Evolution of a relocated inlet migrating naturally along an open coast

Ancão Inlet is a small migrating inlet that was relocated in 1997 and has been monitored since then. In October 2015, it was about to conclude its third eastward migrating cycle since the 1940s. Morphological parameters and migration rates were correlated with oceanographic settings to evaluate the importance of different mechanisms in the evolutionary phases of the inlet. The migration trend is related to the dominant southwest sea conditions, inducing the alongshore sediment transport from west to east. The inherited features of the downdrift side area were also considered as rate of migration constraints. In this paper, we show how storm events, a constant longshore sediment supply from the west, and a lower downdrift barrier island volume control migration rates, noting that inlet efficiency is also strongly influenced by the reshaping of the barrier area.