REMOTE SENSING OF SWASH ZONE BOUNDARY CONDITIONS USING VIDEO AND ARGUS

A method to determine swash zone boundary conditions is developed using remote sensing by video and ARGUS. Guard and Baldock (2007) proposed new numerical solutions for swash hydrodynamics, where the flow field varies according to a free parameter, k. k=0 in the Shen and Meyer swash solution but k=1 appears more realistic for real swash. This study has developed a semi-automated method to obtain values for k from multiple waves in field conditions using ARGUS video data and image analysis techniques. The results indicate that k is greater than 0 and close to 1 for natural swash. No trends were observed between k and run-up length, offshore significant wave height or tidal phase, consistent with the self-similarity of the swash hydrodynamics. In conjunction with modelling, the method offers the possibility of remote sensing of the asymmetry in the swash zone hydrodynamics.