Test of self‐organization in beach cusp formation

Abstract

Field observations of swash flow patterns and morphology change are consistent with the hypothesis that beach cusps form by self‐organization, wherein positive feedback between swash flow and developing morphology causes initial development of the pattern and negative feedback owing to circulation of flow within beach cusp bays causes pattern stabilization. The self‐organization hypothesis is tested using measurements from three experiments on a barrier island beach in North Carolina. Beach cusps developed after the beach was smoothed by a storm and after existing beach cusps were smoothed by a bulldozer. Swash front motions were recorded on video during daylight hours, and morphology was measured by surveying at 3–4 hour intervals. Three signatures of self‐organization were observed in all experiments. First, time lags between swash front motions in beach cusp bays and horns increase with increasing relief, representing the effect of morphology on flow. Second, differential erosion between bays and horns initially increases with increasing time lag, representing the effect of flow on morphology change because positive feedback causes growth of beach cusps. Third, after initial growth, differential erosion decreases with increasing time lag, representing the onset of negative feedback that stabilizes beach cusps. A numerical model based on self‐organization, initialized with measured morphology and alongshore‐uniform distributions of initial velocities and positions of the swash front at the beginning of a swash cycle, reproduces the measurements, except for parts of one experiment, where limited surveys and a significant low‐frequency component to swash motions might have caused errors in model initialization.