The morphodynamic depth of closure, signifies the depth at which fluid motion is unable to move sediment, and morphological change ceases. A very timely contribution from Ortiz et al (2016)[1] expresses depth of closure as a function of both wave climate and a time scale of interest. At IRESS 2017, I presented a quick first-pass applying Ortiz’s model and adopting their workflow for application to the Texas coast using Army Corps of Engineers’ WIS hindcast information and the Coastal Relief Model from NOAA. Although Ortiz’ model does not do well to describe the rather tranquil wave climate of the Texas coast, the results show that fair weather wave base is typically above 4 m water depth, and may increase in depth slightly from the Upper Texas coast to the Lower Texas coast. These predictions crudely agree with depth profiles of morphological change estimated by differencing sequential shoreface profiles obtained by Texas A&M University Corpus Christi which are available from their Coastal Habitat Restoration GIS website. Click on the picture of the poster to download a PDF copy.
[1] Ortiz, A. C., and A. D. Ashton (2016), Exploring shoreface dynamics and a mechanistic explanation for a morphodynamic depth of closure, J. Geophys. Res. Earth Surf.,121,442–464, doi:10.1002/2015JF003699. (PDF link)