Abstract
Wetland dominated estuaries serve as one of the most productive natural ecosystems through their ecological, economic and cultural services, such as nursery grounds for fisheries, nutrient sequestration, and ecotourism. The ongoing deterioration of wetland ecosystems in many shallow estuaries raises concerns about the contributing erosive processes and their roles in restraining coastal restoration efforts. Given the combination of wetlands and shallow bays as landscape components that determine the function of estuaries, successful restoration strategies require knowledge of wind wave behavior in fetch and depth limited water as a critical design feature. We experimentally evaluate physics of wind wave growth in fetch and depth limited estuaries. We demonstrate that wave growth rate in shallow estuaries is a function of wind fetch to water depth ratio, which helps to develop a new set of parametric wave growth equations. We find that the final stage of wave growth in shallow estuaries can be presented by a product of water depth and wave number, whereby their product approaches 1.363 as either depth or wave energy increases. Suggested wave growth equations and their asymptotic constraints establish the magnitude of wave forces acting on wetland erosion that must be included in ecosystem restoration design.
Highlights
Wetland dominated estuaries serve as one of the most productive natural ecosystems through their ecological, economic and cultural services, such as nursery grounds for fisheries, nutrient sequestration, and ecotourism
We demonstrate that wave growth rate in shallow estuaries is a function of wind fetch to water depth ratio, which helps to develop a new set of parametric wave growth equations
We find that the final stage of wave growth in shallow estuaries can be presented by a product of water depth and wave number, whereby their product approaches 1.363 as either depth or wave energy increases
Summary
Arash Karimpour[1], Qin Chen2,3,4 & Robert R. Given the combination of wetlands and shallow bays as landscape components that determine the function of estuaries, successful restoration strategies require knowledge of wind wave behavior in fetch and depth limited water as a critical design feature. Wave growth in a fetch limited, deep water environment is well accepted to be a function of wind fetch and wind velocity, and is presented with dimensionless fetch, F , in power law forms of fp = α1Fβ1 and E = α2Fβ218. The new approach presented here for developing the asymptotic limits of wave growth based on kphvalues, helps to accurately define the asymptotic limits of peak wave frequency and wave energy in depth limited water, with a smooth transition to the fully developed condition This improves our understanding of energy build-up abthneecdortamrtaieonisonffedtrehpdeeuwnriidnnedgnttfehotecf htfihnteoahlwsoatrtaegEredaoesfpewtihtah,veFer/ghdr,eohpwethltphos,rtaowsdaitevvreeeelvonepearlasgnytheiwantcsareestayosmef spp.taTorhtaimec dkeetprphicevnwadlauevneescgyarpoopwfrttohhaeec qhfpu1aa.t3ni6od3nEsafnoondr depth and fetch limited environments. The proposed wave growth methods can support a new, convenient and practical means for an accurate prediction of the wind waves in such fetch and depth limited environments
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
