the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Dynamicity of multi-channel rip currents induced by rhythmic sandbars
Yao Zhang
Xiao Hong
GuoDong Xu
Xunan Liu
Xinping Chen
Yuxi Sun
Chi Zhang
Abstract. In response to frequent fatal beach drownings, China's first operational attempt on the rip current hazard investigation was made by the National Marine Hazard Mitigation Service (NMHMS). A great number of recreational beaches were found developing rip currents interlaced with rhythmic sandbars, varying by season and location evidenced by satellite images and morphodynamic calculation. Considering insufficient understanding of the multi-channel rip system, case analysis and numerical study were conducted to explore its dynamicity and circulation characteristics under various wave climates in present work. The strength of rip currents was generally proportional to wave height and channel width under certain limits. Increasing wave height was not always a promotion and could even weaken the rip current due to the strong wave-current shear. Interesting pump
and feed
interactions between adjacent rip currents in the multi-channel system were observed. The rip current might be totally absent in narrow channels when the majority of water flows through neighboring broader pathways. The rip current was highly sensitive to the incident wave angle. Alongshore currents prevailed over the rip current when the wave angle reached 11 degrees to shore normal, which was not favorable to the existence of channeled sandbars. Vortices appeared around the edge of the bar owing to nonuniform wave breaking over rapid-varying bathymetry. The setup water was created shoreward by the sandbar array and substantially increased as the wave deviated from the normal incidence. The water surface depression in the rip channel was not observed as the wave angle increased, which fundamentally explained why the rip current could not persist when the incident wave became slightly oblique. In future, incident wave angle should be further incorporated into empirical formulas or probabilistic models to predict the rip current for expected improvement in accuracy.
Yao Zhang et al.


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SC1: 'an exciting study', Xinshu Zhang, 03 Jun 2020
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RC1: 'comments in detail', Anonymous Referee #1, 09 Jun 2020
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SC3: 'Reply to the reviewer's comments', Yao Zhang, 21 Jun 2020
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AC2: 'Reply of the authors', Bin Wang, 08 Aug 2020
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SC3: 'Reply to the reviewer's comments', Yao Zhang, 21 Jun 2020
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SC2: 'Great finding', Chun-Wei Bi, 11 Jun 2020
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SC4: 'An interesting study', Sudong Xu, 23 Jun 2020
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RC2: 'Review of Manuscript', Anonymous Referee #2, 28 Jul 2020
-
AC1: 'Reply of the authors', Bin Wang, 08 Aug 2020
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AC1: 'Reply of the authors', Bin Wang, 08 Aug 2020


-
SC1: 'an exciting study', Xinshu Zhang, 03 Jun 2020
-
RC1: 'comments in detail', Anonymous Referee #1, 09 Jun 2020
-
SC3: 'Reply to the reviewer's comments', Yao Zhang, 21 Jun 2020
-
AC2: 'Reply of the authors', Bin Wang, 08 Aug 2020
-
SC3: 'Reply to the reviewer's comments', Yao Zhang, 21 Jun 2020
-
SC2: 'Great finding', Chun-Wei Bi, 11 Jun 2020
-
SC4: 'An interesting study', Sudong Xu, 23 Jun 2020
-
RC2: 'Review of Manuscript', Anonymous Referee #2, 28 Jul 2020
-
AC1: 'Reply of the authors', Bin Wang, 08 Aug 2020
-
AC1: 'Reply of the authors', Bin Wang, 08 Aug 2020
Yao Zhang et al.
Yao Zhang et al.
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