An evaluation of methods available for quantifying extreme beach erosion

To allow for effective and sustainable coastal management and planning it is important to have the tools available to estimate extreme beach erosion levels. This paper, therefore, presents an evaluation of methods available for quantifying extreme beach erosion. Previous common practice is the use of a single benchmark (1 in N year) event to estimate the corresponding extreme erosion level. The limitations of this approach led to the development of more sophisticated temporal simulation frameworks providing robust statistical quantification of extreme beach erosion. These developments have resulted in a number of follow on studies to progress the methodology in line with a range of coastal morphodynamic modelling approaches. The discussion presented here, begins with basic empirical techniques and progresses up to those conducted using the most up-to-date morphodynamic models. Each methodology is applied to Narrabeen Beach, NSW, Australia, to compare and assess their suitability. The development of these methodologies is a relatively new topic, meaning that there is much scope for further progression. Although the use of state-of-the-art morphodynamic models is shown to give a good representation of erosion volumes, their impracticalities seem to outweigh the benefits. Incorporation of more realistic estimations of the storm and wave climate and the requirement for global evaluation are identified as central to further development. © 2014, Springer International Publishing AG.