Abstract. Coastal vegetation has been increasingly recognized as an effective buffer against wind waves. Recent laboratory studies have considered realistic vegetation traits and hydrodynamic conditions, which advanced our understanding of the wave dissipation process in vegetation (WDV) in field conditions. In intertidal environments, waves commonly propagate into vegetation fields with underlying tidal currents, which may alter the WDV process. A number of experiments addressed WDV with following currents, but relatively few experiments have been conducted to assess WDV with opposing currents. Additionally, while the vegetation drag coefficient is a key factor influencing WDV, it is rarely reported for combined wave–current flows. Relevant WDV and drag coefficient data are not openly available for theory or model development. This paper reports a unique dataset of two flume experiments. Both experiments use stiff rods to mimic mangrove canopies. The first experiment assessed WDV and drag coefficients with and without following currents, whereas the second experiment included complementary tests with opposing currents. These two experiments included 668 tests covering various settings of water depth, wave height, wave period, current velocity and vegetation density. A variety of data, including wave height, drag coefficient, in-canopy velocity and acting force on mimic vegetation stem, are recorded. This dataset is expected to assist future theoretical advancement on WDV, which may ultimately lead to a more accurate prediction of wave dissipation capacity of natural coastal wetlands. The dataset is available from figshare with clear instructions for reuse (https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.13026530.v2, Hu et al., 2020). The current dataset will expand with additional WDV data from ongoing and planned observation in natural mangrove wetlands.

Abstract. Coastal vegetation has been increasingly recognized as effective buffer against wind waves. Recent studies have advanced our understanding of wave dissipation process in vegetation (WDV). In intertidal environments, waves commonly propagate into vegetation fields with underlying tidal currents, which may alter WDV, but such influence is often overlooked. The key mechanism of WDV with co-existing currents are understudied, as previous studies have drawn contradictory conclusions on the effect of following currents on WDV. Subsequent laboratory experiments have partly explained the inconsistent conclusions, but relevant data are rarely available for theoretical or modelling development. Additionally, while the vegetation drag coefficient is a key factor influencing WDV, it is rarely reported for combined wave-current flows. This paper reports a unique dataset from two flume experiments, including 668 wave-only and wave with following/opposing current tests. A variety of data including wave height, drag coefficient, in-canopy velocity and acting force on mimic vegetation stem are recorded. This dataset is expected to assist future theoretical advancement on WDV, which may ultimately lead to more accurate prediction of wave dissipation capacity of real coastal wetlands. The dataset is available from figshare (https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.13026530.v2; Hu et al., 2020) with clear instructions for reuse. The current dataset will expand with additional WDV data from ongoing as well as planned future observation in real mangrove wetlands.

Coastal wetlands such as mangroves and saltmarshes are increasingly recognized as effective buffers to attenuate incident waves and reduce the load on coastal structures (