Collaborative Research: The Interaction of Estuarine Circulation and Wind-Driven Shelf Circulation

虽然有大量的工作研究静态河口对风力驱动的沿海海洋的影响，也有类似的大量工作考虑河口与无特征海洋耦合的环流，但很少有工作研究不断发展的沿海海洋与大型河口之间更现实的耦合。在这项研究中，将使用一个数值模型来探索理想分层、风力驱动的海岸陆架和理想河口之间相互作用的基本动力学。研究的两个主要问题将是：陆架上由风引起的上升流/下升流如何改变邻近河口的水文结构，以及河口的存在如何影响陆架上的上升流/下升流对风强迫的响应。为了使结果易于适用于与沿海海洋内部变形半径相比河口较大的广泛类型的河口，将使用基于理想化情景的面向过程的方法，而不是更现实的模型。参数的初始选择将适合于切萨皮克和特拉华河口，因为它们对调查人员来说是熟悉和接近的，而且它们已经得到了很好的研究。预期这些发现将阐明控制河口和沿海海洋之间相互作用的水文、测深和几何参数的组合。它们还可以帮助解释来自各种更复杂、更现实的数值模型的结果，并为未来的观测和对现有数据的重新分析提供新的视角。更广泛的影响：由于与河口的水交换和大陆架上的上升流/下升流是影响沿海海洋生物和化学结构的主要因素，因此该研究将提高对大型河口及其邻近大陆架的生态学认识。它还将描述人为影响是如何影响沿海海洋的。这项工作将通过两所大学的研究生和本科生参与研究来支持他们。这一提议将使ODU的学生受益。少数民族本科生培训计划，其结果将被纳入ODU的教育组成部分。我们正在对切萨皮克河口的水文进行监测。

ABSTRACTOCE-0453864 / OCE-0453792While there is a large body of work investigating the influence of a static estuary on a wind-driven coastal ocean, and a similarly large body of work considering circulation inside an estuary coupled to a featureless ocean, very little work has been done looking at a more realistic coupling of an evolving coastal ocean to a large estuary. In this study, a numerical model will be used to explore the fundamental dynamics of the interaction between an idealized stratified, wind-driven coastal shelf and an idealized estuary. The two major questions addressed will be how wind-induced upwelling/downwelling on the shelf modifies the hydrographic structure of an adjacent estuary, and how the presence of the estuary affects upwelling/downwelling response to wind forcing on the shelf. In order to make the results readily applicable to a wide class of estuaries whose mouths are large compared to the internal radius of deformation in the coastal ocean, a process-oriented approach based on idealized scenarios will be used instead of more realistic models. The initial choice of parameters will be appropriate to the Chesapeake and Delaware estuaries, both because they are familiar and close to the investigators and because they are well studied. The findings are expected to elucidate the combinations of hydrographic, bathymetric and geometric parameters which govern the interaction between the estuaries and the coastal oceans. They may also help interpret results from a wide variety of more complex, realistic numerical models, as well as provide a new perspective for future observations and reanalysis of existing data. Broader Impacts: Because the exchange of water with the estuary and the upwelling/downwelling on the shelf are major influences on the biological and chemical structure of the coastal ocean, the study will improve ecological understanding of large estuaries and their adjacent shelves. It will also characterize how anthropogenic influences reach the coastal ocean. This work will support graduate and undergraduate students at both universities through their involvement in the research. This proposal will benefit students in ODU.s Minority Undergraduate Student Training program, and the results will be integrated into the educational component of ODU.s ongoing monitoring of hydrography at the mouth of the Chesapeake.