On the coupling of uncoupled flow and transport solvers

The coupling of flow and transport solvers we are dealing with in this paper represents a whole intermediate processing step taking place between the two. We develop new techniques to ensure mass conservation of the transport while using totally different numerical schemes in the flow and in the transport solvers. We also present a method which allows the use of larger time steps for the transport computation than the one used for the flow leading therefore to faster computations and considerable reduction in disk space for the storage of flow data. These techniques are applied and tested in the numerical application of 2D and 3D problems.     

Acute ecological risk associated with soot deposition: a Persian Gulf case study

Many studies have been carried out in the past to provide solutions to the threat of chemicals to the ecosystem. However, the basic scientific capability to predict the risk of adverse effects on the ecological system has not kept pace with society's increasing demand for uses of chemicals. As a scientific methodology for quantifying the risk to the environment associated with exposure to chemicals, ecological risk assessment is increasingly important in environmental problem solving. The purpose of this paper is to present a methodology for conducting ecological risk assessment using deterministic and probabilistic approaches. A systematic discussion on elements of ecological risk assessment is presented. A framework of ecological risk assessment is explained with the help of the Persian Gulf environmental problem as a case study. The study was based on the output of a long-range transport model of soot deposition in the Gulf. Results of the assessment using the deterministic and probabilistic approaches are discussed.     

An assessment model for the fate and environmental effects of offshore drilling mud discharges

The benthic boundary layer transport (bblt) model was developed to assess potential impact zones from drilling mud discharges from offshore oil and gas drilling. The model focuses on the drift, dispersion and concentration levels of the suspended fraction of the drilling mud fines in the benthic boundary layer with the assumption of a spatially homogeneous environment. The current version of the model includes a wave boundary layer, a breakup module for drilling mud flocs, a dose–response module for scallops, and a graphical user interface (GUI). The GUI was written in Java which makes the code largely platform independent. Simulations of suspended barite concentration near Sable Island on the Scotian Shelf during drilling in the fall of 1999 reproduce the very low concentrations (generally less than 1 μg L⁻¹) observed during the Environmental Effects Monitoring program. However, the simulations also exhibited concentrations in excess of the no-effects concentration for scallops (100 μg L⁻¹) prior to the sampling program. The model estimates that the potential impact on scallops in the vicinity of the drilling is a few days of lost growth over scales of a few kilometers.     

A Continuous Mapping of Tidal Current Structures in the Kanmon Strait

Tidal current structures at the Hayatomono-Seto of the Kanmon Strait are mapped continuously during March 17 to 20, 2003, including a spring tide, by the eight coastal acoustic tomography (CAT) systems distributed on both the sides of the strait. Detailed structures of strong tidal currents and their associated vortices are well reconstructed by the inverse analysis of travel-time difference data obtained from the reciprocal sound transmission between the paired CAT systems located at both sides of the strait mainly. The results are well compared to the shipboard acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) data at the correlation rate of 0.84/0.82 and the RMS difference of 0.47/0.48 ms⁻¹ for the east-west/north-south current after the selection of good data. During the observation period, the maximum hourly mean volume transport for the upper 7 m layer across the strait reached 13,314 m³ s⁻¹ for the eastward and 5,547 m³ s⁻¹ for the westward. The daily mean transport is directed to the eastward and estimated 1,470 m³ s⁻¹ and 2,140 m³ s⁻¹ for March 18 and 19, respectively, when a spring tide occurs.     

波浪作用下近岸区污染物输移扩散的数学模型及其实验验证

在近岸缓坡浅水海岸,波浪破碎产生沿岸流是近岸海域流场的重要组成部分,它对污染物输移扩散规律的影响重大,在高阶近似抛物化缓坡方程求解大面积波浪场基础上,建立了波浪作用下污染物输移扩散数学模型.计算结果与不同坡度均匀斜坡地形上具有不同波高、周期的规则波及不规则波浪作用下污染物输移扩散实验结果进行了比较,分析了各种因素对波浪作用下沿岸流分布规律影响,所得结论认为地形坡度及入射波高对污染物输移扩散的影响较大,波浪作用将使缓坡海滩上污染物的输移扩散平行岸线方向.     

波浪、潮流和风暴潮耦合模式及悬沙输移规律的研究

近年来，由于河口、海岸地区的泥沙运动与港口、航道以及海岸的冲淤有着直接的关系，对一些海岸建筑物比如防波堤、护岸工程等造成一定的威胁，甚至于使其完全丧失使用价值，造成巨大的损失。为此人们越来越重视对这一问题的研究。本文为估计岸滩的冲淤变化和了解岸滩的演变规律，对影响泥沙运动的海洋动力要素进行了研究。 为研究悬沙的输移规律，建立了一个由两部分组成的二维悬沙模型系统：①水动力模式。建立了一个综合多因素的二维波浪、潮汐和风暴潮耦合模式，以此来研究波、潮、风暴潮间的相互作用，并为泥沙计算提供流速场。②二维悬沙模式。运用得出的流场来研究悬沙的输移扩散规律。其中所采用的波浪模式是将流对波浪场的影响同时加以考虑的耦合数学模型，将流速加入波能方程，并考虑由于水面的升降而产生的不定常水深对波浪场的影响，再将波浪场对流场的影响通过辐射应力、考虑波浪影响的底应力以及依赖波龄的表面风应力耦合到流场中，从而建立了一个综合多种因素的波浪、潮汐、风暴潮联合作用下的二维悬沙模型系统。并在此模型系统的基础上，对黄河口泥沙的输移问题作了探讨，为今后的防堤、护岸工程提供依据。     

河口、海岸环境下床沙输运的初步实验研究

量测了在水深0.5m的情况下波浪、水流通过水平沙床所产生的床沙输移。实验波高为0.15m，周期分别为1.4和2.0s。首先量测纯波浪下的床沙输移，然后量测波流共同作用下，水流与波浪行进方向一致其稳定速度分别为0.02,0.04,0.06m/s时的床沙输移，结果表明，2个沙槽所得的总输沙率在波周期2.0s时最大，净输沙率在波周期1.4s时最大，将波叠加在速度为0.02m/s的水流上时，2种波型的净输沙率都增加约1倍，水流为0.04m/s和0.06m/s时2种波型的净输沙率分别都减少。     

东海带鱼(Trichiurus haumela)渔获量与邻近海域水文环境变化的关系

利用35年的东海区带鱼年渔获量资料与长江径流及东海温、盐断面资料、SST和黑潮流量资料，分析了东海渔获量年际变化与海洋环境的关系。结果表明，东海渔获量与长江径流和黑潮暖流的变化有密切的关系，长江径流量大时，东海渔获量高；反之，则低。1960年以来东海区渔获量的4次长期波动与长江径流的年代际变化基本一致。东海渔获量的丰、欠与黑潮(流量)的强、弱呈反位相变化，秋季的黑潮流量与渔获量的变化关系尤其显著；黑潮强(弱)时，东海渔获量低(高)。受长江径流和黑潮的影响，渔获量与盐度的高相关区夏季位于长江口区，秋季则位于黑潮左侧的盐锋内；东海渔获量高(低)分别与区域内盐度的低(高)变化相一致。东海区渔获量与不同季节SST变化的高相关区(即渔场区)关系密切，冬季(2月)位于东海北部的大沙渔场，春(5月)、夏季(8月)位于长江口舟山渔场，秋末初冬(12月)位于舟山及陆架暖流区，渔获量丰年与渔场区SST正异常相对应。     

Bottom Sediment Transport in the Flood and Ebb Channels of the Changjiang Estuary

Nanxiaohong and Nangang main south channel are chosen as the typical flood and ebb channels. Hydrodynamics analysis based on field hydrological and sediment data is conducted with Gao-Collins model to analyse sediment transport trends. Also, the grain size distribution analysis of the bottom sediment sampled in Sep. 2001 is used as the base of the analysis. The result shows that the sediment in Nanxiaohong is from the rive mouth area. The sediment transports upwards with the flood flow which is stronger than the ebb flow, i.e., in the direction of SE-WN. The sediment in main south channel comes from upward. They transport downwards with the ebb flow. which is stronger than the flood flow, i.e., in the direction of WN-SE. The directions, sources and mechanism of sediment transport are identified according to comprehensive analyses of the observed data on hydrodynamics and sediment.     

Movement patterns and trajectories of ovigerous blue crabs Callinectes sapidus during the spawning migration

Female blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus Rathbun) migrate from low salinity estuarine regions to high salinity regions near the ocean to release larvae. During this migration, ovigerous females use ebb-tide transport, a vertical migratory behavior in which they ascend into the water column during ebb tides, to move seaward to larval release areas. In order to determine the relationship of ebb-tide vertical migrations to local currents and the influence of these vertical migrations on the horizontal transport of blue crabs in the estuary, ovigerous females with mature embryos (1–3 days from hatching) were tracked near Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina (USA), in July and August 2001 and 2002. Crabs were tagged and tracked using ultrasonic telemetry, and currents near the crabs were measured simultaneously with a shipboard acoustic Doppler current profiler.During the two seasons, eight crabs were successfully tracked for periods ranging from 3.9–37.0 h and for distances ranging from 1.9–10.6 km. All crabs migrated seaward during the tracking periods. Crabs moved episodically during all tidal phases with periods of movement on the order of minutes to an hour. They moved with local currents in terms of both speed and direction during ebb tides, consistent with ebb-tide transport, and moved down-estuary (seaward) in opposition to local currents during flood tides. The percentage of time that crabs were active was higher during night ebb tides than during day ebb tides or flood tides and increased with increasing ebb-tide current speed. Mean migratory speeds were 0.11, 0.04, 0.08 and 0.02 m s⁻¹ during night ebb, night flood, day ebb and day flood tides, respectively, and net migratory speeds were on the order of 5 km day⁻¹. Due to the episodic nature of the crabs' movements, the total distances that crabs traveled during ebb tides ranged from 10–40% of the distances that passive particles could have traveled under the same conditions.