Headland longshore drift bypassing is a crucial control factor of coastal dynamics in areas with embayed beaches, considering its role in sediment transfer between coastal cells. This work aims to describe and understand the life cycle of Prainha, an ephemeral beach that occasionally develops inside the Nazare bay. Data from oceanic wave buoy, topographic surveys, Landsat 8 images and LIDAR bathymetric survey where used to describe the evolution. Prainha beach starts to develop when the Norte beach located updrift reaches total saturation, inititating full headland bypass. Simultaneously, the wave energy inside the bay is to low, preventing sediment from being carried away, conserving the beach mass. Understanding the morphodynamic of this ephemeral beach gave an additional insight to the headland bypassing phenomena in a site that can be viewed as a natural laboratory.
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