Abstract
Employing a recently developed model for the creation and evolution of the aerated region of breaking waves, the relative importance of the roller in driving and mixing cross-shore and longshore currents is explored. Modeling results using linear wave theory confirm that in the mean balances of mass, momentum, and energy, the roller plays a role comparable to (and sometimes greater than) the underlying organized wave motion. It also appears that the roller is responsible for the landward shift of the peak cross-shore and longshore current observed in laboratory and field measurements, and is as important as the net convective acceleration in cross-shore mixing of the longshore current.
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