Cross-shore transport of nearshore sediment by river plume frontal pumping

Horner-Devine, Alexander R.; Pietrzak, Julie D.; Souza, Alejandro J.; McKeon, Margaret A.; Meirelles, Saulo; Henriquez, Martijn; Flores, Raúl P.; Rijnsburger, Sabine. 2017 Cross-shore transport of nearshore sediment by river plume frontal pumping. Geophysical Research Letters, 44 (12). 6343-6351. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL073378

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL073378

Abstract/Summary

We present a new mechanism for cross-shore transport of fine sediment from the nearshore to the inner shelf resulting from the onshore propagation of river plume fronts. Onshore frontal propagation is observed in moorings and radar images, which show that fronts penetrate onshore through the nearshore and surf zone, almost to the waterline. During frontal passage a two-layer counterrotating velocity field characteristic of tidal straining is immediately set up, generating a net offshore flow beneath the plume. The seaward flow at depth carries with it high suspended sediment concentrations, which appear to have been generated by wave resuspension in the nearshore region. These observations describe a mechanism by which vertical density stratification can drive exchange of material between the nearshore region and the inner shelf. To our knowledge these are the first observations of this frontal pumping mechanism, which is expected to play an important role in sediment transport near river mouths.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL073378
ISSN:	00948276
Additional Keywords:	river plume; sediment; surf zone; cross-shore transport; ronts; Rhine
Date made live:	22 Aug 2017 09:02 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/517649

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL073378

ISSN:

00948276

Additional Keywords:

river plume; sediment; surf zone; cross-shore transport; ronts; Rhine

Date made live:

22 Aug 2017 09:02 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/517649