A multi-decade dataset of monthly beach profile surveys and inshore wave forcing at Narrabeen, Australia

TLDR

Long‑term beach morphology and wave climate datasets are scarce, but Narrabeen’s monthly surveys since 1976 provide one of the few uninterrupted, multi‑decade records of a sandy coastline. The 40‑year milestone motivates making the Narrabeen dataset freely available to advance beach erosion‑recovery modelling. The archive contains monthly subaerial profiles, bathymetry to 20 m, and time‑series of tide and inshore wave forcing at 10 m, with ongoing access to survey results.

Abstract

Abstract Long-term observational datasets that record and quantify variability, changes and trends in beach morphology at sandy coastlines together with the accompanying wave climate are rare. A monthly beach profile survey program commenced in April 1976 at Narrabeen located on Sydney’s Northern Beaches in southeast Australia is one of just a handful of sites worldwide where on-going and uninterrupted beach monitoring now spans multiple decades. With the Narrabeen survey program reaching its 40-year milestone in April 2016, it is timely that free and unrestricted use of these data be facilitated to support the next advances in beach erosion-recovery modelling. The archived dataset detailed here includes the monthly subaerial profiles, available bathymetry for each survey transect extending seawards to 20 m water depth, and time-series of ocean astronomical tide and inshore wave forcing at 10 m water depths, the latter corresponding to the location of individual survey transects. In addition, on-going access to the results of the continuing monthly survey program is described.