Effects of depth discontinuity on harbor oscillations

The effects of water depth discontinuity near the harbor mouth on harbor oscillations are examined. Linear long-wave equations are used as the basis of the present study. For simplicity, only the normal incident waves are considered. Assuming that the harbor mouth is small in comparison with wavelength, the method of matched asymptotic expansion is employed to obtain the ocean impedance and the harbor responses. It is found that the incident waves can be trapped over the depth discontinuity which causes large oscillations near the harbor mouth. The radiation damping also decreases because of the appearance of the depth discontinuity, which leads to large amplifications at the lowest mode.