A mechanism whereby internal solitary waves can lead to enhanced resuspension in coastal regions is presented. The mechanism involves the creation of a local region of separated flow in the boundary layer under the footprint of a wave. This region is susceptible to a global instability which leads to a coherent dynamics in which gradients in the normal and tangential stresses acting on the bottom surface are increased tenfold. Such increased bottom stresses and the spatio-temporal character of the flow combine to produce conditions favorable for resuspension. ¿ 1999 American Geophysical Union