CURRENT, LONGSHORE. The littoral current In the breaker zone moving 

 essentially parallel to the shore, usually generated by waves breaking at 

 an angle to the shoreline. 



CURRENT, NEARSHORE. A current in the NEARSHORE ZONE. (See Figure A-1.) 



CURRENT, OFFSHORE. See OFFSHORE CURRENT. 



CURRENT, PERIODIC. See CURRENT, TIDAL. 



CURRENT, PERMANENT. See PERMANENT CURRENT. 



CURRENT, RIP. See RIP CURRENT. 



CURRENT, STREAM. A narrow, deep, and swift ocean current, as the Gulf 

 Stream. CURRENT, DRIFT. 



CURRENT SYSTEM, NEARSHORE. See NEARSHORE CURRENT SYSTEM. 



CURRENT, TIDAL. The alternating horizontal movement of water associated with 

 the rise and fall of the tide caused by the astronomical tide-producing 

 forces. Also CURRENT, PERIODIC. See also CURRENT, FLOOD and CURRENT, 

 EBB. 



CUSP. One of a series of low mounds of beach material separated by crescent- 

 shaped troughs spaced at more or less regular intervals along the beach 

 face. Also BEACH CUSP. (See Figure A-7.) 



CUSPATE BAR. A crescent-shaped bar uniting with the shore at each end. It 

 may be formed by a single spit growing from shore and then turning back to 

 again meet the shore, or by two spits growing from the shore and uniting 

 to form a bar of sharply cuspate form. (See Figure A-9.) 



CUSPATE SPIT. The spit that forms in the lee of a shoal or offshore feature 

 (breakwater, island, rock outcrop) by waves that are refracted and/or 

 diffracted around the offshore feature. It may be eventually grown into a 

 TOMBOLO linking the feature to the mainland. See TOMBOLO. 



CYCLOIDAL WAVE. A steep, symmetrical wave whose crest forms an angle of 120 

 degrees and whose form is that of a cycloid. A trochoidal wave of maximum 

 steepness. See also TROCHOIDAL WAVE. 



DATUM, CHART. See CHART DATUM. 



A-9 



