4. Results and discussion
4.1. Beach response
A considerable morphological change in the sea floor has
occurred in a 4-month period of time between July 2008 and
October 2008. As shown in Fig. 5a, a considerable volume of sediments
was deposited on the leeward side of the breakwater, but no
accretion/erosion was observed on the seaward side over that
period. Using bathymetric data, the volumetric sediment deposition
within the protected area was amounted to 0.137 m3/m2 in
October 2008, 4 months after completion of the construction.
Fig. 5b illustrates that from October 2008 to February 2009
a substantial accretion occurred in the vicinity of the breakwater;
an area of about 7220 m2 has been covered by sediments. The
elevation versus cross-shore distance through the profile line P3 is
presented in Fig. 6, illustrating the cross-shore changes for the
entire period, July 2008–February 2009. An average elevation of
þ0.71 m MSL was achieved in the restoration area which is the
minimum target elevation expected to provide the optimum
hydrologic regime. The sedimentation in the shoreward side of the
coastal defence is expected to reach a steady state in 2–3 years in