Abstract
The estimation of spatial averages and variability of the topographic roughness length for field sites with randomly scattered bottom roughness requires that one determine upstream areas of influence and horizontal averaging scales for various measuring heights z above bottom. The area of influence is determined from internal boundary layer theory to be between 10 and 200 z upstream, and the averaging length is estimated from Townsend's turbulent response time to be about 0.3 z ln( z z0). The averaging scheme does not account for wave or sediment-transport effects and would not apply accurately to large abrupt roughness changes.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 291-301 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Marine Geology |
| Volume | 66 |
| Issue number | 1-4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 1985 |