Constructive waves:
- They are long in relation to their height
- They break gently on the beach so that the swash carrying materials up the beach is stronger than the backwash carrying them away.
- They break gently with between only six to nine waves per minute
Method:
First of all we chose a time at which we would start recording the results for the wave count; this was nearer to the end of the data collection trip. Two members of our group then counted the waves every minute for ten minutes so we could see if there was constructive wave or destructive wave. If the beach was being built upon then there would have been less than ten waves per minute.
Results:
Average: 92waves/10mins = 9.2 waves per minute
Results 2:
Average: 89 waves/10mins = 8.9 waves per minute
Limitations:
There were quite a few limitations when we collected this data; firstly was the fact that we only recorded for ten minutes which is not really enough time for a sufficient data collection. Another limitation was that the weather which was generally sunny and an occasional breeze; this would have a bearing on the waves because the fetch, which is the distance wind can blow over, is limited.
Analysis:
From the results we can see that deal beach on average has a constructive wave which has a gentle swash so the beach is therefore being built upon however on a few occasions there were ten waves a minute which is in between constructive and destructive waves. If we were to record for a longer period of time such as thirty minutes, we have got a more reliable set of results.
Conclusion:
I can conclude that Deal beach was being built upon at the time of our visit but as this may be unreliable data, I may be wrong. To aid me in this, I did a return visit wit a different group of friends so I would achieve a better set of results. (The results can be seen above) I found that, again, Deal beach was being built upon however the weather conditions were similar to the visit I did before hand so it is not surprising. I can conclude however that Deal beach also had destructive waves when the weather was more severe e.g. windy, rainy. This source of information came from an Internet site and many books which can be found in the bibliography section.
