Author(s): Vivek Bheeroo; Mu-Jung Lee; Scott Socolofsky; Kuang-An Chang

Linked Author(s): Scott A. Socolofsky

Keywords: Galveston Bay; Ship wakes; Unmanned aerial system; Particle Image Velocimetry

Abstract: The Houston Ship Channel in Galveston Bay, Texas, is the main pathway for frequent traffic from ships, barges and oil tankers. Large-scale flow structures are generated from ship passage along the ocean surface. These are observed to persist well after the motion of the ship and have the propensity to influence the surface and interior transport of material released from oil or chemical spills, algae blooms, or dissolved gases and nutrients. This work examines the surface and interior flow dynamics in the vicinity of the Houston Ship Channel. Field surveys consisted of unmanned aerial system (UAS) deployments to remotely sense surface currents combined with in situ monitoring of interior currents and density. Our results demonstrate that remnants of ship wakes may influence near-surface circulation near the channel for a prolonged period. Periodic flow structures orthogonal to the ship motion were detected from an analysis of the velocity field in the turbulent core of the ship wake. These likely arise from a complex interaction between a circular jet emanating from the ship propeller and a planar wake from the ship's bluff body. We noted that density profiles remain stratified at distant locations from the channel footprint. We posit that the ship hydrodynamics may laterally displace denser, saline water from the salt-wedge tidal intrusion out of the chan nel and onto the shallow flanks. The saline water then propagates laterally away in the form of a density current. Ship traffic is thus likely to influence both surface and interior flow transport on time scale and spatial extents much greater than the immediate passage of a ship.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.64697/iahr.proc.ise2026.abs.181

Year: 2026