Field Observations of Surf Zone-Inner Shelf Exchange on a Rip-Channeled Beach

Cross-shore exchange between the surf zone and the inner shelf is investigated using Lagrangian and Eulerian field measurements of rip current flows on a rip-channeled beach in Sand City, California. Surface drifters released on the inner shelf during weak wind conditions moved seaward due to rip current pulses and then returned shoreward in an...

Transport of larvae and detritus across the surf zone of a steep reflective pocket beach

Larvae of many intertidal species develop offshore and must cross the surf zone to complete their onshore migration to adult habitats. Depending on hydrodynamics, the surf zone may limit this migration, especially on reflective rocky shores. As a logistically tractable analog of a rocky shore environment, we carried out a comprehensive...

Observations and modeling of steep-beach grain-size variability

Novel observations of surface grain-size distributions are used in combination with intra-wave modeling to examine the processes responsible for the sorting of sediment grains on a relatively steep beach (slope?=?1:7.5). The field observations of the mean grain size collected with a digital camera system at consecutive low and high tides for a 2...

Vortical VLF motions under shore-normal incident waves

Field observations and numerical model simulations are examined to investigate the magnitude of vortical very low frequency (VLF) velocity fluctuations (i.e. large scale surfzone eddies) under different offshore wave forcing. Observations of vortical VLF motions under shore -normal wave incidence at Duck, NC, USA are re-analyzed and compared...

The ECORS-Truc Vert’08 nearshore field experiment: Presentation of a three-dimensional morphologic system in a macro-tidal environment during consecutive extreme storm conditions

A large multi-institutional nearshore field experiment was conducted at Truc Vert, on the Atlantic coast of France in early 2008. Truc Vert’08 was designed to measure beach change on a long, sandy stretch of coast without engineering works with emphasis on large winter waves (offshore significant wave height up to 8 m), a three-dimensional...

Vortical surf zone velocity fluctuations with 0(10) min period

Observations of velocity fluctuations with periods between about 4 and 30 min, thus longer than infragravity waves and referred to as very low frequency (VLF) surf zone motions, are described and compared with numerical simulations. The VLF motions discussed here exclude instabilities (generated by the wave-driven alongshore current velocity...

Rip?current pulses tied to Lagrangian coherent structures

The trapping and ejection of surfzone floating material is examined by unveiling Lagrangian Coherent Structures (LCSs) hidden in the pulsating rip?current surface velocity field produced by a three?dimensional numerical model resolving wave?group induced Very Low Frequency motions (VLFs). LCSs explain the typically observed patchiness of flotsam...

Surf zone diffusivity on a rip-channeled beach

Absolute and relative diffusivity are measured on a rip-channeled beach using 30 position-tracking drifters released in clusters (4–12 drifters) deployed on 7 days with different wave forcing and tidal elevations at Sand City, Monterey Bay, California. Diffusivity and dispersion were found to be larger on days with rip current flow patterns and...

Surf zone surface retention on a rip?channeled beach

The retention of floating matter within the surf zone on a rip-channeled beach is examined with a combination of detailed field observations obtained during the Rip Current Experiment and a three-dimensional (3-D) wave and flow model. The acoustic Doppler current profiler–observed hourly vertical cross-shore velocity structure variability over a...

Modeling of very low frequency motions during RIPEX

Numerical computations are used to explain the presence of very low frequency motions (VLFs), with frequencies less than 0.004 Hz, in the rip current velocity signals observed during the Rip-current field Experiment (RIPEX) field experiment. Observations show that the VLF motions are most intense within the surfzone and then quickly taper off in...