Storm-surge inundation along a multibarred beach

Abstract

Coastal inundation during storms is produced by the addition of the storm surge and the wave run-up, which depends on setup and swash, to the astronomical tide level. Here, we use video monitoring techniques to estimate the inundation at the beach of Noordwijk (The Netherlands) during the seven strongest storms in the period between 1998 and 2005. Inundation values ranged from 22 to 112 m, with considerable alongshore variation before the peak of each storm. In addition, we demonstrate that mean inundation values along the beach are well estimated using a simple parameter that includes the intertidal and the supratidal beach slope, deep-water wave height and wavelength and the surge level.