The surf zone can be defined as that relatively narrow strip of a body of water that borders the land, and which contains waves that are breaking due to the shallow water depth. However, because the tide level, incident waves, and local wind speed, and direction continually change, the width and character of the surf zone vary incessantly. Therefore, in a discussion of surf zone processes, the region of interest is actually the “nearshore” zone, herein defined as that region that is directly or indirectly affected by depth-induced wave breaking. Finally, a subregion called the “swash” zone is commonly delineated at the boundary between land and water, as that area which is alternately wetted and dried by wave uprush and backrush. These zones are indicated in Fig. 1.
Definition sketch of the nearshore zone, showing overhead view of wave refraction, shoaling, and breaking
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Dally, W.R. (2018). Surf Zone Processes. In: Finkl, C., Makowski, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Coastal Science . Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48657-4_306-2
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