A Lagrangian description of nearshore hydrodynamics and rip currents forced by a random wave field
Abstract
Nonlinear processes become important for waves propagating in the shoaling and surf zones. Wave shape changes when approaching the coast under the influence of bathymetry, becoming increasingly asymmetric until reaching the breaking limit. In the shoaling zone, non-linearities induce a net velocity in the direction of wave propagation, a phenomenon called Stokes drift, while in the surf zone, currents are mainly driven by spatio-temporal variations in energy dissipation gradients. In this work we aim at investigating and characterizing the nearshore circulation forced by a random wave field propagating over a variable bathymetry. We carry out numerical simulations over a laboratory experiment conducted in a wave basin over a realistic bathymetry [Michallet et al. 2010]. For the hydrodynamics, we use a 2D shock-capturing finite-volume model that solves the non-linear shallow water equations, taking into account energy dissipation by breaking, friction, bed-slope variations, and an accurate description for the moving shoreline in the swash zone [Marche et al. 2007;Guerra et al. 2010]. Model predictions are compared and validated against experimental data giving confidence for its use in the description of wave propagation in the surf/swash zone, together with mean eulerian velocities. The resulting wave propagation and circulation provided by the 2D model will then be used to describe drifter's patterns in the surf zone and construct Lagrangian particle tracking. The chosen experimental configuration is of great interest due to the random wave forcing (slowly modulated), the beach non-uniformities, and the existence of several bar-rip channels that enhance quasi-periodic rip instabilities. During the experiment, balloons filled with water, with a diameter between 5 and 10 cm, were placed in the surf zone in order to characterize circulation in a Lagrangian framework [Castelle et al. 2010]. The time-location of the balloons was continuously tracked by a shore-mounted video camera, and the images were processed to obtain the trajectories and mean velocities. The Lagrangian description provided by the numerical model will be thus confronted to experimental data, and then used to characterize circulation patterns, rip instabilities and infragravity wave pulsations.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2011
- Bibcode:
- 2011AGUFMOS33C1688L
- Keywords:
-
- 4217 OCEANOGRAPHY: GENERAL / Coastal processes;
- 4534 OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL / Hydrodynamic modeling;
- 4546 OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL / Nearshore processes