Copyright © The Oceanographic Society of Japan. Shoaling Surface Gravity Waves Cause a Force and a Torque on the Bottom

Freely propagating surface gravity waves are observed to slow down and to stop at a beach when the bottom has a relatively gentle upward slope toward the shore and the frequency range of the waves covers the most energetic wind waves (sea and swell). Essentially no wave reflection can be seen and the measured reflected energy is very small compared to that transmitted shoreward. One consequence of this is that the flux of the wave’s linear momentum decreases in the direction of wave propagation, which is equivalent to a time rate of change of the momentum. It takes a force to cause the time rate of change of the momentum. Therefore, the bottom exerts a force on the waves in order to decrease the momentum flux. By Newton’s third law (action equals reaction) the waves then impart an equal but opposite force to the bottom. In shallow (but finite) water depths the wave force per unit bottom area is calculated, for normal angle of incidence to the beach, to be directly proportional to the square of the wave amplitude and to the bottom slope and inversely proportional to the mean depth; it is independent of the wave frequency. Constants of proportionality are: 1/4, the fluid density and the acceleration of gravity. Swell attenuation near coasts an