The dynamics of infragravity wave transformation over a fringing reef

Pomeroy, A.
Lowe, R.
Symonds, G.
Van Dongeren, A.
Moore, C.

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Publication date

November 2012

DOI

10.1029/2012jc008310

Publisher

American Geophysical Union

Abstract

A 3 week field study was conducted to investigate the dynamics of low-frequency (infragravity) wave motions over a fringing reef at Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia. Short-period wave motions (0.04–0.2 Hz) were observed to dissipate on the reef crest beyond which infragravity wave motions (0.004–0.04 Hz) gradually dominated toward the lagoon. However, both the short waves and the infragravity waves were relatively small (both <0.3 m) on the reef flat owing to the shallow water depth (<2 m). The results revealed that the surf zone generation of free infragravity wave motions on the steep (?1:20) fore-reef slope was dominated by breakpoint forcing (as opposed to shoaling bound waves), which was also supported by detailed numerical simulations...