Turbidity Hysteresis in an Estuary and Tidal River Following an Extreme Discharge Event

Details

• Journal Title:
  Geophysical Research Letters
• Personal Author:
  Ralston, David K. ; Yellen, Brian ; Woodruff, Jonathan D. ; Fernald, Sarah
• NOAA Program & Office:
  NOS (National Ocean Service) ; OCM (Office for Coastal Management)
• Description:
  Nonlinear turbidity-discharge relationships are explored in the context of sediment sourcing and event-driven hysteresis using long-term (≥12-year) turbidity observations from the tidal freshwater and saline estuary of the Hudson River. At four locations spanning 175 km, turbidity generally increased with discharge but did not follow a constant log-log dependence, in part due to event-driven adjustments in sediment availability. Following major sediment inputs from extreme precipitation and discharge events in 2011, turbidity in the tidal river increased by 20–50% for a given discharge. The coherent shifts in the turbidity-discharge relationship along the tidal river over the subsequent 2 years suggest that the 2011 events increased sediment availability for resuspension. In the saline estuary, changes in the sediment-discharge relationship were less apparent after the high discharge events, indicating that greater background turbidity due to internal sources make event-driven inputs less important in the saline estuary at interannual time scales.
• Keywords:
  Estuaries Hydrology Sediments
• Source:
  Geophysical Research Letters, 47, e2020GL088005
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL088005
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  Grant no. NA14NOS4190145
• Place as Subject:
  Hudson River Estuary (N.Y. and N.J.)
• Rights Information:
  Other
• Compliance:
  Submitted
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:cacc86683def71ca195c86f6ed72354176662327b9a4b0f71232d69056a825bf
• Download URL:
  https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/34020/noaa_34020_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 5.52 MB ]