Chapter 5 The Bottom Boundary Layer of Shelf Seas

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the bottom boundary layer of shelf seas; and describes the principal features of the vertical current structure and the turbulence properties observed in the various kinds of bottom boundary layer encountered in shelf seas. Spectra of turbulence and the bursting phenomenon are also discussed. The oscillatory–planetary boundary layer in a shallow sea may be depth-limited, it will frequently exhibit significant thermal stratification effects, it may additionally be modified by sand-waves or sandbanks, and for non-uniform sediment distributions it may also develop an internal boundary layer. The boundary layer beneath tidal and other currents on the continental shelf exhibit many similarities with boundary layers in the atmosphere and the laboratory. Measurements of turbulence profiles would help to improve empirical expressions for the scaling of the spectral distribution of turbulent energy. Although considerable effort has gone into the study of the bursting phenomenon in its own right, especially in the laboratory, it still remains for a practical and usable method to be proposed that will incorporate the processes involved into a theoretical framework for the bottom boundary layer.

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