This contribution reviews the existing observations of nearshore sand bars (including shoreparallel straight and crescentic bars, and transverse bars) on western Mediterranean beaches. In general, their morphological characteristics and the dynamic processes they experience do not differ qualitatively from those measured on other coasts. A peculiarity of the bars in western Mediterranean is their slower dynamics due to the milder climate, characterized by short-period waves and long episodes of small waves. During these calm periods, the morphology is arrested because there is no significant sediment transport.

This research has been funded by the Spanish government through the research projects CTM2012-35398 (cofunded by FEDER, U.E.) and CTM2015-66225-C2-1-P (MINECO/FEDER).