ABSTRACT 



This paper is a compilation of published longshore current data 

 available from North American sources as of January 1966. The data com- 

 prise 352 separate observations; of these 225 were obtained from four 

 laboratory studies and 127 from four field stucfies. Each observation 

 includes (at least) measured longshore current velocity, in feet per 

 second; wave direction; a- wave height, in feet; wave period, in seconds; 

 and beach slope- Values of breaker height and breaker angle were com- 

 puted for those observations lacking measured values. Longshore current 

 velocity is usually less than 2 feet per second under both field and 

 laboratory conditions. The maximum velocity observation from the field 

 is 5.5 feet per second; from the laboratory 3.8 feet per second. 



FOREWORD 



Coastal engineers are examining longshore currents with increasing 

 interest in the hope of predicting longshore current velocity from 

 measurable characteristics of the waves and, eventually, the littoral 

 transport rates that result from the flow of the currents. This com- 

 pilation brings the available data together in a format that will be 

 convenient to researchers. However, additional data are still needed, 

 especially data accompanied by statistics of their variability and by 

 a description of experimental procedure. Others working on this problem 

 are invited to send copies of their published longshore current observa- 

 tions to CERC. 



.The paper was prepared by Cyril J. Galvin, Jr., Oceanographer, 

 Research Division, U. S. Army Coastal Engineering Research Center, and 

 Richard A. Nelson, graduate student, Department of Civil Engineering, 

 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, assisted by J . D. Waggoner of 

 the National Bureau of Standards. 



At the time of publication, Colonel F. 0. Diercks was Director of 

 CERC, and J. M. Caldwell the Technical Director. 



NOTE: Comments on this publication are invited. Discussion will be 

 published in the next issue of the CERC Bulletin. 



This report is published under authority of Public Law 166, 79th 

 Congress, approved July 31, 1945, as supplemented by Public Law 172, 

 88th Congress, approved November 7, 1963. 



