The proposal is to sample between high water and low water so we must define these points. Ordinarily beaches widen in the summer months when the sea is relatively calm and the wave steepness is small. The steep, high storm waves of winter cut the beach back and build the berm higher. The above-water beach which concerns us here is generally composed of three identifiable parts:
The BEACH FACE is the sloping sand which is constantly washed by wave uprushes and backrushes. The BERM is an almost horizontal terrace which is built by the waves. The summer berm, when fully developed, is generally broad and low. It ends landward against a low step, perhaps two feet high which is the face or CREST [emphasis by BLO] of the winter berm. The limits of the winter berm are generally less well defined, grading from the step (which cannot always be seen) into the dunes through a zone of driftwood and wind-blown sand.
At this latitude the winter berm is probably formed by the maximum storms of July - August and the summer berm is probably at its wi(l)dest in April.
Therefore, the true beach width, and that which should be sampled under this contract, is that between MLWS (Mean Low Water Springs) in summer and high water which is represented by the winter berm.
The surf is the area of breaking waves, defined, during times when there are no breakers, as the seaward limit of the outermost longshore bar.