Record Details
Offshore controls on nearshore rip currents
ScholarsArchive at Oregon State University
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Title | Offshore controls on nearshore rip currents |
| Names |
Long, Joseph W.
(creator) Ozkan-Hollar, Tuba (creator) |
| Date Issued | 2005-12-08 (iso8601) |
| Note | Copyrighted by American Geophysical Union. |
| Abstract | The rip current field resulting from the transformation of surface gravity waves over offshore submarine canyons is studied. Employing a wave transformation model and a wave-induced circulation model over observed bathymetry we find that wave height variations associated with undulations in the canyon contours cause rip current circulation cells with alongshore spacing of O(100m) even though the nearshore bathymetry displays no variations at these length scales. Further, the predicted rips correspond to observed rip currents during the Nearshore Canyon Experiment (NCEX). Motivated by these results we study the relationship between O(100 m) scale variations in offshore bathymetric contours and the resulting rip current field in the nearshore. To isolate the roles of possible bathymetric features, we construct a series of idealized case studies that include site characteristics found at NCEX that are conducive of rip current development, such as a curved shoreline, an offshore submarine canyon and undulations in the canyon contours. Our results show that the first two components are unable to produce the observed short-scale circulation systems, while wave refraction over undulations in the canyon walls at length scales of O(100 m) provides a sufficient disturbance to generate alongshore wave height variations that drive multiple rip currents for a variety of incident wave conditions. Rips are not generated when the wave period is short, or when the angle of incidence is large. Analysis of the alongshore momentum balances further demonstrates that the rip current locations are also strongly influenced by inertial effects. Hence, nonlinear processes are important within the rip current circulation cell and we find that nonlinear advective acceleration terms balance a large portion of the driving alongshore gradient in the mean water surface elevation in the vicinity of the rip currents with bottom friction accounting for the remainder. Away from the rips, the balance is between the wave forcing and the pressure gradient outside the surf zone and wave forcing and bottom friction inside the surf zone, as expected. |
| Genre | Article |
| Topic | nearshore circulation |
| Identifier | Long, J. W., and H. T. Özkan-Haller (2005), Offshore controls on nearshore rip currents, J. Geophys. Res., 110, C12007. |
