Beach Profile Changes Near the Confluence of Estuary and Ocean

Beaches undergo gradual changes continuously. The changes over an open beach differ from that over a beach adjoining natural or manmade obstructions. The beach profile changes are of importance in the understanding the coastal processes. This chapter presents the beach profile changes in an open coast and near an estuary quantified through field investigations over a couple of years. The changes in the beach profiles are compared temporally and spatially. The data has been collected on the first spring tide of every month using Real Time Kinematic Global Positioning System (RTK-GPS) from January 2017 to December 2018. The accuracy of data collected using RTK-GPS is 8-15 mm. The study areas considered an open coast in Devaneri, Tamil Nadu, and near an estuary with its mouth being trained by a pair of training walls in Karaikal, Puducherry. Both sites are situated along the southeast coast of Indian peninsula and 300 km apart. The open coast has remained constant with minor changes in the variations in its profile, whereas the one near an estuary undergo major changes seasonally and spatially. It is observed that the presence of coastal structures dictate the erosion/accretion process. Irrespective of the type of coast, northeast monsoon brings forth significant changes along the coast.