Daily Sediment Transport and Intertidal Sandy Beach Response Under Calm to Moderate Waves

Abstract An intensive one-week field experiment was conducted on a wave-dominated sandy beach (Barra del Estero, NW Mexico) during summer, with the objective of capturing the natural beach recovery processes associated with typically milder wave conditions. The field campaign covered a 200-m stretch of beach and involved several in-situ measurements, such as daily topographic profiles, offshore wave data, near-bottom velocities, and suspended sediment concentrations at two different locations within the surf zone. Surfzone sediment transport rates were estimated using an extended energetics-based model, and were spatially and daily integrated to derive deposited volumes of sand, that were compared against measured topographic changes within the intertidal zone. The results showed contrasting patterns of sediment transport, with accretion dominating the southern zones and erosion occurring in the northern zone under higher waves. While the model captured overall trends, it underestimated accretion and overestimated erosion, emphasizing the need to include additional physical processes. These findings advance the understanding of short-term beach recovery under low-to-moderate wave conditions.