GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Accretion:  Slow addition to land by water-borne sediment

Amplitude:  Wave height

Artificial Reef:  Material of any sort manually placed on the ocean floor to create an ecological habitat

Bar:  An offshore ridge or mound of sand, gravel, or other unconsolidated material, which is submerged, at least at high tide

Bathymetry:  The measurement of depths of water in oceans, seas and lakes. Also the information derived from such measurements

Beach Face:  The section of the beach normally exposed to the action of wave uprush

Beach Nourishment:  The process of replenishing a beach by artificial means

Beach Erosion:  Loss of sandy beach area

Beach Profile:  A cross-section taken perpendicular to a given beach contour; the profile may include the face of a dune or seawall

Berm:  On a beach: a nearly horizontal plateau on the beach face or backshore, formed by the deposition of beach material

Breaker:  A wave that has become so steep that the crest of the wave topples forward, moving faster than the main body of the wave

Breaker Depth:  The still water depth at the point where the wave breaks

Breakwater:  A structure protecting a harbor, anchorage, or basin from waves

Bypassing:  Hydraulic or mechanical movement of sand from the accreting updrift side to the eroding downdrift side of an inlet or harbor entrance

Coast:  A strip of land of indefinite length and width that extends from the seashore inland to the first major change in terrain features

Coastal Management:  The development of a strategic, long-term and sustainable land use policy, sometimes called shoreline management

Coastal Processes:  Collective term covering the action of natural forces on the shoreline and the nearshore seabed

Coastline:  Technically, the line that forms the boundary between the coast and the shore

Cobble:  Rounded rocks ranging in diameter from approximately 64 to 256 mm

Cross-Shore:  Perpendicular to the shoreline

Current:  That portion of a stream of water which is moving with velocity much greater than the average or in which the progress of water is principally concentrated

Deep Water:  Deep-water conditions are said to exist when the surf waves are not affected by conditions on the bottom

Depth:  Vertical distance from still-water level to the bottom

Detached Breakwater:  A breakwater without any coastal connection to the shore

Erosion:  Wearing away of the land by natural forces (e.g. wave action, tidal currents or wind)

Escarpment:  A more or less continuous line of cliffs or steep slopes facing in one general direction which are caused by erosion or faulting

Estuary:   (1) The part of a river that is affected by tides. (2) The region near a river mouth in which the fresh water of the river mixes with the salt water of the sea

Feeder Beach:  An artificially widened beach serving to nourish downdrift beaches

Fetch:  The length of unobstructed open sea surface across which the wind can generate waves

Geotube:   A long fabric cylinder filled with sediment used as a wall to retain sediment behind

Groin:  A shore protection structure.  It is narrow in width (measured parallel to the shore) and its length may vary from tens to hundreds of meters (extending from a point landward of the shoreline out into the water). Groins may be classified as permeable (with openings thorough them) or impermeable ( a solid or nearly solid structure through which sand cannot pass)

Hard Defenses:  A general term applied to impermeable coastal defense structures of concrete, timber, steel, and masonry, which reflect a high proportion of incident wave energy

Headland:  A land mass having a considerable elevation

Higher High Water (HHW):  The higher of two high waters if any tidal day

Incident Wave:  A wave moving landward

Inter-tidal:  The zone between the high and low water marks

Jetty:  On open seacoasts, a structure extending into a body of water to direct and confine the stream or tidal flow to a selected channel or to prevent shoaling

Kelp Bed:  An area, typically near shore, where substantial concentrations of kelp occur

Littoral Current:  A current running parallel to the beach and generally caused by waves striking the shore at an angle

Littoral Drift:  The sedimentary material moved in the littoral zone under the influence of waves and currents

Littoral Transport:  The movement of littoral drift in the littoral zone by waves and currents

Littoral Zone:  An indefinite zone extending seaward from the shoreline to just beyond the breaker zone

Longshore Current:  A current located in a surf zone, moving generally parallel to the shoreline, generated by waves breaking at an angle with the shoreline, also called alongshore current

Longshore Drift:  Movement of sediments approximately parallel to the shore

Nearshore:  In beach terminology, an indefinite zone extending seaward from the shoreline well beyond the breaker zone

Nourishment:  The process of replenishing a beach. It may be brought about naturally, by longshore transport, or artificially by the deposition of dredged materials

Park Erosion:  Loss of developed parkland and infrastructure

Recession:  A continuing landward movement of the shoreline

Reef:  A ridge of rock of other material lying just below the surface of the sea

Revetment:  A facing of stone to protect an embankment, or shore structure against erosion by wave action or currents.

Run-up:  The rush of water up a structure or beach on the breaking of a wave

Sandspit:  A small sandy point of land or a narrow shoal projecting into a body of water from the shore

Scour Protection:  Protection against erosion of the seabed in front of the toe

Seawall:  A structure built along a portion of a coast primarily to prevent erosion and other damage by wave action. Generally more massive and capable of resisting greater wave forces than a bulkhead

Sediment Source:  A point or area on a coast from which beach material arises, such as an eroding cliff or river mouth

Sediment Transport:  The main agencies by which sedimentary materials are moved are: gravity; running water (rivers and streams); ice (glaciers); wind and the sea (currents and longshore drift)

Shoal:  1. noun – A detached area of any material except rock or coral  2. verb – To become shallow gradually

Shoreline Management:  The development of strategic, long-term and sustainable coastal defense and land-use policy within a sediment cell

Slough:  A minor sluggish waterway or estuarial creek, tributary to, or connecting, other streams or bodies of water, whose course is usually through lowlands or swamps

Soft Structure:  Coastal structure composed of geotextile material rather than steel, rock, or concrete

Surf:  The wave activity in the area between the shoreline and the outermost limits of breakers

Surf Zone:  The zone of wave action extending from the water line (which varies with tide, surge, set-up, etc.) out to the most seaward point of the zone (breaker zone) at which waves approaching the coastline commence breaking, typically in water depths between 5 and 10 meters

Tidal Current:  The alternating horizontal movement of water associated with the rise and fall of the tide caused by astronomical tide-producing forces

Tombolo:  A bar or spit that connects or "ties" an island to the mainland or to another island

Wetland:  An area of water supporting a wildlife habitat, sometimes tidally influenced