Abstract
In this paper, we investigate the mechanisms which control the generation of wave-induced mean current vorticity in the surf zone. From the vertically-integrated and time-averaged momentum equations given recently by Smith [21], we obtain a vorticity forcing term related to differential broken-wave energy dissipation. Then, we derive a new equation for the mean current vorticity, from the nonlinear shallow water shock-wave theory. Both approaches are consistent, under the shallow water assumption, but the later gives explicitly the generation term of vorticity, without any ad-hoc parametrization of the broken-wave energy dissipation.