Beach Nourishment Program

In the summer of 2001, a beach replenishment program was completed to increase sand levels on our beaches and reduce the exposure of the sea cliffs to wave erosion.  Approximately 2.1 million cubic yards of sand was dumped on 12 San Diego beaches.  The sand was mined from offshore and pumped to the beach through a large pipe.  Large quantities of coarse-grained sand (coarser than the native sand) were placed on the beach in areas adjacent to our profiling lines.  The coarse sand makes it harder to remove off of the beach. Figure #3 shows the areas where sand was added to the beach.  Before the sand was placed on the beach, the existing level of sand was measured and recorded. This measurement serves as the baseline or original height of sand for the beach profiling exercise. Primary questions for this lab are: what happened to the large piles of sand, which way did they go, and was the sand replenishment program a success? 

From 2004 to 2005 we have had a moderate El Nino condition with larger surf and higher than normal tides.  Lots of other strange things have happened like large squid (1 meter or so) beaching themselves all over San Diego and 2-3 times the normal rainfall.  Think about how the higher energy El Nino conditions might affect the beach profile data?