[1] Setup, the increase in the mean water level associated with breaking waves, observed between the shoreline and about 6-m water depth on an ocean beach is predicted well by a model that includes the effects of wave rollers and the bottom stress owing to the mean flow. Over the 90-day observational period, the measured and modeled setups are correlated (squared correlation above 0.59) and agree within about 30%. Although rollers may affect setup significantly on beaches with large-amplitude (several meters high) sandbars and may be important in predicting the details of the cross-shore profile of setup, for the data discussed here, rollers have only a small effect on the amount of setup. Conversely, bottom stress (calculated using eddy viscosity and undertow formulations based on the surface dissipation, and assuming that the eddy viscosity is uniform throughout the water column) significantly affects setup predictions. Neglecting bottom stress results in underprediction of the observed setup in all water depths, with maximum underprediction near the shoreline where the observed setup is largest.

[1] The effect of alongshore variations in the incident wavefield on wave-driven setup and on alongshore flows in the surfzone is investigated using observations collected onshore of a submarine canyon. Wave heights and radiation stresses at the outer edge of the surfzone (water depth %2.5 m) varied by up to a factor of 4 and 16, respectively, over a 450 m alongshore distance, resulting in setup variations as large as 0.1 m along the shoreline (water depth %0.3 m). Even with this strong alongshore variability, wave-driven setup was dominated by the cross-shore gradient of the wave radiation stress, and setup observed in the surfzone is predicted well by a one-dimensional cross-shore momentum balance. Both cross-shore radiation stress gradients and alongshore setup gradients contributed to the alongshore flows observed in the inner surfzone when alongshore gradients in offshore wave heights were large, and a simplified alongshore momentum balance suggests that the large [O(1 kg/(s 2 m)] observed setup-induced pressure gradients can drive strong [O(1 m/s)] alongshore currents.Citation: Apotsos, A., B. Raubenheimer, S. Elgar, and R. T. Guza (2008), Wave-driven setup and alongshore flows observed onshore of a submarine canyon,

[1] The infrequent and unpredictable nature of tsunamis precludes the use of field experiments to measure the hydrodynamic and sediment transport processes that occur. Instead, these processes are often approximated from laboratory, numerical, and theoretical studies or inferred from observations of the resultant sediment deposits. Here Delft3D, a three-dimensional numerical model, is used to simulate the inundation and sediment transport of a tsunami similar in magnitude to the 26 December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami over one measured and three idealized morphologies. The model is first shown to match well the observations taken at Kuala Meurisi, Sumatra, and then used to examine in detail the processes that occur during the tsunami. The model predicts that at a given cross-shore location the onshore flow accelerates rapidly to a maximum as the wavefront passes, and then gradually decelerates before reversing direction and flowing offshore. The onshore flow does not tend to zero everywhere at maximum inundation, but instead flow reversal occurs near the shoreline even as the wavefront continues to inundate landward. While some sediment is eroded by the passing wavefront, the suspension of sandy sediment is dominated by the long-duration, high-velocity backwash that occurs along the beach face and offshore of the shoreline. Some of the sediment suspended during backwash is advected shoreward by the subsequent wave, creating large spatial gradients in the suspended sediment concentrations, which may not be in equilibrium with the local hydrodynamics. The inundation and transport of sediment during a tsunami can be affected by complexities in the morphological profile and interactions between multiple waves, and many of the hydrodynamic and sediment transport processes predicted here are similar to analogous processes previously observed in the swash zone.Citation: Apotsos, A., G. Gelfenbaum, and B. Jaffe (2011), Process-based modeling of tsunami inundation and sediment transport,

No abstract

No abstract