ABSTRACT
The areas just seaward of low energy beaches often exhibit a series of subtle digital sand bars which point either perpendicular or at a high angle to the shoreline. These sand bars are called tranverse bars. In most areas the bars cause a distinct nearshore current to develop from refracted and oversteepened waves. It has been shown that this current system is competent to transport wave agitated sand so the transverse bars are in a state of dynamic equilibrium with the waves and currents. The pattern of the currents which develop about transverse bars is strongly controlled by their length. Relatively short transverse bars cause a relatively strong shoreward current to develop over the axes of the bars. Longer sand bars cause a more complex pattern of current. The long bars maintain an onshore current over their seaward portions and an offshore current over their landward portions.
