Wave–Current Interaction: A Comparison of Radiation-Stress and Vortex-Force Representations

Abstract

The vortex-force representation of the wave-averaged effects on currents is compared to the radiation-stress representation in a scaling regime appropriate to coastal and shelf waters. Three-dimensional and vertically integrated expressions for the conservative current equations are obtained in both representations. The vortex-force representation decomposes the main wave-averaged effects into two physically understandable concepts?a vortex force and a Bernoulli head. The vortex force is shown to be the dominant wave-averaged effect on currents. This effect can occur at higher order than the apparent leading order for the radiation-stress representation. Excluding nonconservative effects such as wave breaking, the lowest-order radiation or interaction stress can be completely characterized in terms of wave setup, forcing of long (infragravity) waves, and an Eulerian current whose divergence cancels that of the primary wave Stokes drift. The leading-order, wave-averaged dynamical effects incorporate the vortex force together with material advection by Stokes drift, modified pressure-continuity and kinematic surface boundary conditions, and parameterized representations of wave generation by the wind and breaking near the shoreline.