Numerical modelling evaluation of hot spots at Ocean City, Maryland

''Hot spots'' are areas of localized erosion along a shoreline. Conversely, ''cold spots'' are areas that experience localized accretion. Hot spots may occur on beach fills for a variety of reasons, including cross-shore adjustment of the beach fill, beach-fill end losses, longshore adjustment of the beach fill, and wave transformation patterns due to irregular features in the nearshore bathymetry. Several areas along the shoreline of Ocean City, Maryland, have been documented as hot spots through monitoring of recently constructed beach-fill projects (Stauble et al. 1993). Erosional reaches of shoreline al Ocean City tend to be co-located with shore-face attachments of elongated offshore shoals. As part of a study to investigate the causes of hot spots at Ocean City, a numerical wave model and a potential sand transport model were used to evaluate the effect of the irregular bathymetry on longshore sand transport rates. The purpose of this paper is to present numerical model results which link the erosional hot spots at Ocean City, Maryland, to longshore sand transport processes and to define characteristics and behaviors of the hot spots. The paper describes the application of the numerical models and presents analysis relating the model results to observations from field monitoring of the beach fills at Ocean City.