LONG-TERM GOALS

The goals of this project are to investigate the mechanisms for wave dissipation in the presence of bottom mud. These mechanisms are being examined via field measurements in the Gulf of Mexico, laboratory experiments of waves over a mud bottom, and numerical and theoretical analyses. Implementation of these various damping mechanisms into numerical models provides the ability to not only predict wave behavior over mud, but also to infer from the sea surface the nature of the bottom material. OBJECTIVES We are measuring wave damping due to mud off the coast of Louisiana, quantifying the dynamics of the bottom mechanisms responsible for the dissipation of wave energy. We are examining different mechanisms for the damping of wave energy by bottom mud in the laboratory and through the use of theoretical and numerical models. These damping mechanisms include the direct forcing of the mud by the wave-induced bottom pressure and velocities; indirect forcing through nonlinear surface wave effects (including wave groups); resonant forcing of interfacial waves at the water/mud interface; damping and shear instabilities in the lutocline; and large scale broadband mechanisms that involve a complex sea state and a combination of the above mechanisms