Introduction

Offshore breakwaters have been used to control shoreline evolution in many parts of the
world, particularly in the US, Japan and the Mediterranean. In the UK this approach to
coastal engineering is relatively new and only a few such schemes exist to-date. Due to
the lack of experience of offshore breakwaters in the UK their role has been largely
limited to provide localised protection to beaches and other coastal structures. Offshore
breakwaters have only recently been considered in the UK because most of the
experience gained in their design and construction is in areas whose tidal range is very
much lower than that found in British coastal waters. The large tidal range and the
severe wave conditions which can occur at most parts of the UK coast also make the
construction of breakwaters costly and have therefore limited the use of these structures.

The coastline of East Anglia, on the East Coast of England, has experienced
considerable erosion throughout history. Events of catastrophic tidal flooding have been
recorded since medieval times and numerous coastal villages have been lost to the sea.
A serious breach occurred at Sea Palling during the storm surge of 1953. Storm surges
play an important role in the evolution of the East Anglian coastline as large-scale
morphological changes can be caused by a single storm event. A predicted increase in
storm frequency and the height of storm surge levels as a result of climate change is
believed to have a profound impact on coastal erosion and serious consequences for the
effectiveness of sea defences in East Anglia in the near future. The problem is
compounded by a predicted eustatic rise in sea level. Current predictions are between
1.5 to 9mm per year. This is in addition to the sea level rise of 1.5mm per year due to
isostatic adjustment since the end of the last ice age. The combined effects of eustatic
and isostatic sea level changes are partially responsible for coastal retreat in the region
and could potentially result in a relative sea level rise of between 15 and 50cm in the
next 50 years.

Aerial oblique view of the Happisburgh to Winterton Sea Defences

The East Anglian coastline has stretches of poorly-consolidated Holocene cliffs which
erode and provide the sand supply for the beaches and dunes that protect areas of
nearby low-lying land. About 70 percent of the cliffs were defended in 1983, resulting
in a reduction of the sediment supply to 70-75 percent of its natural level. In 1989 a
theory was put forward which linked the low beach levels at Sea Palling to the defence
of the North Norfolk cliffs. This reduction in sediment supply through the combined
effects of sea-level rise and cliff stabilisation work has led in 1991 to concern about the
integrity of the sea defences at Sea Palling.

The frontage between Happisburgh and Winterton faces toward the north-east. As a
result, the coastline is exposed to a wide range of wave directions. The area is
particularly vulnerable to storm surges which approach the coastline from the north due
to the long fetch in this direction. Beaches are extremely volatile and levels at the sea
wall can vary by up to 2m during a single storm event. In the last few decades erosion
has lowered the beach level to such an extent that the stability of the sea wall was
endangered, leaving the land vulnerable to attack and inundation by storm waves. Prior
to the construction of the breakwaters, the only protection to local villages and low-
lying land, including the Norfolk Broads was a single line of sand dunes, fronted by a
sea wall. The Norfolk Broads area is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and is
therefore an internationally recognised nature reserve for whose protection the
government is under statutory obligation.

The beach at Sea Palling prior to construction of the breakwaters

The Happisburgh to Winterton Sea Defence Scheme

In 1990 the National Rivers Authority, now the Environment Agency, implemented a
50-year sea defence strategy for 14km of coastline in the area of greatest potential risk
between the villages of Happisburgh and Winterton. The strategy was intended to
protect several villages and 6000 hectares of low-lying land from tidal inundation and
included the construction of a series of shore-parallel breakwaters. These so-called
'reefs' in conjunction with sediment recharge were expected to maintain sufficient
foreshore levels to ensure the stability of the sea wall. The primary function of the reefs
is the protection of the coastline during extreme storm conditions by reducing the
amount of wave energy reaching the shore. The geometrical parameters, such as
breakwater length, gap length and distance from the sea wall were determined on the
basis of a desk study and literature search on empirical relations and practical
considerations. The reefs were placed on an offshore bar outside the surf zone and the
extent of significant sediment transport so that no wave breaking and transport of
material occurred seaward of the reefs. Due to the exposure of the site and the relatively
large inshore wave heights, the breakwaters were constructed of rocks weighing up to
16 tonnes each.

Beach Response

Changes in the morphology of the littoral zone at Sea Palling in response to the
construction of the breakwaters constructed between 1993 and 1995 were investigated
for the time period from August 1992 to January 1999 using beach level data measured
by the Environment Agency and survey data collected by the author. The analysis of
these data has shown that the construction of the offshore breakwaters resulted in the
deposition of sediment in the sheltered areas behind the reefs This lead to the formation
of bulges in the shoreline, which are termed salients. The obstruction in the cross-shore
direction caused by the structures resulted in the disappearance of the long-shore bar. A
lowering of the beach occurred behind the gaps due to the penetration of relatively high
waves, which would previously have been breaking over the bar. In these areas the
maintenance of a beach with a sufficient level was problematic and was addressed by
the construction of sand-retaining bunts as well as sediment recharge.

Sediment recharge at Sea Palling

Following the beach recharge, extensive accretion continued behind the reefs until, at
low water, the beach was connected with the breakwaters. These features are called
tombolos. The scheme appears to be performing well in retaining sediment on the
beach, but the extent of the tombolos suggests that little or no sand is transported past
the breakwaters. This has caused significant erosion to the beaches down-drift of Sea
Palling. Beach response during the construction and after the beach recharge was rapid,
with most of the change occurring in the first six months. This agrees well with time
scales of beach response given in the literature and observations made at Elmer beach in
West Sussex, where a similar scheme exists. Significant seasonal changes occurred
between April 1997 and January 1999. A continuing increase in the beach volume,
particularly of the salients suggests that equilibrium has not been reached.

Sediment Transport Paths and Rates

Hydrodynamic models provide a useful means for the simulation of the complex
processes occurring in the near-shore environment and are increasingly employed by
coastal engineers and oceanographers to predict the likely impact of proposed coastal
structures on beach morphology and sediment transport. Such a model was used to
predict spatial estimates of wave-induced circulation patterns and likely sediment
transport paths and transport rates.
The modelling work indicated the formation of a rip current in the centre of the bay.
This was of particular interest as this was seen as the most likely mechanism for the loss
of sediment in the gap. The results also indicated that at low water the tombolos
effectively blocked the long-shore transport. At high water, significant long-shore
transport was predicted only for highly oblique waves. This is counter to the
assumptions made by the consulting engineers who expected the breakwaters to render
long-shore sediment transport variations insignificant. The results suggest a shift in the
relative contribution of the transport components from cross-shore transport to long-
shore transport at increasing angles of wave incidence.
The model predicted significant erosion for all directional sectors for a wave height of
2.0m. Under lower energy conditions, minor redistribution of sediment prevailed. Due
to the high percentage of waves approaching the shoreline from the north, the influence
of waves from this direction on beach evolution is considered important, particularly
because the model results indicate, that under these conditions no sediment is
transported to the beaches south-east of the breakwaters. Southward transport of
material was only predicted for waves approaching the shoreline at highly oblique
angles from the south-east. Wave records predicted by the Meteorological Office
indicate that less than 10 percent of waves are incident from this direction. This implies
that a throughput of sediment through the breakwater system is very limited.

Empirical Design Parameters

An evaluation of several empirical relationships for the performance of offshore

breakwaters has revealed significant differences in the accuracy of the predicted beach
response when the methods were applied to Elmer and Sea Palling. The relationships
generally refer to the equilibrium response of the beach and do not include the effects of
a varying tidal level. Other effects, such as transmission of wave energy through the
structure or overtopping during storms as well as the influence of long-shore drift have
also been ignored. In addition, at least some empirical methods have been developed
based on systems located in areas of moderate waves. Although one of the methods
included the effects of wave parameters such as the angle of wave incidence, wave
period and wave height, there were large inconsistencies in the predicted beach
response. It is suspected that the inability of the methods to correctly predict beach
response at Sea Palling is most likely caused by the overriding influence of factors such
as wave transmission, long-shore drift and a large tidal range, over geometrical
relationships in the scheme design.

Conclusions

The results indicate that the system has not yet reached equilibrium and that further
survey work is required over a longer period of time in order to assess the likely long-
term impact of the scheme on the coastline. There is also a strong need to monitor beach
changes during storm events in order to assess the impact of high waves from different
directions and to evaluate the performance of the scheme under extreme conditions. The
assessment of the potential impact of an extreme erosion event, such as a storm surge
would be extremely useful as the effectiveness of the breakwaters under such conditions
has not been tested and the implementation of the scheme was justified by the ability of
the scheme to prevent a severe flood event.
An accurate forecast of all details of shoreline evolution due to offshore breakwaters is
beyond the present art and empirical relationships should only be considered as
indicators of likely beach response. In any new breakwater scheme, the collection of
site-specific data is invaluable for more detailed modelling of breakwater design. Near-
shore processes in response to offshore breakwaters are extremely complex. Despite the
continuing development of numerical models and hydrodynamic instrumentation, many
uncertainties exist in the determination of accurate sediment transport paths and rates.
The Sea Palling reefs are an ideal study location for the investigation of the impact of
offshore breakwaters on the near-shore hydrodynamics and beach morphology. The
construction of shore-parallel breakwaters is a relatively new concept in the UK and the
Happisburgh to Winterton and Elmer schemes are the only major schemes built in this
country so far. Since the start of this study, five more breakwaters have been built to the
south of the existing four breakwaters at Sea Palling and several more structures have
recently been built at Caister in Norfolk. Because most of the experience gained in the
design and construction of offshore breakwaters is in areas with a lower tidal range and
less severe wave conditions than those found in British coastal waters, the investigation
of the potential impact of the structures on the shoreline in this country is extremely
important. The evaluation of the engineering design criteria developed in the US has
highlighted their inadequacies in locations of varying tidal levels and strong long-shore
transport of sediment. A new set of generic design criteria needs to be developed for
breakwater schemes if these structures are to be successfully applied to coastal erosion
problems in the UK.