Development of a Sand Spit and Estimation of Rate of Longshore Sand Transport Along Tainan Coast

Abstract

Along the coastline north of Tainan in Taiwan southward longshore sand transport prevails because of oblique wave incidence from the north, and a barrier island system has developed along the coastline. In this area, the angle of incident waves to the direction normal to the shoreline is large; thus, the formation of a barrier island and a sand spit can be observed. These beach changes due to prevailing southward longshore sand transport were investigated using satellite images and topographic survey data, and the rate of southward longshore sand transport in the long-term between 1983 and 2017 was estimated to be 6.7×10 5 m 3 /yr from the comparison of shoreline changes.