The ‘Turbulometer’—An Apparatus for Measuring Relative Exposure to Wave Action on Shores

Abstract

Wave action is a very important factor controlling the distribution of shore life and its measurement is a difficult problem confronting biologists wishing to study its effect. The instrument described here was developed in an attempt to improve on subjective descriptions of shores as 'exposed', 'fairly exposed', 'sheltered', etc. It is not claimed that the instrument can give a measurement of the critical force of breaking waves which may limit the distribution of marine organisms; it can only give an averaged reading of the amount of water flowing over a surface during the period of measurement but this may be helpful in getting a more objective comparison of the degree of exposure between different locations on the shore.