U.S. flag An official website of the United States government.
Official websites use .gov

A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS

A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

i

Flushing and Trapping of Buoyant Particles in a Gravitationally Driven Wide Estuary



Details

  • Journal Title:
    Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans
  • Personal Author:
  • NOAA Program & Office:
    NOS (National Ocean Service)
  • Description:
    Plastics and other buoyant particles, such as oil, plankton, and seafoam, are omnipresent in estuaries, which provide a critical interface to the open ocean. Here, we explore the convergence and along‐channel transport of buoyant particles using an idealized model of the gravitationally driven estuarine circulation with a deeper center channel and shallower flanks. First, the model predicts persistent surface convergence zones, aggregating buoyant material. Second, reduced vertical mixing results in accelerated surface outflow consistent with particle transport out of the bay during neap tides. We refer to this consistent outflow as flushing. Third, increased vertical mixing from neap to spring tides changes the lateral structure of the surface flows with weak up‐estuary along‐channel flows in the region of particle convergence during spring tides, resulting in particle trapping. We show the applicability of idealized model theory to the Delaware Bay through the use of a realistic hydrodynamic model, high‐resolution satellite images, GPS‐tracked drifters, and CTD cross‐sections. Our results are consistent with the theory and indicate that buoyant surface‐trapped particles in Delaware Bay quickly converge to the channel center of the estuary and are consequently either trapped in the estuary during spring tide or flushed to the continental shelf during neap tide. Our results contribute to the growing understanding of particle movement and retention within an estuarine system.
  • Source:
    Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 130(6)
  • DOI:
  • ISSN:
    2169-9275 ; 2169-9291
  • Format:
    pdf
  • Publisher:
    American Geophysical Union (AGU)|https://ror.org/00var5q80
  • Document Type:
    Journal Article
  • Funding:
    Grant no. NA21NOS9990110
  • Rights Information:
    Other
  • Compliance:
    Submitted
  • Main Document Checksum:
    urn:sha-512:650dff5be0e9b4c9207212f35ef5820bcead47d63e625d2e9e0ce6a7faca115d7334d1551fe9c79dd8071d510c22fc470fbf7d0cb070ba647342306f687f4db1
  • Download URL:
  • File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 4.18 MB ]
PREVIOUS
ON THIS PAGE
Details
The NOAA IR serves as an archival repository of NOAA-published products including scientific findings, journal articles, guidelines, recommendations, or other information authored or co-authored by NOAA or funded partners. As a repository, the NOAA IR retains documents in their original published format to ensure public access to scientific information.
BACK TO TOP