Study on Longshore Sediment T ransport Variability for East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia

The East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia is exposed to very harsh waves
coming from the South China Sea which results in severe coastal erosion problems
for this side of the beach. In the long run, the shoreline will move further onshore
and pose a threat to nearby residential or commercial areas as well as destroy the
habitat of marine flora and fauna. Gradient in Longshore Sediment Transport (LST)
has been known to be one of the reasons that aggravate coastal erosion.
For this research study, the author investigated the LST variability for the
East Coast, highlighting on the Cendering Beach in Terengganu by analyzing the
wave climate and utilizing empirical formulas which includes the widely used CERC(LSTR). The aim is to distinguish the pattern of LSTR at this area so that prediction
of future occurrences can be done for preventive and mitigation measures in the
future. From this research, the value of LSTR had been found to increase by 80%
comparing between the year 1985 to the year 2000.