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Nontidal circulation and mixing processes in the lower Potomac estuary

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Abstract

An analysis of the vertical structure of nontidal longitudinal currents and salinity in a reach of the lower Potomac River Estuary suggests that values for vertical eddy viscosity and eddy diffusivity scale with water depth H, tidal current amplitude U and bulk Richardson number according to conventional empirical formulas. However, the constant which relates the vertical eddy coefficients under conditions of neutral stability to UH is found to be an order of magnitude less than that expected for tidal conditions. Analyses also suggest that the degree of enhancement of longitudinal dispersion by the shear effect associated with the nontidal currents is a strong function of bulk Richardson number.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Marine Sciences Research Center, State University of New York, 11794, Stony Brook, New York

    Andrew D. Hamilton & Robert E. Wilson

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  1. Andrew D. Hamilton
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  2. Robert E. Wilson
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Contribution No. 238 of the Marine Sciences Research Center, State University of New York.

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Hamilton, A.D., Wilson, R.E. Nontidal circulation and mixing processes in the lower Potomac estuary. Estuaries 3, 11–19 (1980). https://doi.org/10.2307/1351930

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1351930

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