Premium
Preliminary results of coincident current meter and sediment transport observations for wintertime conditions on the Long Island Inner Shelf
Author(s) -
Lavelle J. W.,
Gadd P. E.,
Han G. C.,
Mayer D. A.,
Stubblefield W. L.,
Swift D. J. P.,
Charnell R. L.,
Brashear H. R.,
Case F. N.,
Haff K. W.,
Kunselman C. W.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/gl003i002p00097
Subject(s) - geology , current meter , ridge , crest , current (fluid) , sediment transport , longshore drift , submarine pipeline , storm , continental shelf , oceanography , sediment , geomorphology , hydrology (agriculture) , geotechnical engineering , physics , paleontology , quantum mechanics
We have observed late fall and winter bedload sediment transport and the overlying current field in ridge and swale topography on the inner continental shelf south of Long Island, and can report movement of bed material at a water depth of 20 m to a distance of approximately 1500 m after several storm events. Movement over an 11‐week observation period was longshore and oblique to the ridge crest at the experimental site. Currents were also predominately longshore, but long term averages demonstrate that a vertical shear existed in the fluid motion. Although the number of sediment transport "events" suggested by the current meter data is nearly balanced in eastward and westward directions, both estimates of transport from current speeds and sand tracer dispersion patterns show that several westward flowing events dominated the transport during a two and one‐half month period. A quantitative upper bound of 31 cm/sec on the threshold velocity for sediment movement in this size range is also set by the data.