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Dense gravity currents moving beneath progressive free-surface water waves

Regulation of marine aggregate dredging and the quality of coastal waters requires a prediction of the dispersion of plumes of fine material and pollutants moving as gravity-driven currents. This paper describes a series of challenging experiments and provides an insight to the fundamental processes when dense discharges are subject to typical wave actions. Comparing cases where gravity currents move with or against waves, observations using LIF (laser induced fluorescence) demonstrate significant differences in the shape of the plume head and mixing with the ambient, while PIV measurements show that waves alter the speed with which gravity currents propagate.