The application of a segmented tidal mixing model to the Great Bay Estuary, N.H.

Abstract

Measurements show that in general salt is vertically well-mixed everywhere in the Great Bay Estuary, New Hampshire except near the river entrances at the head of the estuary. Dyer and Taylor’s (1973) modified version of Ketchum’s segmented tidal prism model has been applied to the Great Bay Estuarine System in order to predict high and low water salinity distribution for a specified river flow. The theory has been modified here to account for the mixing which occurs at the junction of two branches of an estuary. The mixing parameter, which in this model is related to the tidal excursion of water in the estuary, has been determined for different segments in the estuary on the basis of a comparison between predictions and a comprehensive data set obtained for a low river flow period. Using a mixing parameter distribution based on the low river flow calibration procedure the salinity distribution has been predicted for high river flow. The resulting salinity distribution compares favorably with observations for most of the estuary. The corresponding flushing times for water parcels entering at the head of the estuary during periods of low and high river flow is 54.5 and 45.9 tidal cycles respectively.