Remote Sensing
2018
surf zone wave breaking dissipation; wave rollers; breaking waves; marine radar; video; ROMS
A method for obtaining two dimensional fields of wave breaking energy dissipation in the surfzone is presented. The method relies on acquiring geometrical parameters of the wave roller from remote sensing data. These parameters are then coupled with a dissipation model to obtain time averaged two dimensional maps, but also the wave breaking energy dissipation on a wave-by-wave basis. Comparison of dissipation maps as obtained from the present technique and a results from a numerical model, show very good correlation in both structure and magnitude. The location of a rip current can also be observed from the field data. Though in the present work a combination of optical and microwave data is used, the underlying method is independent of the remote sensor platform. Therefore, it offers the possibility to acquire high quality and synoptic estimates that could contribute to the understanding of the surfzone hydrodynamics.
Harold Díaz 1,†; Patricio A. Catalán 1,2,3,*,†; and Greg W. Wilson 4.
1 Departamento de Obras Civiles, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Valparaíso, Chile; harold.diazm@gmail.com
2 Centro Nacional de Investigación para la Gestión Integrada de Desastres Naturales, CONICYT/FONDAP/1511007, Santiago, Chile
3 CCTVal-Centro Científico Tecnológico de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile
4 College of Earth, Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA; wilsongr@coas.oregonstate.edu
* Correspondence: patricio.catalan@usm.cl; Tel.: +56-32-265-4863
† These authors contributed equally to this work.