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 "description": "\"The coastline of California can be divided into a set of distinct, essentially self-contained littoral cells or beach compartments. These compartments are geographically limited and consist of a series of sand sources (such as rivers, streams and eroding coastal bluffs) that provide sand to the shoreline; sand sinks (such as coastal dunes and submarine canyons) where sand is lost from the shoreline; and longshore transport or littoral drift that moves sand along the shoreline. Sediment within each cell includes the sand on the exposed or dry beach as well as the fi ner-grained sediment that lies just offshore.Beach sand moves on and offshore seasonally in response to changing wave energy, and also moves alongshore, driven by waves that usually approach the beach at some angle. Most beach sand along the coast of California is transported from north to south as a result of the dominant waves approaching the shoreline from the northwest, although alongshore transport to the north occurs in some locations and at certain times of the year in response to waves from the south. Average annual rates of littoral drift typically range from about 100,000 to 1,000,000 cubic yds/yr along the California coast.Sand budgets have been developed for many of California\u2019s littoral cells by calculating or estimating the amount of sand added annually from each source or lost to each sink, and by documenting the volume of sand moving alongshore as littoral drift by using harbor dredging records as proxies. It is the balance between the volumes of sand entering and leaving a littoral cell over the long-term that govern the long-term width of the beaches within the cell. Where sand supplies have been reduced through the construction of dams or debris basins in coastal watersheds, through armoring the seacliffs, by mining sand or restricting littoral transport through large coastal engineering structures, the beaches may temporarily or permanently narrow.\"- Patsch, K. and Griggs, G.B 2006. Littoral Cells, Sand Budgets, and Beaches: Understanding California\u2019s Shoreline. Institute of Marine Sciences, UCSC and California Department of Boating and Waterways. http://www.dbw.ca.gov/csmw/PDF/LittoralDrift.pdf",
 "summary": "",
 "title": "Littoral Cells",
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 "accessInformation": "Coastal Sediment Management Workgroup, Melanie Coyne, Kiki Patsch",
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