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gfdl's home page > gfdl on-line bibliography > 1985: Journal of Physical Oceanography, 15(12), 1676-1692
A three-dimensional simulation of the Hudson-Raritan estuary. Part I: Description of the model and model simulations
| Oey, L-Y., G. L Mellor, and R. I. Hires, 1985: A three-dimensional simulation of the Hudson-Raritan estuary. Part I: Description of the model and model simulations. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 15(12), 1676-1692. |
| Abstract: A time-dependent, three-dimensional, finite difference simulation of the Hudson-Raritan estuary is presented. The calculation covers July-September 1980. The model estuary is forced by time-dependent observed winds, tidal elevation at open boundaries, and river and sewage discharges. Turbulence mixing coefficients in the estuary are calculated according to a second-moment, turbulence-closure submodel. Horizontal diffusivities are zero in the simulation and small-scale eddies produced by the interaction of unsteady, three-dimensional velocity and salinity fields with coastline and bottom bathymetry were resolved by the model. These eddies are important physical elements in shear dispersion processes in an estuary. |
| Model results show unstably stratified water columns produced by advection of waters of different densities. These instabilities produce intense mixing with verical eddy diffusivities reaching 2-3 times their neutral values. They occur most frequently at slack currents, during initial stages of flooding currents and also during up-estuary wind events. These three-dimensional, time-dependent solutions extend previous analytical model results and are consistent with observations in partially mixed and well mixed estuaries. |
| Model results show large subtidal response of velocity and salinity fields to wind forcing. Wind forcing modifies the density-induced flows in deep channels in the estuary and also the horizontal circulation in Raritan Bay where the average water depth is less than 5 m and tidal currents are weak. |