Modified Stokes drift due to resonant interactions between surface waves and corrugated sea floor with and without a mean current

Abstract

A unidirectional surface gravity wave over a flat bottom topography causes a unidirectional Stokes drift of floating particles. However, rippled bottom topography can resonantly interact with incident surface waves and generate reflected waves. This introduces a backward drift component that counters the unidirectional forward motion of the floating particles. Hence rippled bottom topography can act as a non-surface-invasive particle trap or reflector and thus help in mitigating ocean pollution.