Transverse structure of tidal and residual flow and sediment concentration in estuaries

Huijts, K.M.H.; Swart, H.E. de; Schramkowski, George P.; Schuttelaars, Henk M.

doi:10.1007/s10236-011-0414-7

Cited by 33 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 38 publications

(69 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…8C). According with several authors in other similar estuaries these gyres can be interpreted as a result of the Coriolis effect (Heniche et al, 2000;Friedrichs and Hamrick, 1996;Valle-Levinson et al, 2000;Huijts et al, 2011).…”

Section: Dynamics On the Inner Estuary (Tidal Flats And Main Channel)mentioning

confidence: 64%

Hydrodynamic controls of morpho-sedimentary evolution in a rock-bounded wave dominated estuary. Tina Menor (N Spain)

Flor-Blanco

Flor

González

et al. 2016

Journal of Iberian Geology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Tina Menor estuary is a highly confined incised valley with advanced sedimentary infilling. The outstanding feature of this estuary is its longitudinal zonation, which forms four segments from the outer to the inner limit: Mouth complex, Bay, Tidal flats and Upper channel. The innermost part of the Bay and the Tidal Flats (semi-reclaimed areas) are broader estuarine zones, whereas the Mouth Complex and outermost Bay are confined by narrow rocky outcrops. This paper explains the dynamics and sedimentary distribution of a highly confined and singular estuary, detailing the fluvial-tidal controls on the variations in water mixing (QF/QT). This estuary is largely of salt wedge type and the dynamics are characterised by recording currents (speed and direction) in the water column during a tidal cycle in a spring tide; this process consists of the tidal waves propagation and their dissipation upstream hypo-synchronously and the mixing of fresh and saline waters.The morphology, dynamics and sedimentary distributions have been integrated to develop a conceptual model that demonstrates the circulation within the estuary. The sinuous geometry of the estuarine valley and the Coriolis Effect detected, play a fundamental role in determining the morphology and sedimentary distribution. Consequently, this study provides an adequate overview of this type of confined mesotidal estuary, quite common in the eastern Atlantic coast.Keywords: estuary, mesotidal, Bay of Biscay, morpho-sedimentary processes Resumen El estuario de Tina Menor es un valle encajado altamente confinado y sedimentariamente en un avanzado estado de colmatación. Se caracteriza por su zonación longitudinal en cuatro segmentos bien diferenciados desde su sector más externo hasta el límite interior: Complejo de Desembocadura, Bahía, Llanuras Mareales y Canal Superior. El interior de la Bahía y las Llanuras Mareales de carácter fangoso (zonas semi-reclamadas) son las más extensas, mientras que el Complejo de Desembocadura y la parte externa de la Bahía, están estrechamente confinadas por afloramientos rocosos. Este trabajo explica la distribución dinámica y sedimentaria de un estuario singular y altamente confinado, detallando los controles fluviales-mareales en la variación de las mezclas de agua (QF/QT). Este estuario es en gran parte del tipo de cuña salina y la dinámica fue caracterizada por las medidas de corrientes (velocidad y dirección) realizadas en la columna de agua durante un ciclo mareal en marea viva; este proceso consiste en la propagación de las ondas de marea y su disipación de aguas arriba hiposincrónicamente y la mezcla de aguas dulces y salinas.La morfología, dinámica y las distribuciones sedimentarias, se han integrado para desarrollar un modelo conceptual que demuestre la circulación dentro del estuario. La geometría sinuosa del valle estuarino y la detección del efecto de Coriolis, juegan un rol fundamental para determinar la distribución morfologica y sedimentaria. Consecuentemente, este estudio proporciona un visión adecuada de...

show abstract

Section: Dynamics On the Inner Estuary (Tidal Flats And Main Channel)mentioning

confidence: 64%

Hydrodynamic controls of morpho-sedimentary evolution in a rock-bounded wave dominated estuary. Tina Menor (N Spain)

Flor-Blanco

Flor

González

et al. 2016

Journal of Iberian Geology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Although we have shown that the Stokes number should be used when evaluating the importance of frictional forces over local acceleration, use of the Strouhal number is still valid when assessing the importance of advection; as correctly applied by Huijts et al (2011), this number is sometimes called the unsteadiness number. …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Winant (2007) while Winant (2008) and Huijts et al (2011) used it to describe the transverse structure of residual flows in estuaries. Although both authors suggest that the earth's rotation is important, neither of them took it into account when defining the Stokes number, i.e.…”

Section: Use Of the Stokes Number To Describe Tidal Dynamics In Estuamentioning

confidence: 99%

On the use of the Stokes number to explain frictional tidal dynamics and water column structure in shelf seas

Souza

2013

Ocean Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. In recent years coastal oceanographers have suggested using the "Strouhal" number or its inverse, the "Stokes" number, to describe the effect of bottom boundary layer turbulence on the vertical structure of both density and currents. These are defined as the ratios of the frictional depth (δ) to the water column depth (h) or vice versa. Although many researchers have mentioned that the effects of the earth's rotation should be important, they have tended to omit it. Rotation may have an important influence on tidal currents, as the frictional depth from a fully cyclonic to a fully anticyclonic tidal ellipse can vary by up to an order of magnitude at mid latitudes. The Stokes number might appear smaller for cyclonic current ellipses (larger for anticyclonic) than it is without rotation, resulting in frictional effects being underestimated (overestimated). Here, a way to calculate a Stokes number is proposed, in which the effect of the earth's rotation is taken into account. The standard Stokes and the rotational Stokes numbers are used as predictors for the position of the tidal mixing fronts in the Irish Sea. Results show that use of the rotational number improves the predictions of fronts in shallow cyclonic areas of the eastern Irish Sea. This suggests that the effect of rotation on the water column structure will be more important in shallow shelf seas and estuaries with strong rotational currents.

show abstract

“…Wind forcing, however, is neglected. On the other hand, following the recommendation of Huijts et al (2011), we include an M 2 variation of the cross-channel density gradient. It is uniform in lateral direction, and its amplitude is chosen equal to the cross-sectional average derived from the observations (∼10 −3 kg/m 4 ).…”

Section: Model Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Wong 1994;Valle-Levinson et al 2003;Cheng and ValleLevinson 2009) or residual and tidal flow (e.g. Friedrichs and Hamrick 1996;Huijts et al 2006Huijts et al , 2009Huijts et al , 2011 in estuarine cross sections. Recently, Burchard et al (2011) adapted a numerical code that partly bridges the gap between complex numerical models on the one hand and analytical models on the other hand.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Importance of cross-channel bathymetry and eddy viscosity parameterisation in modelling estuarine flow

Zitman

Schuttelaars

2012

Ocean Dynamics

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

For a proper understanding of flow patterns in curved tidal channels, quantification of contributions from individual physical mechanisms is essential. We study quantitatively how such contributions are affected by crosschannel bathymetry and three alternative eddy viscosity parameterisations. Two models are presented for this purpose, both describing flow in curved but otherwise prismatic channels with an (almost) arbitrary transverse bathymetry. One is a numerical model based on the full threedimensional shallow water equations. Special feature of this diagnostic model is that assumptions regarding the relative importance of particular physical mechanisms can be incorporated in the computations by switching corresponding terms in the model equations on or off. We also present an idealized model that provides semi-analytical approximate solutions of the shallow water equations for all three considered alternative eddy viscosity parameterisations. It forms an aid in explaining and theorising about results obtained with the numerical model. Observations regarding Chesapeake Bay serve as a reference case for the present study. We find that the relative importance of both alongchannel advective forcing and transverse diffusive forcing depends on local characteristics of the cross-sectional bottom profile rather than global ones. In our reference case, tide-residual along-channel flow induced by these forcings is not small compared to the total tidal residual. Building on this observation, we present an indicative test to judge whether advective processes should be included in leading order in modelling tide-dominated estuarine flow. Furthermore, depending on the applied eddy viscosity parameterisation (uniformly or parabolically distributed over the vertical), we find qualitatively different spatial patterns for the along-channel advective forcing.

show abstract

Transverse structure of tidal and residual flow and sediment concentration in estuaries

Cited by 33 publications

References 38 publications

Hydrodynamic controls of morpho-sedimentary evolution in a rock-bounded wave dominated estuary. Tina Menor (N Spain)

Hydrodynamic controls of morpho-sedimentary evolution in a rock-bounded wave dominated estuary. Tina Menor (N Spain)

On the use of the Stokes number to explain frictional tidal dynamics and water column structure in shelf seas

Importance of cross-channel bathymetry and eddy viscosity parameterisation in modelling estuarine flow

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About