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

ABSTRACTOCE-0453864/OCE-0453792虽然有大量的工作研究了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了河口内的环流耦合到平凡的海洋，但很少有工作着眼于更现实的演变的沿海海洋和大型河口的耦合。在这项研究中，将使用一个数值模式来探索理想化分层的风力驱动的海岸陆架和理想化的河口之间相互作用的基本动力学。讨论的两个主要问题是，由风引起的陆架上涌/下降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对陆架上风强迫的上升/下降流响应。为了使结果容易适用于大范围的河口，与沿海海洋的内部变形半径相比，这些河口较大，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。最初的参数选择将适合切萨皮克和特拉华州河口，这既是因为它们熟悉并接近调查人员，也是因为它们得到了很好的研究。这些发现预计将阐明控制河口和沿海海洋之间相互作用的水文、水深和几何参数的组合。它们还可能有助于解释各种更复杂、更现实的数值模型的结果，并为未来的观察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陆架上的上升/下降流是对沿海海洋的生物和化学结构的主要影响，这项研究将增进对大型河口及其邻近大陆架的生态了解。它还将描述人为影响如何影响到沿海海洋。这项工作将通过参与研究来支持两所大学的研究生和本科生。这项提议将使ODU少数民族本科生培训计划的学生受益，其结果将被纳入ODU正在进行的切萨皮克河口水文监测的教育部分。

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.