Figure 1
Latitudinal distribution of satellite-derived sandy coastline characteristics. (a) Winter (DJFM)-mean significant wave height \(H_s\) from ERA5 global reanalysis and coastline of interest (thick black line) which is zoomed onto in (b). (c) Latitudinal distribution (binned at 1\(^\circ\) interval) of the length of total (black dots) and sandy only (blue dots) coastline and its corresponding percentage (grey bars). (d,e) Sandy coastline characteristics with (d) mapped average tidal range TR and latitudinal distribution (binned at 1\(^\circ\) interval) of (e) sandy coastline orientation \(\theta\), with W and N (E and S) facing coastlines being relatively exposed to (sheltered from) incident ocean waves, and of (e) sandy coastline orthogonal distance D to the closest coast, with \(D>50\) km and \(D<50\) km referring to relatively open and closed sandy coasts, respectively.
