Ocean Oddities: Long Lost Irish Beach Comes Back
After three decades of a sheer stone shore, sand returns to an Emerald Isle island.
- Published:May 12, 2017
- Views:3,078
In the winter of 1984, a series of severe Atlantic swells scoured the shores of Dooagh Beach on Achill Island, Ireland. By the time the stormy surf subsided, the previously sandy beach had been stripped down to bedrock as bare as the blarney stone. Every speck of sand and each bit of grit was washed away by the tumultuous waves. For the next 33 years, Dooagh Beach remained a sand-free zone, with not enough grit to coat a single sheet of sandpaper or make the smallest sandcastle. Because the ocean is in constant motion, so is the sand. Every wave that reaches the beach moves some sand. Tiny waves disturb less than a teaspoon of grains, while giant waves dredge up enough grit to overflow a dump truck.
As spent surf slides back down the sloped beach and re-enters the ocean, the clash of outbound water and inbound waves create longshore (side-shore) currents. That river embedded in the breakers flows along the coastline and transports more sand. The combined hydrological action leads to a daily displacement of countless tons of finely ground grit around the sea's periphery.
Where all that sand winds up significantly impacts surf quality. The distribution of sand underlying the surf zone helps determine how and where waves break, and it can make or break a beachbreak. Even on days that have identical swell, winds and tides, changing contours in the sand can result in surf that ranges anywhere from nearly unridable to almost epic.
Where all that sand winds up significantly impacts surf quality. The distribution of sand underlying the surf zone helps determine how and where waves break, and it can make or break a beachbreak. Even on days that have identical swell, winds and tides, changing contours in the sand can result in surf that ranges anywhere from nearly unridable to almost epic.
Grit from lost mountains
Once towered in ancient skies
now sand on the beach
When the forces of waves, winds, currents and tides all act in unison and push in the same direction, massive amounts of sand can be moved. For the first time in over three decades, that is just what happened last month, April 2017, at Achill Island. For about eight days in April, the combined powers of ocean and atmosphere drove thousands of tons of shiny clean sand onto Dooagh Beach, transforming the barren stone shore back into a beautiful golden beach.
Irish eyes were smiling to see the return of their long absent sand. Tourists were pleased too since they were now able to sunbath on the cushy soft sand instead of a hard stone slab. Kids were the happiest of all because they were the first children in a generation that could once again make sandcastles on Dooagh Beach. As for surfers and swimmers, they were advised to be cautious, since the same confluence of forces that brought back the sand might also generate some strange currents along the shore.
Due to ever-shifting sand, our shorelines are continuously changing. Usually, the changes are too subtle to see but sometimes they can be quite dramatic, and make the difference between a beach and no beach at all.
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