The evolution of suspended sediment concentration was monitored during Hurricane Claudette near the 5-m isobath on the muddy inner shelf fronting Atchafalaya Bay, Louisiana. Relatively strong wave and current activity resuspended large quantities of sediment. In the waning phase of the storm, settling generated a high turbidity layer, consistent with the formation of a fluid mud layer (concentrations higher that 10 kg/m~3) with a thickness of over 1 m above the bottom. The formation of the fluid-mud layer is correlated with strong, broad-spectrum wave dissipation, suggesting that wave-suspended sediment interaction plays an important part in the energy transfer from the surface to the soft bottom.
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