There are currently 45 terms in this directory beginning with the letter S.
Salinity
The number of grams of salt per thousand grams of sea water, usually expressed in parts per thousand.
Sand
Sediment particles, often largely composed of quartz, with a diameter of between 0.062mm and 2mm, generally classified as fine, medium, coarse or very coarse. Beach sand may sometimes be composed of organic sediments such as calcareous reef debris or shell fragments.
Scarp, beach
An almost vertical slope along the beach caused by erosion by wave action. It may vary in height from a few cm to a metre or so, depending on wave action and the nature and composition of the beach.
- A steep slope, usually along the foreshore and/or at the vegetation line formed by wave attack.
Scour
The removal of underwater material by waves and currents, especially at the base or toe of a shore structure.
Sea
A large body of salt water, second in rank to an ocean, more or less landlocked and generally part of, or connected with, an ocean or a larger sea. Examples: Mediterranean Sea; South China Sea.
- Waves caused by wind at the place and time of observation.
- State of the ocean surface, in regard to waves.
Seagrass
Members of marine seed plants that grow chiefly on sand or sand-mud bottom. They are most abundant in water less than 9m deep. The common types are: Eel grass (Zostera), Turtle grass (Thallasia), and Mantee grass (Syringodium).
Seagrass Beds
Benthic communities, usually on shallow, sandy or muddy bottoms, dominated by grasslike marine plants.
Seashore
(Law) All ground between the ordinary high-water and low-water mark.
- The shore of the sea or ocean, often used in a general sense (e.g. to visit the seashore).
- An area of sandy stony rock or rocky land bordering and level with the sea.
Seawall
A structure, often concrete or stone, built along a portion of a coast to prevent erosion and other damage by wave action. Often it retains earth against its shoreward face.
Secchi Disk
Visibility disk (white and black, 30cm diameter) used to measure the transparency of water.
Sediment
Loose fragments of rocks, minerals or organic material which are transported from their source for varying distances and deposited by air, wind, ice and water. Other sediments are precipitated from the overlying water or form chemically, in place.
- The fine grained material deposited by water or wind.
Sediment Sink
Point or area at which beach material is irretrievably lost from a coastal cell, such as an estuary, or a deep channel in the seabed.
Sediment Source
Point or area on a coast from which beach material is supplied, such as an eroding cliff, or river mouth.
Sediment Transport
The main agencies by which sedimentary materials are moved are: gravity (gravity transport); running water (rivers and streams); ice (glaciers); wind; the sea (currents and longshore drift). Running water and wind are the most widespread transporting agents. In both cases, three mechanisms operate, although the particle size of the transported material involved is very different, owing to the differences in density and viscosity of air and water. The three processes are: rolling or traction, in which the particle moves along the bed but is too heavy to be lifted from it; saltation; and suspension, in which particles remain permanently above the bed, sustained there by the turbulent flow of the air or water.
Setback
A required open space, specified in shoreline master programmes, measured horizontally upland from a perpendicular to the ordinary high water mark.
Shingle
Loosely and commonly, any beach material coarser than ordinary gravel, especially any having flat or flattish pebbles.
- Strictly and accurately, beach material of smooth, well-rounded pebbles that are not roughly the same size. The spaces betwen pebbles are not filled with finer materials.
Shore
The narrow strip of land in immediate contact with the sea, including the zone between high and low water lines. A shore of unconsolidated material is usually called a beach.
- Also used in a general sense to mean the coastal area (e.g. to live at the shore).
- Also sometimes known as the littoral.
Shoreface
The narrow zone seaward from the low tide shoreline, covered by water, over which the beach sands and gravels actively oscillate with changing wave conditions.s
Shoreline
The intersection of a specified plane of water with the shore or beach (e.g. the high water shoreline would be the intersection of the plane of mean high water with the shore or beach). The line delineating the shoreline on nautical charts and surveys approximates the mean high water line.
Shoreline Management
The development of strategic, long-term and sustainable coastal defence and land-use policy within a sediment cell.
Silt
Sediment particles with a grain size between 0.004mm and 0.062mm, i.e. coarser than clay particles but finer than sand.
Siltation
The input of non-calcareous fine-grained sediments to the nearshore marine environment, or the settling out of fine-grained sediments on the sea floor.
- The settling of fine-grained particles to the sea bottom.
Soil
A layer of weathered, unconsolidated material on top of bedrock; in geologic usage, usually defined as containing organic matter and being capable of supporting plant growth.
Soil Classification (Size)
An arbitrary division of a continuous scale of grain sizes such that each scale unit or grade may serve as a convenient class interval for conducting the analysis or for expressing the results of an analysis.
Spring Tide
A tide that occurs at or near the time of new or full moon (syzygy) and which rises highest and falls lowest from the mean sea level.
Stakeholders
Individuals, groups of individuals and non-governmental and government entities that have either a direct or indirect interest or claim which will, or may, be affected by a particular decision or policy.
Station, control
A point on the ground whose horizontal or vertical location is used as a basis for obtaining locations of other points
Storm Surge
A temporary rise in sea level associated with a storm's low barometric pressure and onshore winds.
Surf
Collective term for breakers.
- The wave activity in the area between the shoreline and the outermost limit of breakers.
- In literature, the term surf usually refers to the breaking waves on shore and on reefs when accompanied by a roaring noise caused by the larger waves breaking.
Surf Zone
The zone of wave action extending from the water line (which varies with tide, surge, set-up, etc.) out to the most seaward point of the zone (breaker zone) at which waves approaching the coastline commence breaking, typically in water depths of between 5 to 10m.
Survey, control
A survey that provides coordinates (horizontal or vertical) of points to which supplementary surveys are adjusted.
Survey, hydrographic
A survey that has as its principle purpose the determination of geometric and dynamic characteristics of bodies of water.
Survey, photogrammetric
A survey in which monuments are placed at points that have been determined photogrammetrically.
Survey, topographic
A survey which has, for its major purpose, the determination of the configuration (relief) of the surface of the land and the location of natural and artificial objects thereon.
Suspended Load
The material moving in suspension in a fluid, kept up by the upward components of the turbulent currents or by colloidal suspension.
Swash
The rush of water up onto the beach face following the breaking of a wave.
- Also referred to as uprush or run up.
Swash Zone
The zone of wave action on the beach, which moves as water levels vary, extending from the limit of run-down to the limit of run-up.