b. If the particles do pass around the headland, determination of 

 path or paths . 



c. A quantitative or semiquantitative determination of onshore- 

 offshore transport and of possible "deep water" alongshore transport and 

 the relative importance of each. 



d. Determination of seasonal changes in rate, direction, and dis- 

 tance of littoral transport in the study area. 



e. Investigation of the average velocity of transport along a long 

 straight beach and in the vicinity of a headland. 



f. Investigation of the quantification of rate of littoral transport. 



g. Investigation of the fundamental mechanics of sediment transport. 



From this summary it may be seen that all but two of the major ob- 

 jectives stated by the sponsoring agencies can and should be satisfied by 

 the series of experiments which have been and will be conducted by this 

 program. The exceptions which do not appear clear at present concern the 

 quantification of rate of littoral drift and the determination of seasonal 

 changes . Tools and technology evolved during this program should permit 

 the collection of the type of data necessary to meet the interests of all 

 participants . 



3. Previous Research 



Research in littoral processes has been done in the prototype and the 

 laboratory. The standard research technique is to hold all parameters 

 constant but one, to vary that one, and to measure the response. It has 

 been found, however, that the laboratory technique is not fully applicable 

 to the prototype. The complex interplay among force and response elements, 

 and the continuous feedback so generated is of extreme significance to the 

 investigation of sediment transport phenomena. For this reason it is most 

 important to transfer this research from the laboratory to the sea. 



A major problem associated with studying sediment transport in the 

 prototype has been the inability to fasten a satisfactory label on the 

 sedimentary particles. During the past decade two identification methods - 

 radioisotopic tracers and fluorescent tracers - have become available and 

 have proved most useful. Unfortunately, the use of fluorescent tracers 

 requires that physical samples of the bottom materials be secured and 

 minutely examined in order to detect the presence of labeled particles. 

 Also, fluorescent tracers can undergo chemical and physical degradation 

 and therefore become lost from view. Adequately sampling extensive oceanic 

 areas would be expensive in itself; the large number of samples resulting 

 from each survey would prove unwieldly and expensive to analyze. This 

 requirement for fluorescent tracer studies led to a very important advan- 

 tage for radioactive tracers. Because detecting systems are capable of 



