The boat channel: Difference between revisions
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;Just dropping raw material here; I need to come back and organize it. mxm, sj | |||
The so-called '''boat channel''' runs south out of [[Tatiman Passage]], parallel to the shoreline. There is a similar channel running north out of the passage along the [[Nutiran]] shore. | The so-called '''boat channel''' runs south out of [[Tatiman Passage]], parallel to the shoreline. There is a similar channel running north out of the passage along the [[Nutiran]] shore. | ||
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Think of it in typical beach terms where you have longshore flow of water parallel to the beach, and rip tides where the flow is out to sea perpendicular to the beach. | Think of it in typical beach terms where you have longshore flow of water parallel to the beach, and rip tides where the flow is out to sea perpendicular to the beach. | ||
A boat channel is what Howard referred to as a depression in the cross-beach profile, close to the sand line, that is basically a long-shore current-driven scour phenomena. The boat channel can be thought of as where the long-shore current scours out the sand, leaving a 2-4 foot depression usually filled with water at low tide. Throughout the years of TIGHAR, the term "boat channel" was also used as the blasted channel, oriented perpendicular to the shore, that allowed small boats to land close to the sand line. | |||
In reference to Tom King's remarks, I too have not seen this term in coral atoll literature; I believe it was Howard who first brought it to my attention. | |||
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Revision as of 01:51, 22 October 2009
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- Just dropping raw material here; I need to come back and organize it. mxm, sj
The so-called boat channel runs south out of Tatiman Passage, parallel to the shoreline. There is a similar channel running north out of the passage along the Nutiran shore.
The channels may be the result of action by what is termed a "longshore current".
This is the natural path of water to escape the reef, it runs along the shore until such a point where it can find its way off the reef in a natural channel 90 degrees to the beach.
Think of it in typical beach terms where you have longshore flow of water parallel to the beach, and rip tides where the flow is out to sea perpendicular to the beach.
A boat channel is what Howard referred to as a depression in the cross-beach profile, close to the sand line, that is basically a long-shore current-driven scour phenomena. The boat channel can be thought of as where the long-shore current scours out the sand, leaving a 2-4 foot depression usually filled with water at low tide. Throughout the years of TIGHAR, the term "boat channel" was also used as the blasted channel, oriented perpendicular to the shore, that allowed small boats to land close to the sand line.
In reference to Tom King's remarks, I too have not seen this term in coral atoll literature; I believe it was Howard who first brought it to my attention.