Turbulent mixing in the breaking zone. diffusion in the environment

Abstract

The breaking zone is the most important case of the surf coastal zone where turbulence is produced. Its study is complex because there are different hydrodynamic processes overlapped: breaking waves, bottom and surface friction, currents, etc. The interaction of several spatial and temporal scales make difficult to separate the scale between several overlapping processes such as turbulence at or near its integral scale and the fastest or shortest waves. In figure 1 we show on a Time vs. Length plot the various basic mechanisms that may contribute to the coastal flow.[...]