Fig. 1. The study area showing 12 studied headland-bay beaches and wave and tide data sources in the west Guangdong. The beaches include #1-Jizhao Bay (21.392°-21.392°N, 110.847°-110.853°E), #2-Wangcun Bay (21.388°-21.418°N, 110.891°-110.929°E), #3-Aonei Bay (21.418°-21.429°N, 110.958°-110.982°E), #4- Shuidong Bay (21.429°-21.459°N, 110.997°-111.053°E), #5-Shuidong Dong (21.460°-21.469°N, 111.102°- 111.128°E), #6-Bohe Bay (21.464°-21.481°N, 111.136°-111.199°E), #7-Fuhu Bay (21.507°-21.525°N, 111.489°-111.527°E), #8-Hebei Bay (21.512°-21.534°N, 111.554°-111.598°E), #9-Hailing Bay (21.593°- 21.618°N, 111.690°-111.751°E), #10-Shili Beach (21.579°-21.604°N, 111.877°-111.911°E), #11-Dongdao Beach (21.618°-21.624°N, 111.982°-111.996°E) and #12-Sanya Bay (21.787°-21.807°N, 112.087°-112.12856°E).

Fig. 2. The variations of (a) annual mean significant wave height (Mean H_s), maximum wave height (Max. H_s) and minimum wave height (Min. H_s), and (b) annual mean significant wave period (Mean T_z), maximum wave period (Max. T_z), and minimum wave period (Min. T_z) during 1979-2017 at W3

Fig. 3. The wave rose showing the characteristics of the monthly wave directions at W3

Fig. 4. The variation of (a) monthly mean significant wave heights and (b) wave periods at W3 during 1979- 2017

Fig. 5. Mean sand size and standard deviation of (a) upper intertidal profile and (b) lower intertidal profile for 12 west Guangdong beaches

Fig. 6. Examples of reflective, intermediate, and dissipative beach types with cross-shore profiles (left) and aerial photographic images (right)

Fig. 7. Prediction of beach morphodynamic types (R: reflective; B: barred; BD: barred dissipative; LTT+R: low tide terrace with rip; LTBR: low tide bar or rip; NBD: non-barred dissipative) within the beach morphodynamic framework based on the dimensionless fall velocity parameter (Ω) and relatively tidal range parameter (RTR). The marker sizes represent the relative gradients of the upper intertidal profiles and the right color bar reflects the absolute wave energy level for 12 studied beaches (1: Jizhao Bay; 2: Wangcun Bay; 3: Aonei Bay; 4: Shuidong Bay; 5: Shuidong Dong; 6: Bohe Bay; 7: Fuhu Bay; 8: Hebei Bay; 9: Hailing Bay; 10: Shili Beach; 11: Dongdao Beach; 12: Sanya Bay).