Mass transport in rotatory tidal currents

Summary A perturbation method is used to calculate steady non-linear effects in rotatory tidal currents. The inclusion of the Coriolis acceleration leads to a uniquely determined second order current system in the tidal stream. This is shown to be absent in high frequency gravity waves. It is found that particle drift, or mass transport, is critically dependent on this mean current, and consequently on the value off/,f being the Coriolis parameter, and the angular frequency of the oscillation.