Fine sediment resuspension dynamics in a large semi-enclosed bay

A field study was conducted to investigate fine sediment resuspension dynamics in Moreton Bay, a large semi-enclosed bay situated in South East Queensland, Australia. One S4ADW current meter and three OBS sensors were used to collect the field data on tides, mean currents, waves and suspended sediment concentrations in a mean water depth of 6.1 m for about 3 weeks. Two small cleaning units were specially designed to automatically clean the OBS sensors several times every hour to avoid biological growth on the OBS sensors. Based on the collected field data, the main driving force for fine sediment resuspension is found to be the storm wind-waves generated locally in the Bay, not the tidal current or penetrated ocean swell. The critical wind-wave orbital velocity for sediment resuspension was determined to be U-rms =7 cm/s and the critical bed shear stress T-cr =0.083-0.095 Pa at this study site. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.