HR: 0830h
AN: OS41A-12    [Abstracts]
TI: On a Mechanism for Sediment Resuspension by Solitary Internal Waves
AU: * Stastna, M
EM: mmstastn@math.uwaterloo.ca
AF: University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave. West, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1 Canada
AU: Lamb, K G
EM: kglamb@math.uwaterloo.ca
AF: University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave. West, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1 Canada
AB: Recent coastal measurements (for example JPO, vol. 27, pg. 1181) suggest that the passage of internal solitary waves can result in an increase in sediment resuspension. In this talk we will discuss numerical simulations of fully nonlinear internal solitary waves that illustrate one mechanism for sediment resuspension. In particular we will demonstrate that efficient sediment resuspension requires the presence of both a solitary wave and a background current directed against the direction of propagation. Furthermore we will show that, while the efficiency of the mechanism is profoundly affected by the wave amplitude, a wave with a recirculating core (or breaking wave) is not required. We will compare the present results to published theories on global instability in the bottom boundary layer beneath the solitary wave, and contrast the cases in which the solitary waves are waves of elevation and depression.
DE: 4255 Numerical modeling
DE: 4544 Internal and inertial waves
DE: 4558 Sediment transport
SC: Ocean Sciences [OS]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly