A framework to quantify flow through coral reefs of varying coral cover and morphology.

Flow velocities within coral reefs are greatly reduced relative to those at the water surface. The in-reef flow controls key processes that flush heat, cycle nutrients and transport sediment from the reef to adjacent beaches, all key considerations in assessments of reef resilience and restoration interventions. An analytical framework is proposed and tested with a suite of high-resolution numerical experiments. We demonstrate a single parameter that describes the total coral frontal area explains variation of horizontally averaged velocity within a reef canopy across morphologies, densities, and flow depths. With the integration of existing data of coral cover and geometry, this framework is a practical step towards the prediction of near-bed flows in diverse reef environments.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
(Copyright: © 2023 Pomeroy et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)