Shoreline resilience to individual storms and storm clusters on a meso-macrotidal barred beach

This study investigates the impact of individual storms and storm clusters on shoreline recovery for the meso-to macrotidal, barred Biscarrosse beach in SW France, using 6 years of daily video observations. While the study area experienced 60 storms during the 6-year study period, only 36 storms were analysed due to gaps in the video data. Based on the 36 individual storms and 13 storm clusters analysed, our results show that clustering impact is cumulatively weak and shoreline retreat is governed by the first storms in clusters, while the impact of subsequent events is less pronounced. The average post-storm beach recovery period at this site is 9 days, consistent with observations at other beaches. Apart from the dominant effect of present storm conditions, shoreline dynamics are also significantly affected by previous storm influence, while recovery is strongly modulated by tidal range and the bar location. Our results reveal that not only is the storm energy important but also the frequency of recurrence (storms result in greater retreat when time intervals between them are longer), which suggests an interaction between short storm events and longer-term evolution.