The aim of this project is to improve the understanding of intertidal beach evolution on time scales of days to years and spatial scales up to several kilometers. In particular, we focus on alongshore variability in beach evolution, studying its origin and its effect on dune erosion during extreme storms. The approach involves both the analysis of monthly beach surveys at two sites along the Dutch coast and of daily remote-sensing images obtained at several sites worldwide, and several numerical modeling studies to better understand the way subtidal bathymetry forces the spatial variability of the intertidal beach. In the long run we expect our work to benefit strategies to mitigate coastal erosion. If we can better understand and predict why certain stretches of coast are more prone to erosion than other stretches, this might lead to a more efficient way the coast can be protected against wave attack during extreme storms.