipment. 2. Government should use the information gathering from this research to monitor marine pollution, assess bathing-water quality of public beaches and the health of coastal ecosystem.