Ocean and Polar Research ISSN:2234-7313(Online) Ocean and Polar Research

Udo Rhodolith Beach is a small-scale, mixed sand-and-gravel beach embayed on the N–S trending rocky coast of Udo, Jeju Island, South Korea. This study analyzes the short-term topographic changes of the beach during the extreme storm conditions of four typhoons from 2016 to 2020: Chaba (2016), Soulik (2018), Lingling (2019), and Maysak (2020). The analysis uses the topographic data of terrestrial LiDAR scanning and drone photogrammetry, aided by weather and oceanographic datasets of wind, wave, current and tide. The analysis suggests two contrasting features of alongshore topographic change depending on the typhoon pathway, although the intensity and duration of the storm conditions differed in each case. During the Soulik and Lingling events, which moved northward following the western sea of the Jeju Island, the northern part of the beach accreted while the southern part eroded. In contrast, the Chaba and Maysak events passed over the eastern sea of Jeju Island. The central part of the beach was then significantly eroded while sediments accumulated mainly at the northern and southern ends of the beach. Based on the wave and current measurements in the nearshore zone and computer simulations of the wave field, it was inferred that the observed topographic change of the beach after the storm events is related to the directions of the wind-driven current and wave propagation in the nearshore zone. The dominant direction of water movement was southeastward and northeastward when the typhoon pathway lay to the east or west of Jeju Island, respectively. As these enhanced waves and currents approached obliquely to the N-S trending coastline, the beach sediments were reworked and transported southward or northward mainly by longshore currents, which likely acts as a major control mechanism regarding alongshore topographic change with respect to Udo Rhodolith Beach. In contrast to the topographic change, the subaerial volume of the beach overall increased after all storms except for Maysak. The volume increase was attributed to the enhanced transport of onshore sediment under the combined effect of storm-induced long periodic waves and a strong residual component of the near-bottom current. In the Maysak event, the raised sea level during the spring tide probably enhanced the backshore erosion by storm waves, eventually causing sediment loss to the inland area.