A stereoscopic method for rapid monitoring of the spatio- temporal evolution of the sand-bed elevation in the swash zone.

Abstract

A stereoscopic technique is developed in order to measure the sand-bed elevation in the swash zone at thewave time-scale. The present technique allows one to perform highly resolved measurements both in time and in space. An accuracy and a precision of less than 300 μm and 600 μm, respectively, are obtained in each direction. This technique has been used during a large-scale wave flume experiment where an erosive process of a plane beach is studied. The stereoscopic technique allows one to accurately measure the long-term evolution of the beach profile. In addition, spatially dependent variability on shorten time-scales is observed featuring accretion as well as erosion at the wave time-scale.