Rapid Survey of the nearshore using aerial and surface vehicles

The mixed, shingle barrier beach at Pevensey Bay, East Sussex, represents a crucial asset in flood defence and coastal risk management along the East Sussex coastline, protecting the low-lying Pevensey Levels, with designated wetlands as well as thousands of vulnerable properties (many built at the crest) and coastal infrastructure. The 9 km frontage is highly dynamic, and suffers a net loss of sediment due to littoral drift, partly blocked by the Sovereign Harbour breakwaters at the southern side. This is managed through continuous bypassing/ recycling of beach material as well as regular beach nourishment and partial repair of some key groynes from a degraded, relict wooden groyne field following a major, capital recharge scheme in 2002. An accurate understanding of the dynamics of this barrier is crucial to inform future management, especially as the current scheme approaches its end. No adequate techniques have been applied to measure bed load transport in the surf zone of mixed sand-gravel beaches. The aim of this project is to develop and apply a novel method for measuring shoreface processes, with an emphasis on wave propagation/ transformation and sediment transport across the very-shallow nearshore (out to approximately 5 m water depth at low water).