blowing. The longshore current observations included the measurement of 

 current speed between the breaker zone and the shoreline, using fluores- 

 cein or rhodamine-B dye; the distance from shore to the point of measure- 

 ment; and the determination of the direction of the flowing current. 

 Water temperature and rip current spacing were also recorded. 



Breaker direction was determined by one of three different visual 

 estimation techniques during the study--the compass sector, coastal sec- 

 tor, and protractor methods. Between January and September 1969 the 

 direction of breaker approach was classified by one of five possible 

 compass sectors, assuming a north-south shoreline orientation at each 

 site (Fig. 14, a). Between September 1969 and August 1972 the coastal 

 sector method was adopted in an attempt to differentiate the majority 

 of breaker direction observations which had been previously classified 

 as approaching from the east sector (Fig. 14, b). In September 19 72, the 

 protractor method was adopted which allowed the recording of breaker 

 direction to the nearest degree (Fig. 14, c). 



Breaker height was visually estimated to the nearest foot between 

 January 1969 and August 1972. After August 1972, a change in format 

 allowed breaker height to be recorded to the nearest 0.1 foot (0.03 

 meter) . 



Observations of beach surface features included the measurement of 

 the berm-crest elevation above or below a fixed reference point, the 

 distance between the berm crest and a known reference point, the slope 

 of the foreshore, and the spacing of beach cusps, if present. The fore- 

 shore slope was measured by using either an Abney level (Fig. 15) or a 

 marine sextant as an inclinometer. 



All of the data were recorded in a standard surveyor's field note- 

 book and later transferred to a standardized data reporting form. The 

 same principal observer collected all of the data at each of the three 

 sites between January 1969 and July 1972. A new principal observer took 

 over the data collection in August 1972 and continued through June 1973. 



As part of another CERC study, a wave gage was maintained at the end 

 of the Lake Worth Municipal Fishing Pier, 16.5 miles (26.5 kilometers) 

 to the north of the Boca Raton site. The gage was operational during the 

 following intervals of the present study: January to October 1969, March 

 to May 1971, and January to February 1973. Storms, especially electrical 

 storms, were the general cause of gage failure. A step-resistance gage 

 was used through 1971, when it was replaced with a Baylor gage. 



A cooperative surf observation program (COSOP) between CERC and the 

 U.S. Coast Guard Light Station at Hillsboro Inlet, located approximately 

 8 miles (12.8 kilometers) south (jf the Boca Raton site, has been in exist- 

 ence since 1955. Data collected during the first 10 years (17,940 obser- 

 vations) were summarized in Galvin and Seelig (1969). 



28 



