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In contrast to free shear layers, which grow continuously downstream, shear layers generated by submerged vegetation grow only to a finite thickness. Because these shear layers are characterized by coherent vortex structures and rapid vertical mixing, their thickness controls exchange between the vegetation and the overlying water. Experiments conducted in a laboratory flume show that the growth of these obstructed shear layers is arrested once the production of shear‐layer‐scale turbulent kinetic energy (SKE) is balanced by dissipation of SKE within the canopy. This equilibrium condition, along with a mixing length closure scheme, was used in a one‐dimensional numerical model to predict the mean velocity profiles of the experimental shear layers. The agreement between model and experiment is very good, but field application of the model is limited by a lack of description of the drag coefficient in a …