ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses only coral reefs, mangrove swamps, and muddy coastal environments because these environments are common on a tropical coast. Tropical coastal waters cover an area similar in size to temperate coastal waters, but until recently their hydrodynamics have been much less studied for various political, social, and logistical reasons. As pointed out in the review of coral reef hydrodynamics by Hamner and Wolanski, the physical and chemical characteristics of water masses in coral reefs reflect not only those of the surrounding offshore waters, but also local reef-driven influences. For coral reefs in deeper waters on the continental shelf, the secondary, bottom friction-driven, three-dimensional circulation may become dynamically less important for unsteady tidal flows. In the central region of the Great Barrier Reef, shelf-scale upwelling occurs on the continental slope and is driven by wind fluctuations and events in the Coral Sea.
