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Coastal Hydrodynamics and Timescales in Meso-Macrotidal Estuaries in the Gulf of Maine: a Model Study

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Abstract

Sustainability solutions to water quality management problems, many generated by human activities, require knowledge and understanding of circulation patterns and transport rates that govern water quality conditions. This research demonstrates approaches to frame and implement estuary investigations with the purpose of quantifying hydrodynamics influencing estuary water pollution residence time and transport rates governed by freshwater flows and estuary tidal dynamics. The study area is a coastal location with connected estuaries in the Gulf of Maine, USA, near Acadia National Park where complex coastal morphometry controls on estuary hydrodynamics and pollution problems have been observed. A Lagrangian particle tracking study is implemented to examine particle transport patterns and timescales to identify the conditions and mechanisms that influence them. Conservative virtual particles are released and tracked in hydrodynamic simulations over month-long periods with a range of conditions specified by freshwater flow input, tide range, and varied density gradients. Results show that residual eddy size surpasses the tidal excursion length and transport behavior is controlled by the residual flow rather than the tide in wide and geometrically simple estuaries with a simple bed profile and few complications from localized geomorphological features. Estuaries with similar characteristics are pre-disposed to suppression of the estuary water density gradient, a primary driver of residual flow, producing an order of magnitude increase in residence time under conditions comparable to those simulated by our analysis. Narrow channels and the presence of complex geomorphic features such as islands and constrictions limit the length of residual eddies and increase the tidal excursion. Transport timescales in estuaries with these conditions are more sensitive to variations in the tidal range than to changes in residual flow. Explorations of the relations between residual eddy length estimated as the estuary aspect ratio and a normalized tidal excursion provide a practical way for managers to identify controls on particle transport and pollution dynamics in estuaries and determine appropriate management actions to monitor and respond to coastal water pollution problems.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Dr. Neil Fisher, Rachel Chambers, Taylor Bailey, and Preston Spicer for helping with fieldwork. We thank the Maine Department of Marine Resources for the estuary delineation guidance and Bea Van Dam for the digital representation of the delineations. We also thank our stakeholder partners, Acadia Aquafarms and Waukeag Neck Oyster Farms, for help in knowledge cogeneration and framing the direction of the investigation, providing access to sampling sites, and provision of equipment for deploying instruments and data collection. We also wish to thank the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions at UMaine for initiating the stakeholder collaborations, technical support, and advice and support throughout this stakeholder-driven research. This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Geological Survey under Grant/Cooperative Agreement No. G16AP00057 and No. G21AP10179-00. Supplemental support for student participation and spatial data analyses has also been provided by the Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station at UMaine. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the opinions or policies of the U.S. Geological Survey. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute their endorsement by the U.S. Geological Survey. This manuscript is submitted for publication with the understanding that the United States Government is authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for Governmental purposes. Finally, we would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their valuable feedback and constructive comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tetra Tech, Inc, 1899 Powers Ferry Rd., Unit 400, Atlanta, GA, 30339, USA

    Sohaib Alahmed

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA

    Lauren Ross

  3. School of Earth and Climate Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA

    Sean M. C. Smith

  4. Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions, University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA

    Lauren Ross & Sean M. C. Smith

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  1. Sohaib Alahmed
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Correspondence to Lauren Ross.

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Communicated by David K. Ralston

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Alahmed, S., Ross, L. & Smith, S.M.C. Coastal Hydrodynamics and Timescales in Meso-Macrotidal Estuaries in the Gulf of Maine: a Model Study. Estuaries and Coasts 45, 1888–1908 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-022-01067-9

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