Inner Shelf Dynamics
Office of Naval Research Departmental Research Initiative
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Background |
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The inner shelf region begins just offshore of the surf zone, where breaking by surface gravity waves dominate, and extends inshore of the mid-shelf, where theoretical Ekman transport is fully realized. In the inner shelf the surface and bottom boundary layers can overlap. A wide range of processes is important in the inner shelf including: wind driven upwelling and downwelling, non-linear internal waves, heat, momentum and sediment fluxes from the surf zone via rip currents, surface wave breaking and Langmuir mixing, and bed stresses that suspend sediment and create bedforms. Each can affect the vertical properties of the water column here and the importance of each processes varies widely throughout the domain. While the surf zone and the mid to outer shelf have been well studied, the connecting region of the inner shelf has not, largely due to the need to consider the large range of processes that are important and the logistics of operating in a relatively shallow environment. Goals Our main goal is to provide provide improved understanding and prediction of this difficult environment. This will involve efforts to assess the influence of the different boundaries - surf zone, mid and outer shelf, air-water interface, and bed - on the flow, mixing and stratification of the inner shelf. We will also gain information and predictive understanding of remotely sensed surface processes and their connection to processes in the underlying water column. Approach A combination of observation and modeling will be used in this research initiative including hydrostatic and non-hydrostatic models, airborne thermal and radar remote sensing, drifting measurement platforms, and in situ moorings. |
North-looking view of the Point Sal, CA, study site with visible fronts generated by flow interactions with the headlands. |
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Collaborating Institutions APL-UW Delft University of Technology Florida State University Georgia Tech University Naval Postgraduate School Naval Research Laboratory Stennis Space Center Oregon State University RSMAS, University of Miami Scripps Institution of Oceanography Spoondrift University of California, Los Angeles University of Michigan University of Southern Mississippi Funding Littoral Geosciences & Optics (Code 321) |
