Seasonal persistence of a small southern California beach fill

Torrey Pines State Beach, a site with large seasonal fluctuations in sand level, received a small shoreface beach fill (about 160,000 m3) in April 2001. The 600 m-long, flat-topped nourishment pad extended from a highway riprap revetment seaward about 60 m, terminating in a 2 m-tall vertical scarp. A 2.7 km alongshore span, centered on the nourishment region, was monitored prior to the nourishment and biweekly to monthly for the following 2 years. For the first 7 months after the nourishment, through fall 2001, significant wave heights were small, and the elevated beach fill remained in place, with little change near and above Mean Sea Level (MSL). In contrast, the shoreline accreted on nearby control beaches following a seasonal pattern common in southern California, reducing the elevation difference between the nourished and adjacent beaches. During the first winter storm (3 m significant wave height), the shoreline retreated rapidly over the entire 2.7 km survey reach, forming an alongshore-oriented sandbar in 3 to 4 m water depth [Seymour, R.J., Guza, R.T., O'Reilly, W., Elgar, S., 2004. Rapid erosion of a Southern California beach fill. Coastal Engineering 52 (2), 151–158.]. We show that the winter sandbar, most pronounced offshore of the nourishment, moved back onto the beach face during summer 2002 (following the usual seasonal pattern) and formed a wider beach above MSL at the site of the original nourishment than on the control beaches. Thus, the April 2001 shoreline nourishment was detectable until late fall 2002, persisting locally over a full seasonal cycle. In an extended 7-year time series, total sand volumes (summed between the back beach and 8 m water depth, over the entire 2.7 km reach) exhibit multi-year fluctuations of unknown origin that are twice as large as the nourishment volume.