Applications of EMD to analyses of high-frequency beachface responses to Storm Bebinca in the Qing’an Bay,Guangdong Province,China

On average,five to six storms occur in the Qiongzhou Strait every year,causing significant damage to coastal geomorphology and several property losses.Tropical Storm Bebinca is the most unusual and complex storm event that has occurred in this region over the last 10 years.To detect the high-frequency beachface responses to the storm,a pressure sensor was deployed in the surf zone to record the free sea surface height,and the heights of grid pile points on the beachface were measured manually to determine beach elevation changes during this storm.Empirical Mode Decomposition and related analysis techniques were used to analyze the high-frequency topography and wave data.The results showed that:(1)the beachface response process occurred in three stages.The first stage was the rapid response stage,wherein the spring tide berm began to erode significantly,and the front edge of the beach berm reacted closely.The two beach sections resisted the harmful energy of the main storm.In the second stage,the beach slope increased after a large sediment loss on the beach berm and its front edge.To adapt to the storm energy,the beach at the low tide line began to erode,and the beach slope decreased.In the third stage,after the storm turned,the wave energy was significantly attenuated,and the beach berm eroded to resist the residual wave energy.The beachface began to oscillate and recover.(2)The main wave surface was the superimposed product of a few internal mode functions.Similar results were observed in beachface changes.High-frequency driving factors determine the local characteristics of beach evolution,and low-frequency driving factors determine the beach evolution trend.(3)The response of sediment to the storm was not a single sea-transportation,but a single-or two-way conversion driven by factors such as wave energy,swash flow,and secondary wave breaking.(4)TheΩ-RTR model is not completely applicable to beach states that undergo rapid changes during storms.Therefore,it is necessary to carry out further research on beach state identification during storms.

An available formula of the sandy beach state induced by plunging waves

Laboratory experiments are performed to explore the response rule of a sandy beach profile under plunging wave on a non-uniform sediment-bed slope. The initial beach slope of combination of 1/10 and 1/20 is exposed to regular waves and cnoidal waves respectively. The free surface elevation, process of wave propagation, wave breaking, uprush and backwash and the change of a cross-shore beach profile are measured and recorded. The beach profile under the regular waves action exhibits two parts： a sandbar profile and a beach berm profile, and only one typical profile transformation under the cnoidal waves action is obtained, which is the beach berm profile. In the laboratory experiments, it is found that the beach states under wave action related to the previous factors. In addition, they are related to the characteristic of breaking waves such as the breaking intensity of the plunging wave. A concept about the characteristic angle of the plunging wave has been put forward through the observation and analysis of the phenomenon of the laboratory experiment. A qualitative analysis about the sediment transport carrying by currents generated from the plunging wave and the state of beach profile under the wave action has been done. The quantitative analysis about the relationship between the characteristic angle and Irribarren number has been done. An available formula of equilibrium states for the sandy beach induced by the plunging wave has been established based on the relationship between Irribarren number and the beach profile. By fitting these experimental results and others＇ experimental results to three lines, the three fitting coefficients can be calculated in their formula respectively. The recommended empirical formulas can divide three states of a beach morphology profile obviously, which include a depositive beach, an erosive beach and an intermediate beach.