Coupling mechanisms in double sandbar systems. Part 1: Patterns and physical explanation

Crescentic sandbars and rip channels along wave-dominated sandy beaches are relevant to understand localized beach and dune erosion during storms. In recent years, a paradigm shift from hydrodynamic template models to self-organization mechanisms occurred to explain the formation of these rhythmic features. In double sandbar systems, both the inner- and outer-bar rip channels and crescentic planshapes are now believed to be free instabilities of the nearshore system arising through self-organization mechanisms alone. However, the occasional occurrence of one or two inner-bar rip channels within one outer-bar crescent suggests a forced, morphologically coupled origin. Here we use a nonlinear morphodynamic model to show that along-shore variability in outer-bar depth, and the relative importance of wave breaking versus wave focussing by refraction across the outer bar, is crucial to the inner-bar rip channel development. The coupling patterns simulated by our model are similar to those observed in the field. Morphological coupling requires a template in the morphology (outer-bar geometry) which, through the positive feedback between flow, sediment transport and the evolving morphology (that is, self-organization) enforces the development of coupling patterns. We therefore introduce a novel mechanism that blurs the distinction between self-organization and template mechanisms. This mechanism may also be extended to explain the dynamics of other nearshore patterns, such as beach cusps. The impact of this novel mechanism on the alongshore variability of inner-bar rip channels is investigated in the companion paper. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.