FOREWORD 
The importance of current patterns in coastal waters to submarine 
sewage outfalls has been repeatedly emphasized in the literature as 
has been, to a lesser degree, the importance of nearshore circulation 
to problems of beach erosion and inlet stability. In either case, 
precise information relative to the horizontal and vertical velocity 
characteristics of the nearshore system is required at several points 
in the area, Current measurements and precision estimates of mixing 
and diffusion are needed not only at or near the surface but also 
simultaneously at several depths. 
This Technical Memorandum presents the results of measurements 
made by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and the U. S. Coast 
and Geodetic Survey in the nearshore area off Virginia Beach, Virginia. 
The data permit resolution of the general circulatory system, as well 
as partial separation of tidal and non-tidal currents. Specific in- 
formation on the characteristics of turbulent diffusion in one of the 
tidal currents is also presented, 
This report was prepared by Dr. Wyman Harrison, Associate Marine 
Scientist, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, in pursuance of Con- 
tract DA-49-055-CIV ENG-63-6 with the Beach Erosion Board and in 
collaboration with Dr. M. L. Brehmer, Senior Marine Scientist, and 
Mr. R. B. Stone, graduate student at the Institute. Funds for the 
drift bottle and dye study portions of this study were provided by 
the Hampton Roads Sanitation District Commission and the Virginia 
Institute of Marine Science. Precision monitoring of the currents 
using Roberts Radio Current Meters was conducted by the U. S. Coast 
and Geodetic Survey in a cooperative study requested by the Virginia 
Institute of Marine Science. 
This report is published under authority of Public Law 166, 79th 
Congress, approved July 31, 1945, as supplemented by Public Law 172, 
88th Congress, approved 7 November 1963. 
