Shoreline relaxation at pocket beaches

A new physical concept of relaxation time is introduced in this research as the time required for the beach to dissipate its initial perturbation. This concept is investigated using a simple beach-evolution model of shoreline rotation at pocket beaches, based on the assumption that the instantaneous change of the shoreline plan-view shape depends on the long-term equilibrium plan-view shape. The expression of relaxation time is developed function of the energy conditions and the physical characteristics of the beach; it increases at longer beaches having coarse sediments and experiencing low-energy conditions. The relaxation time, calculated by the developed model, is validated by the shoreline observations extracted from video images at two artificially embayed beaches of Barcelona (NW Mediterranean) suffering from perturbations of sand movement and a nourishment project. This finding is promising to estimate the shoreline response and useful to improve our understanding of the dynamic of pocket beaches and their stability.