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Glossary

Glossary of Terms

Beach

An accumulation of loose sediment (usually sand or gravel) along the coast.

Salinity Gradient

Change in salinity which can be expressed in parts per thousand per foot.

Coastal Zone Management

The integrated and general development of the coastal zone. Coastal Zone Management is not restricted to coastal defense works, but includes also coastal development in economical, ecological and social terms.

Upstream

A long coasts with obliquely approaching waves there is a longshore (wave-driven) current. For this current one can define an upstream and a downstream direction.

El Niño

Warm equatorial water which flows southward along the coast of Peru and Ecuador during February and March of certain years. It is caused by poleward motions of air and unusual water temperature patterns in the Pacific Ocean , which cause coastal downwelling, leading to the reversal in the normal north-flowing cold coastal currents. During many El Niño years, storms, rainfall, and other meteorological phenomena in the Western Hemisphere are measurably different than during non- El Niño years.

A warm current that usually appears around Christmas off the coast of Ecuador and Peru . It is often used to refer to episodic (3-5 year) events when the current is particularly intense and dominates the local population of organisms (the abundance of fish in particular). Such events lead to wider regional or global ocean-atmospheric perturbations whose manifestations range from increased sea surface temperatures in the tropical East Pacific to aberrant rainfall patterns. (see also ENSO ).

Permeable Groyne

A groyne with openings or voids large enough to permit passage of appreciable quantities of littoral drift through the structure.

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