The Effect of Stem- and Canopy-Scale Turbulence on Sediment Dynamics within Submerged Vegetation.

Stem- and canopy-scale turbulence generated by submerged patches of vegetation plays a paramount role on sediment transport within aquatic ecosystems such as wetlands, marshes, mangrove forests, and coastal regions, as dense patches dampen velocities and mean bed stresses within the plants, while also increasing turbulence intensity through stem-scale wakes and canopy-scale eddies. To explore the interactions between such processes, laboratory experiments are conducted using rigid cylinders placed in a staggered configuration as vegetation elements, embedded on a non-cohesive sediment bed in a racetrack flume. Quantitative imaging is used to characterize the flow field and the associated suspended sediment concentration throughout the water column at different submergence ratios, defined as the ratio between water depth, H, and plant height, h, to investigate the role of canopy-scale eddies formed at the top of the canopy, and their interaction with near-bed flow structures, on sediment dynamics. Turbulent kinetic energy, turbulent intensity, and Reynolds stresses are quantified within and above the array to clearly identify the contributions from bed generated turbulence and vegetation generated turbulence, at both stem- and canopy-scale, as submergence ratio increases from emergent, H/h=1, to fully submerged, H/h=5, conditions. The experimental results are compared with transport models to highlight the need for a multi-scale approach to represent flow-vegetation-sediment interactions.