A Study of the Structure of Stratified Tidal Flows in a Partially Mixed Estuary

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9416604 Monismith This project consists of conducting a fairly comprehensive field study of the dynamics of tidal estuarine flow using a combination of intensive studies of the local dynamics with longer-term moored measurements. The central hypothesis to be tested is the dominance of an along-stream local balance of forces. Specific questions to be addressed on this project are: (1) How significant are horizontal advective processes relative to vertical momentum transfer in establishing the state of the water column?; (2) How do various bathymetric configurations effect this relation?; (3) How are vertical momentum transfer and mixing affected by stratification in the tidal flows of a partially mixed estuary?; (4) More generally, if local balances dominate, are current ideas about the effects of stratification on the energy bearing scales of turbulence sufficient to explain the structure of the tidal flows measured in the field?; and, (5) Can internal waves be observed in the velocity and density fields? Are they a significant contributor to the total variance of these fields? ***