Energy Conservation in Coastal-Trapped Wave Calculations

Abstract

A consideration of energy conservation for coastal-trapped waves shows that, for a slowly varying medium, the normalization of the wave modes is not arbitrary. Errors related to incorrect normalization are demonstrated for a simple analytic example and for a realistic case. If alongshore changes in latitude, topography or stratification are substantial, then predicted time series are shown by example to have amplitude errors of as much as 50% if an incorrect normalization is applied.