Exceptional Storms. Waves of the most destructive storm to influence 

 the strand at Virginia Beach within historic times were generated by the 

 Ash Wednesday extratropical disturbance of 7-8 March 1962. The magnitude 

 of profile modification at 61st Street is indicated in Figure 2, where it 

 can be seen that about 50 percent of the dune was eroded. 



Daily Changes (Summer Months) . The daily changes in nearshore profiles 

 along three transect lines are recorded in Figures 4, 5, and 6. It should 

 be mentioned that the inshore segments of the profiles along the fishing 

 piers at 15th and 3rd Streets (Figures 4, 5) leave something to be desired. 

 Some buildup of sand around the large number of pilings supporting the 

 houses on the landward ends of the piers, and the necessity of making an 

 offset in the profile line at the landward end of the 15th Street pier, 

 make the profiles there of possible limited application, when compared to 

 profiles of unmodified beaches. Also, the 3rd Street pier is in close 

 proximity to Rudee Inlet, where special and restricted conditions occur. 

 Pumping of sand and silt occurred also in the vicinity of both piers for 

 a few evening hours on a few days in June and July. The effect of this 

 last is believed to be negligible, however, as measurements indicated that 

 the bulk of the material was silt size. 



Maximum daily changes in cut-and-fill of the foreshore face at the 

 Camp Pendleton transect (Figure 6, stations 0307-0311) were of the order 

 of a few tenths of a foot. Maximum change in the nearshore bottom occurred 

 at stations 318 and 319, about 225 feet from the MLW -shoreline, and amounted 

 to 2.5 feet. This was qualitatively related to an increase in wave heights 

 and the strongest (onshore) winds of the period. A rhythmic series of 

 undulations is evident from the profiles of Figure 6, perhaps in part 

 related to the bar and trough rhythms described below. Of interest is an 

 apparent "nodal" point at station 0316. 



Seasonal Changes. The profiles of Figure 6 might be interpreted as 

 showing the expectable divergence of winter and summer profiles, the eroded 

 winter foreshore face undergoing buildup during summer, and the winter 

 storm bar and trough becoming more subdued toward summer. The fact is, 

 however, that the magnitudes of the vertical trough-bottom to bar-crest 

 distance of the winter and summer profiles can be about equal (Figure 6), 

 depending upon when measurements are taken. Figures 4 and 5 do not show 

 convincing differences between winter and summer profiles. 



Longshore Bars and Troughs 



Figures 7-13 show something of the alternating simple to complex bar- 

 trough morphology to be expected at Virginia Beach. These possible varia- 

 tions must be kept in mind when attempting to interpret profile data such 

 as those of Figures 4, 5, and 6. Ratios such as those of longshore bar 

 depth to bar base (Beach Erosion Board, Technical Memorandum No. 15), for 



