STORMSED1.0: hydrodynamics and sediment transport in a 2-D, steady-state, wind- and wave-driven coastal circulation model

STORMSED1.0 is a MATLAB (TM) program that solves the steady-state, lineariz ed, horizontal momentum equations in the along-shelf and cross-shelf direct ions for a linear shoreline given a constant wind stress and waves of const ant amplitude and period. The model provides a quantitative link between st orms and sedimentation that may assist geologists interpreting the stratigr aphic record. It provides a rapid analytical approach to quantify the sedim entation that results from coastal circulation that may be extended to long time scales and linked to other sedimentation models. In the northern hemi sphere, shore-parallel wind, where flow is to the right as the viewer faces the ocean, produces downwelling as the Coriolis force rotates bottom flow from shore-parallel to slightly offshore with increasing water depth. In th e shallow and intermediate zones, cross-shelf flow velocities and sediment flux increase offshore and erosion occurs. Seaward, in the deep zone, veloc ities are constant, wave-effect declines with depth, cross-shelf sediment f lux decreases offshore, and deposition results. Shore-parallel winds orient ed in the opposite direction produce upwelling and the sedimentation patter n is reversed. The model solves for the current distribution, the sediment concentration profile, the bedload and suspended load, and the sedimentatio n rate at any node along a continental shelf. The circulation model is base d on a wind-driven circulation model derived by Jeffries (1923). Waves are included using Airy wave theory, and the wave-current interaction is quanti fied using the bottom boundary layer model of Grant and Madsen (1979). (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.