Survey information

Fig. 1. Location of inlets examined (inlets with conventional surveys in parentheses).

Inlet parameters and geomorphic classification

Buonaiuto_Kraus-03
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F.S. Buonaiuto, N.C. Kraus / Coastal Engineering 48 (2003) 5165

Charleston Harbor on the east coast of the United

of the United States (Fig. 1), some repeatedly sur-

veyed (Table 2), were analyzed to determine spatial

States. These locations extend the ranges in wave

and temporal variability of limiting slopes and depths

height and tidal prism. Conventional surveys from the

six inlets are too sparse for analysis of channel slopes.

of ebb-tidal shoals and entrance channels. The Great

Depths were adjusted to Mean Lower Low Water

Lakes sites served as an extreme case of no tide,

(MLLW), except for the Great Lakes harbors for

although long-period lake seiching is present. These

which depths were converted to Mean Lake Level

bathymetric surveys were collected by the US Army

Corps of Engineers' Scanning Hydrographic Opera-

tional Airborne LIDAR Survey (SHOALS) system.

The airborne-mounted system measures depth synop-

2.2. Wave and tidal prism information

tically on flight swaths to a horizontal position accu-

rate to 3 m and a vertical position accurate to 0.15 m

The inlets analyzed vary between wave dominated

(Parson et al., 1999). The maximum depth that

and mixed-energy tide dominated (Hayes, 1979).

SHOALS can survey is the shallower of either 60 m

Mean annual wave height ranges from 0.4 to 2.43 m

or about 2.5 times the Secchi Depth.

and spring tidal range from 0 to 2.74 m, respectively

For analysis of depth over the ebb shoal, data sets

(Table 3). For each inlet, the general wave climate in

from these inlets were supplemented by National

deep water was assembled from US Army Corps of

Ocean Service (NOS) bathymetric soundings for

Engineers' Wave Information Study (WIS) hindcasts

Grays Harbor, Columbia River Entrance, and Willapa

(http://www.bigfoot.wes.army.mil/w001.html). For

Bay entrance on the high-wave northwest coast of the

the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the statistical wave

United States; and from St. Mary's Entrance and

summaries are from the 20-year period 1976 through

Survey information

Tidal prism reference

Dombrowski (1994)

Fort Pierce Inlet

Marino and Mehta (1987)

Hillsboro Inlet

Dombrowski (1994)

Dombrowski (1994)

Ponce de Leon Inlet

Jones and Mehta (1978)

St. Lucie Inlet

Dombrowski (1994)

St. Mary's Entrance

Walton and Adams (1976)

Ludington Harbor

New Buffalo Harbor

Shinnecock Inlet

Charleston Harbor

Bruun and Gerritsen (1960)

CIRP, Coastal Inlets Research Program (CIRP) database http://www.cirp.wes.army.mil/cirp/cirp.html.

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