Nearshore sticky waters

Juan M. Restrepo; Shankar C. Venkataramani; Clint Dawson

doi:10.1016/j.ocemod.2014.06.003

Nearshore sticky waters

Juan M. Restrepo, Shankar C. Venkataramani, Clint Dawson

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

Wind- and current-driven flotsam, oil spills, pollutants, and nutrients, approaching the nearshore will frequently appear to slow down/park just beyond the break zone, where waves break. Moreover, the portion of these tracers that beach will do so only after a long time. Explaining why these tracers park and at what rate they reach the shore has important implications on a variety of different nearshore environmental issues, including the determination of what subscale processes are essential in computer models for the simulation of pollutant transport in the nearshore. Using a simple model we provide an explanation for the underlying mechanism responsible for the parking of tracers, not subject to inertial effects, the role played by the bottom topography, and the non-uniform dispersion which leads, in some circumstances, to the eventual landing of all or a portion of the tracers. We refer to the parking phenomenon in this environment as nearshore sticky waters.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	49-58
Number of pages	10
Journal	Ocean Modelling
Volume	80
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocemod.2014.06.003
State	Published - Aug 2014
Externally published	Yes

Funding

We received funding from GoMRI/BP and from NSF DMS grant 1109856 . JMR wishes to thank the Statistics and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute, an NSF funded institute, in which some of this research was done. JMR also thanks the J. Tinsley Oden Fellowship program at the University of Texas for its support. SV was also supported in part by the NSF DMS grant 0807501. Prof. J. C. McWilliams is acknowledged for bringing to our attention the problem of sticky waters in the Great Barrier Reef, which lead us to ask whether sticky waters occur in the nearshore setting. We are also very grateful to Prof. F. Feddersen for sharing with us his expertise on dispersive processes in the surfzone. His suggestions considerably improved this paper.

Funders	Funder number
NSF DMS	1109856
University of Texas	0807501
National Science Foundation

Keywords

Mixing and dispersion
Oil slick
Pollutant transport
Shallow water flows
Waves and currents

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1016/j.ocemod.2014.06.003

Cite this

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title = "Nearshore sticky waters",

abstract = "Wind- and current-driven flotsam, oil spills, pollutants, and nutrients, approaching the nearshore will frequently appear to slow down/park just beyond the break zone, where waves break. Moreover, the portion of these tracers that beach will do so only after a long time. Explaining why these tracers park and at what rate they reach the shore has important implications on a variety of different nearshore environmental issues, including the determination of what subscale processes are essential in computer models for the simulation of pollutant transport in the nearshore. Using a simple model we provide an explanation for the underlying mechanism responsible for the parking of tracers, not subject to inertial effects, the role played by the bottom topography, and the non-uniform dispersion which leads, in some circumstances, to the eventual landing of all or a portion of the tracers. We refer to the parking phenomenon in this environment as nearshore sticky waters.",

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AU - Venkataramani, Shankar C.

AU - Dawson, Clint

PY - 2014/8

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AB - Wind- and current-driven flotsam, oil spills, pollutants, and nutrients, approaching the nearshore will frequently appear to slow down/park just beyond the break zone, where waves break. Moreover, the portion of these tracers that beach will do so only after a long time. Explaining why these tracers park and at what rate they reach the shore has important implications on a variety of different nearshore environmental issues, including the determination of what subscale processes are essential in computer models for the simulation of pollutant transport in the nearshore. Using a simple model we provide an explanation for the underlying mechanism responsible for the parking of tracers, not subject to inertial effects, the role played by the bottom topography, and the non-uniform dispersion which leads, in some circumstances, to the eventual landing of all or a portion of the tracers. We refer to the parking phenomenon in this environment as nearshore sticky waters.

KW - Mixing and dispersion

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KW - Pollutant transport

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JO - Ocean Modelling

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Nearshore sticky waters

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

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