Estimating Bottom Stress in Tidal Boundary Layer from Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter Data

Abstract

Bed stresses in the bottom boundary layer of the York River estuary, Va., were estimated from 3D near-bottom velocities measured by Acoustic Doppler Velocimeters (ADVs) and also by a profiling array of electromagnetic current meters. By assuming the measurements were made in a constant stress layer, four methods of stress estimation were evaluated using ADVs: (1) direct covariance (COV) measurement; (2) turbulent kinetic energy; (3) inertial dissipation utilizing the Kolmogorov spectrum; and (4) log profile. The four methods yielded similar estimates of frictional velocity