ABSTRACT
These sentiments of Newton must find sympathy with many coastal geomorphologists. The coastal geomorphologist often knows exactly what, under ideal circumstances, he or she would like to measure but often lacks the means, due to either technical or financial constraints, to achieve his or her goals. The coastal zone is one of the most rewarding areas of geomorphological research since the relatively high energy input, in terms of waves and tidal currents, promotes responses between process and form over relatively short periods of time. The most important processes in the surf zone are related to the oscillatory movements and induced currents associated with shoaling and breaking waves. For many years the energy and stresses associated with such waves have been derived from formulae relating parameters of waveform, particularly wave height and wave period, to energy density for either individual waves or wavetrains. Lanfredi and Framinnan describe programs suitable for a hand-held calculator that relate wave characteristics to coastal morphology.
