Suspended Particulate Dynamics in Advection-Dominated Environments

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Jay 0096678A large data set consisting of acoustic and optical measurements of suspended particulate matter is available from two west coast estuaries, as well as extensive ancillary data. Techniques will be developed to invert the acoustic and optical data to sediment size class spectra. These will then be combined with the ancillary environmental data to study the processes responsible for the distribution of suspended sediment in the two estuaries and, in particular, the development and variability of the estuarine turbidity maximum, a region of enhanced suspended sediment concentration. Finally, a comprehensive theory of the dynamics of estuarine turbidity maxima will be developed and compared to the results of the previous analyses. Estuarine suspended sediment transport, in general, and the dynamics of the turbidity maximum, in particular, are important for the management of pollutant transport, navigation, and living marine resources in estuaries. The analyses and syntheses proposed will focus our conceptual understanding of these processes in a broad class of estuaries.