Storm-driven beach-ridge-building at Sandbukt, northern Norway: indicators of climate change

This paper describes and discusses the present sand-transfer during various wind-generated wave conditions, and the wind-climatic significance of raised late Holocene fields of sandy beach ridges and swales at Sandbukt in northern Norway. From 1993 to 1997, three events of beach-ridge-building due to overtopping storm-wave breakers were recorded, whereas a prominent mid-beach pro-gradation occurred in 1998 due to a lower intensity of northerly wind leading to reduced beach erosion. This distinct change of sand-transfer appeared to be delayed by about 2 years in relation to the extreme low index of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) during the winter 1995–96. Fields of raised beach ridges and swales at Sandbukt indicate alternating periods of northerly stormy and fair-weather conditions. Beach-ridge-building seems to have been particularly active during the 'Little Ice Age'.