On vertical velocity fluctuations and internal tides in an upwelling region off the west coast of India

Hourly fluctuations of vertical velocity in relation to components of flow and wind and temperature oscillations at a morring site in the shelf waters off the west coast of India are discussed. The vertical velocities were computed from a time series of vertical temperature profiles assuming that horizontal advection of temperature is negligible. The computed values at a depth of 40 m during the 72-h period of observation were of the order of 10⁻¹ to 10⁻²cm s⁻¹, with a mean value of −2·77 × 10⁻² cm s⁻¹ indicating a net upward movement of water. The computed vertical velocity showed fluctuations of about 2–3 h, in addition to weaker signals of about 12 h. Based on the spectral estimates, we speculate that these fluctuations of 2–3 h in the vertical velocity may be caused by the fluctuations in the along-shore wind. The oscillations of isotherms found in the temperaturedepth time series and the spectral estimates of temperature and cross-shore flow component showed a periodicity of about 12 h, which indicated the presence of semi-diurnal internal waves. The fact that these internal wave troughs were associated with the measured onshore flow suggested that the waves were propagating offshore. The computed stability parameters showed little evidence of instability or mixing. It was found that the isotherm troughs in the temperaturedepth time series at about 12-h period coincided with high vertical shear in the cross-shore direction and low values of Brunt Vaisälä frequency.     

Water Wave Refraction and Diffraction over Frictional Topography

- This paper considers the effects of wave energy dissipation induced by sea-bottom friction on the computational results of water wave refraction and diffraction with the parabolic equation method. The presented results show that the friction factor formula adopted in this paper is of higher numerical accuracy than that introduced by Dalrymphe (1984), and it can be used to compute wave propagation over large open areas.     

Wave characteristics past a flexible fishnet

The scattering of surface waves by a flexible fishnet is studied analytically. The fishnet is modelled as a porous flexible barrier displaced solely by hydrodynamic force like a catenary. The objective is to investigate how a flexible permeable barrier affects the passing waves in the way they are transmitted and reflected, as observed by the fact that the water inside a fishfarm surrounded by fishnets is significantly calmer than that outside. The boundary value problems are solved by defining the reflection coefficient in terms of velocity potential and then the full solutions are obtained by suitable application of the eigenfunction expansion method and the least squares approximation method. The variations of the reflection coefficient, hydrodynamic pressure, barrier deformation and surface wave elevation are determined with respect to the barrier length, porosity and stiffness. It is observed that as the fishnet gets more flexible, its deformation increases and the reflection coefficient decreases, whereas as the fishnet gets more porous, more water can pass through it and thus the reflection coefficient, barrier deformation and the hydrodynamic force are reduced. The flexibility of the barrier behaves like its porosity by allowing more wave energy to act on it through its deformation and hence reduce the reflection and hydrodynamic force of the incident waves acting on the barrier.     

Experimental study on the performance of the multiple-layer breakwater

Based on the idea of disturbing the water motion in the upright direction, a new kind of multiple-layer breakwater is proposed in this article, which mainly consists of several horizontal plates. The breakwater's performance of dissipating waves has been investigated in detail in the regular wave tests. The factors identified with the characteristics of the breakwater are discussed, such as the relative width, the wave steepness and the models geometrical parameters (the width and the gap). The comparison and analysis of the transmission and reflection coefficients with respect to different factors are presented. The model test results indicate that the multiple-layer breakwater has the good characteristic of dissipating waves. Further more, only in a little extent can it reflect the waves. The multiple-layer breakwater proposed in the paper is very significative to promote the open type breakwater to be the permanent wave attenuator in the application.     

一个新的非恒定型不规则波缓坡方程

缓坡方程由Ｂｅｒｋｈｏｆ所推导并在规则波折射绕射问题的研究上有着广泛的应用。然而对于不规则波折射绕射问题研究，缓坡方程还处于发展研究阶段，本文采用Ｐａｄｅ近似并仿Ｋｕｂｏ方法对缓坡波动方程进行了推导，得到了一个含有时间高阶导数项的不规则波缓坡方程，随即采用ＷＫＢ方法对这个不规则波的缓坡方程进行了简化，推导出一个较为实用的含有一阶时间导数的不规则波缓坡的波动方程。通过数值手段对所推导的不规则波缓坡方程进行了数值模拟，其结果与物模实验较为一致     

The effects of storms and storm-generated currents on sand beaches in Southern Maine, USA

Storms are one of the most important controls on the cycle of erosion and accretion on beaches. Current meters placed in shoreface locations of Saco Bay and Wells Embayment, ME, recorded bottom currents during the winter months of 2000 and 2001, while teams of volunteers profiled the topography of nearby beaches. Coupling offshore meteorological and beach profile data made it possible to determine the response of nine beaches in southern Maine to various oceanographic and meteorological conditions. The beaches selected for profiling ranged from pristine to completely developed and permitted further examination of the role of seawalls on the response of beaches to storms.

Current meters documented three unique types of storms: frontal passages, southwest storms, and northeast storms. In general, the current meter results indicate that frontal passages and southwest storms were responsible for bringing sediment towards the shore, while northeast storms resulted in a net movement of sediment away from the beach. During the 1999–2000 winter, there were a greater percentage of frontal passages and southwest storms, while during the 2000–2001 winter, there were more northeast storms. The sediment that was transported landward during the 1999–2000 winter was reworked into the berm along moderately and highly developed beaches during the next summer.

A northeast storm on March 5–6, 2001, resulted in currents in excess of 1 m s⁻¹ and wave heights that reached six meters. The storm persisted over 10 high tides and caused coastal flooding and property damage. Topographic profiles made before and after the storm demonstrate that developed beaches experienced a loss of sediment volume during the storm, while sediment was redistributed along the profile on moderately developed and undeveloped beaches. Two months after the storm, the profiles along the developed beaches had not reached their pre-storm elevation. In comparison, the moderately developed and undeveloped beaches reached and exceeded their pre-storm elevation and began to show berm buildup characteristic of the summer months.     

Evaluation of a method to reduce uncertainty in wind hindcasts performed with regional atmosphere models

For more and more applications in coastal and offshore engineering, numerical simulations of waves and surges are required. An important input parameter for such simulations are wind fields. They represent one of the major sources for uncertainties in wave and surge simulations. Wind fields for such simulations are frequently obtained from numerical hindcasts with regional atmospheric models (RAMs). The skill of these atmospheric hindcasts depends, among others, on the quality of the forcing at the boundaries. Furthermore, results may vary due to uncertainties in the initial conditions. By comparing different existing approaches for forcing a regional atmospheric model, it is shown that the models' sensitivity to uncertainties in the initial conditions may be reduced when a more sophisticated approach is used that has been suggested recently. For a specific, although somewhat brief test period, it is demonstrated that an improved hindcast skill for near surface wind fields is obtained when this approach is adopted. Consequences of the reduced uncertainty in wield fields for the hindcast skill of subsequent wave modelling studies are demonstrated. Recently, this new approach has been used together with a regional atmosphere model to produce a 40-year wind hindcast for the Northeast Atlantic, the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. The hindcast is presently extended to other areas and the wind fields are used to produce 40-year high-resolution hindcasts of waves and surges for various European coastal areas.