Variability of Shoreline Water Levels on an Atoll in the Maldives

Many atolls in tropical oceans are under the threat of sea‐level rise. Mitigation planning requires reliable estimates of increasing wave runup in response to sea‐level rise and changes in wave climate. However, shoreline dynamics on reef‐lined coasts, particularly the effect of low‐frequency waves,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of geophysical research. Oceans 2022-05, Vol.127 (5), p.n/a
Main Authors: Shimozono, Takenori, Shibata, Ryotaro, Onaka, Susumu, Mori, Tomohiro, Awazu, Yuta
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amplification
atoll
Atolls
Climate change
Coastal effects
Coral reefs
Depth perception
Dynamics
Equator
Estimates
Extreme values
Extreme waves
Flooding
fringing reef
Geophysics
High tide
infragravity wave
Long waves
Mitigation
Oceans
Probability theory
sea‐level rise
Shallow water
Shorelines
Stochasticity
swell
Tides
Tropical climate
Variability
Water depth
Water levels
Wave climate
Wave runup
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Summary:Many atolls in tropical oceans are under the threat of sea‐level rise. Mitigation planning requires reliable estimates of increasing wave runup in response to sea‐level rise and changes in wave climate. However, shoreline dynamics on reef‐lined coasts, particularly the effect of low‐frequency waves, are not yet fully understood. Herein, we present a field study on the southernmost atoll of the Maldives to clarify the variability of shoreline water levels driven by waves and tides. The atoll is located just south of the equator and has a moderate wave climate; it is occasionally impacted by long‐distance swells from the South Indian Ocean. Wave evolution on a reef‐lined coast was observed in situ for a period of seven months. The shallow water depth tightly constrains reef‐flat waves under normal wave conditions; however, this constraint is broken under extreme conditions by low‐frequency waves generated from long‐period swells. Particularly, very low‐frequency waves (
ISSN:2169-9275
2169-9291
DOI:10.1029/2021JC017880