Investigation on coastal current velocities: numerical simulations and velocity profile laws

Velocity data, undertaken during a survey carried out in March 2010, offshore the coast of Bari (located on the Adriatic Sea in Southern Italy), are analysed and discussed in the present paper. Measurements were acquired by means of a Vessel Mounted Acoustic Doppler Velocity Profiler (VM-ADCP). Furthermore, some data about current temperature and salinity were also collected at the same time and locations. The current flow was south-eastward directed during the investigations and it had a quite homogeneous direction along the vertical, while velocity intensities diminished whit deepening waters. Some numerical simulations were run to reproduce the coastal hydrodynamics. They were forced by the real wind and tide and confirmed the investigated current pattern. Also the vertical profiles of measured current velocities were studied and compared with some experimental laws, such as the logarithmic law, usually used to reproduce uniform flows in simple channel configurations. A successful validation of the experimental laws was achieved.