CHARACTERISATION OF INFRAGRAVITY WAVES AND THEIR ASSOCIATED HYDRODYNAMICS PROCESSES IN MESO-MACRO TIDAL LAGOON

Abstract

Infragravity (hereafter ‘IG’) waves are ocean waves related to the presence of groups in incident shortwaves. The importance of IG waves in the nearshore and their role in beach morphodynamics have been widely documented over the last few decades (Bertin et al., 2018) while in contrast, studies on characterisation of IG waves and related impacts in tidal inlets are scarce and have only recently begun to be addressed (Williams and Stacey, 2016). Nonetheless, existing studies tend to show that IG waves in tidal inlets can play an important role in the short and long-term hydro-morphodynamics of coastal lagoons. The current study presents the first large scale field measurements and analysis of IG waves propagation and characteristics in a meso-macro tidal lagoon/inlet.