Numerical study on salinity stratification in the Pamlico River Estuary

The variations of current circulation, salt intrusion, and vertical stratification under different river flow and wind conditions in the Pamlico River Estuary (PRE) were investigated in this paper using a three-dimensional numerical model. The model was calibrated and verified against water level variation, temperature, and salinity variations during 2003 and 2001, respectively. Eight sensitivity tests were conducted with different river flow and wind conditions specified in the model. Model results show that salinity intruded further upstream under scenarios with low flow, downriver local wind, and remote-wind-caused water level set-up conditions. In contrast, the responses of salinity stratification to different environmental forcing functions were different in different portions of the estuary. Salinity stratification was enhanced under high flow condition at the lower part of the estuary, under upriver wind near the river mouth, under downriver wind at the upstream to middle portion of the estuary, and under remote-wind-caused water level set-up condition at the majority of the estuary except near the river mouth. Model results also show that across-channel wind tended to reduce salt intrusion and salinity stratification in the PRE through increased vertical mixing.     

Seasonal changes in submarine groundwater discharge to coastal salt ponds estimated using Ra and Ra as tracers

Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) to coastal southern Rhode Island was estimated from measurements of the naturally-occurring radioisotopes ²²⁶Ra (t_1/2 = 1600 y) and ²²⁸Ra (t_1/2 = 5.75 y). Surface water and porewater samples were collected quarterly in Winnapaug, Quonochontaug, Ninigret, Green Hill, and Pt. Judith–Potter Ponds, as well as nearly monthly in the surface water of Rhode Island Sound, from January 2002 to August 2003; additional porewater samples were collected in August 2005. Surface water activities ranged from 12–83 dpm 100 L^− 1 (60 dpm = 1 Bq) and 21–256 dpm 100 L^− 1 for ²²⁶Ra and ²²⁸Ra, respectively. Porewater ²²⁶Ra activities ranged from 16–736 dpm 100 L^− 1 (2002–2003) and 95–815 dpm 100 L^− 1 (2005), while porewater ²²⁸Ra activities ranged from 23–1265 dpm 100 L^− 1. Combining these data with a simple box model provided average ²²⁶Ra-based submarine groundwater fluxes ranging from 11–159 L m^− 2 d^− 1 and average ²²⁸Ra-derived fluxes of 15–259 L m^− 2 d^− 1. Seasonal changes in Ra-derived SGD were apparent in all ponds as well as between ponds, with SGD values of 30–472 L m^− 2 d^− 1 (Winnapaug Pond), 6–20 L m^− 2 d^− 1 (Quonochontaug Pond), 36–273 L m^− 2 d^− 1 (Ninigret Pond), 29–76 L m^− 2 d^− 1 (Green Hill Pond), and 19–83 L m^− 2 d^− 1 (Pt. Judith–Potter Pond). These Ra-derived fluxes are up to two orders of magnitude higher than results predicted by a numerical model of groundwater flow, estimates of aquifer recharge for the study period, and values published in previous Ra-based SGD studies in Rhode Island. This disparity may result from differences in the type of flow (recirculated seawater versus fresh groundwater) determined using each technique, as well as variability in porewater Ra activity.     

Uncertainties associated with Ra and Ra measurements in water via a Delayed Coincidence Counter (RaDeCC)

The short-lived radium isotopes, ²²³Ra (T_1/2 = 11.4 days) and ²²⁴Ra (T_1/2 = 3.66 days), have been successfully used as tracers of several environmental processes, e.g., submarine groundwater discharge, coastal mixing processes, and water residence times. In this paper, the uncertainties associated with ²²³Ra and ²²⁴Ra measurements using a Radium Delayed Coincidence Counter are determined on a detailed error propagation basis with a confidence interval of 1σ. From the data analyses of several groups of coastal water samples, the calculated relative uncertainties averaged 12% for the ²²³Ra and 7% for the ²²⁴Ra. These uncertainties can decrease for radium-enriched groundwater samples although asymptotic limits have been found at 7% relative uncertainty for ²²³Ra and 4% for ²²⁴Ra. In this paper, the influence of sampling and measurement parameters on the final radium uncertainties is evaluated in order to provide guidance to optimize these factors and obtain more reliable results.     

The divergent environmental characteristics of permanently-open,seasonally-open and normally-closed estuaries of south-western Australia

This study has compared the environmental characteristics of the basins and saline lower reaches of the tributaries of eight estuaries on the south coast of Western Australia, which differ in their degree of connectivity with the ocean. Although four estuaries between 115.1° and 121.8° E along that coast remain permanently open to the ocean, the others only become open when the volume of river discharge is sufficient to breach the prominent sand bars at their mouths, which occurs annually following heavy winter and early spring rainfall in some estuaries (seasonally open) and infrequently in others (normally closed). Estuaries to the west of 118.5° E are predominantly permanently open, e.g. Oyster Harbour, or seasonally open, e.g. Broke, Irwin and Wilson inlets, whereas those further east, e.g. Wellstead Estuary and Hamersley, Culham and Stokes inlets, where annual rainfall and thus discharge are much lower, only become open after exceptionally heavy discharge. In permanently and seasonally-open estuaries, pronounced haloclines and oxyclines are present in the narrow rivers but not the wide basins where the waters are subjected to wind-driven mixing. The extent of cyclical seasonal fluctuations in environmental conditions differed markedly among the three seasonally-open estuaries and between years in one of those systems. These differences reflected variations in the relationship between the volume of fluvial discharge, which is determined by a combination of the amount of local rainfall, catchment size and extent of clearing of native vegetation, and the amount of intrusion by marine waters, which is largely controlled by the size and duration of the opening of the estuary mouth. The mean seasonal salinities in the basins of the three normally-closed estuaries increased over three years of very low rainfall to 64 in the deepest of these estuaries (Stokes Inlet) to 145 in Hamersley Inlet and to 296 in the shallowest estuary (Culham Inlet). These results demonstrate that the environmental characteristics of estuaries on the south coast of Western Australia differ markedly, even among those of the same type, e.g. seasonally-open estuaries or normally-closed estuaries.     

一种污水排海的近远区计算与控制方法──以大亚湾水容量计算及污水排海为例

针对点容量计算中混合区限制的要求，采用了动量积分法、经验公式法和有限差分法，分别对污水排放后可能引起的近区、过渡区和远区的污水浓度变化进行了模拟预测，并就一定的限制性条件对容量点近区、高浓度混合区及容量点远区影响范围进行了分析。在大亚湾水容量计算及污水排海规划中的应用表明，该法具有计算机时较省、精度相对较高等优点。     

浙江苍南近岸海域海床冲淤过程研究

近岸海床冲淤变化直接反映海区地貌稳定状态,由此影响海区物质迁移及水运资源可持续利用。基于此,本研究通过选择苍南海域不同时期的海图资料,基于ArcGIS平台探讨该海域多尺度海床冲淤过程,为研究区海岸港工建筑规划与评估提供理论指导。主要研究结果包括：苍南海域海床冲淤变化大致分为四个阶段,即1931—1970年大幅淤积,海床净淤积量达到169.47×10⁶m³,淤积强度为5.18 cm/a;1971—2005年海床淤积幅度减弱,海床净淤积量为12.24×10⁶m³,淤积强度为0.41 cm/a;2006—2009年海床由淤转冲,海床净冲刷量为14.70×10⁶m³,冲刷强度为3.60 cm/a;2010—2017年海床持续冲刷,海床净冲刷量为10.17×10⁶m³,冲刷强度为1.33 cm/a。除1931—1970年10 m等深线向海大幅扩张以及1971—2005年10 m等深线有部分向海扩张外,1971—2017年5 m与10 m等深线普遍向陆后退。2006—2017年,位于北关港内的2 m等深线也向陆后退。冲淤结果显示,苍南海域海床未来可能呈现弱侵蚀态势。其中,风暴潮频发导致海床经常性失稳加之长江入海泥沙的减少导致该区域泥沙补给不足,二者共同作用可能是该区域海床由淤积逐渐转为侵蚀的主导因素。     

无定河流域不同地貌区水沙过程对比

为了查明人为影响程度较低时期无定河流域内不同地貌区的水沙过程及其变化规律,选取1970年以前一段时期该流域内风沙区和黄土丘陵沟壑区河流的有关水文站的水文泥沙实测数据进行对比分析。结果表明,风沙区河流的流量变率较黄土丘陵沟壑区的小;风沙区河流的含沙量远小于黄土丘陵沟壑区河流的含沙量。黄土丘陵沟壑区河流具有极高的输沙率,而风沙区河流的输沙率微不足道。风沙区和黄土丘陵沟壑区河流的产流模数基本相近,但产沙模数非常悬殊,前者的产沙模数很小,为118.58~725.38t /km² · a,而后者的达到1879.36~25112.15t /km² · a。显然,无定河流域黄土丘陵沟壑区的河流是侵蚀产沙的主要来源区,因而是水土保持工作的重点区域。     

近20年来中国滨海地带区域经济分异特点研究

以地级行政区为地域单元,采用多指标综合作为衡量指标,对中国滨海地带经济地域分异特征即经济发展水平的峰谷相间特征进行了研究。首先研究了峰谷相间地域格局的发育过程;然后探讨了区域产业结构和城市化水平的时序演化特征;最后总结了上述时序过程和空间过程的时空关联特征。研究的结果表明,中国滨海地带已经形成了区域之间、区域组合之间、南与北之间多层次的地域经济分异。     

A New Retracking Technique for Brown Peaky Altimetric Waveforms

A new Brown-Peaky (BP) retracker has been developed for peaky waveforms that usually appear within ～10 km to the coastline. The main feature of the BP is that it fits peaky waveforms using the Brown model without introducing a peak function. The retracking strategy first detects the peak location and width of a waveform using an adaptive peak detection method, and then estimates retracking parameters using a weighted least squares (WLS) estimator. The WLS assigns a downsized weight to corrupted waveform gates, but an equal weight to other normal waveform gates. The BP retracker has been applied to 4-year Jason-1 waveform (2002–2006) in two Australian coastal zones. The results retracked by BP, MLE4 and ALES retrackers have been validated against tide-gauge observations located at Burnie, Lorne and Broome. The comparison results show that three retrackers have similar performance over open oceans with the correlation coefficient (～0.7) and RMSE (～13 cm) between altimetric and tide-gauge sea levels for distance >7 km offshore. The main improvement of BP retracker occurs for distance ≤7 km to the coastline, where validation results indicate that data retracked by BP are more accurate (15–21 cm) than those by ALES (16–24 cm) and MLE4 (19–37 cm).     

Tropical Cyclone Genesis Potential Index for Bay of Bengal During Peak Post-Monsoon (October-November) Season Including Atmosphere-Ocean Parameters

Several studies on tropical cyclone genesis potential index (GPI) mainly using atmospheric parameters (relative/absolute vorticity, relative humidity, vertical wind shear, potential instability, vertical velocity etc.) have been reported earlier. Though the ocean plays a vital role in the genesis and intensification of cyclones, no ocean parameter has been included in most of the studies. In this study, we have made an attempt to develop a new GPI for Bay of Bengal during peak post-monsoon (October-November) season including upper ocean heat content (UOHC) using the data for the period 1995–2015. It is found that the new GPI is better correlated with the total number of depressions, cyclones and severe cyclones (TNDC) compared with the existing GPI which was developed for the north Indian Ocean and presently used by India Meteorological Department (IMD), New Delhi. The correlation has significantly enhanced (r=0.86:significant at >99% level) by using the first differences [year(0) –year(?1)] of the time series data. Since, the new GPI which considers atmosphere and ocean (UOHC) parameters, it appears to be more suitable for Bay of Bengal during the peak post-monsoon season.