South Padre Island Beach Monitoring Project. Report for the South Padre Island Economic Development Corporation.

This report was prepared for the South Padre Island Economic Development Corporation, South Padre, Texas, under the direction of Ms. Linda Whitby. As part of the beach nourishment program initiated at South Padre Island in 1997, periodic beach profile surveying has been performed along the Town's Gulf Beach. This reprt presents an analysis of the survey data in support of the ongoing monitoring, planning, and design of the nourishment projects function. Key findings of this monitoring effort include the following: 1. In genera both the southern and northern beach widened slightly during the monitoring period, wich is a deviation from average longer-term trend of widening along the southern beach a nd narrowing along the northern beach. 2. Each nourishment material should continue to be placed as far north as possible. Placement of the material south of Esperanza Street, as was done in the 1999 project, appears to have some benefits, but should probably only be considered when funding is not available for placement along the narrow northern beaches. 3. The accuracy and level of detail of this analysis is limited by the lack of survey data for the offshore portion of the beach. Future monitoring, design, and ultimately project performance can likely be improved by surveying the beach beyond wading depth.