Freshwater Transport on the Continental Shelf of the Southeastern United States

<p>The circulation of water over the shelf of the southeastern United States was examined during the Fall Removal Experiment from late October to early November 1987. A steady state, two-dimensional analytical model of wind and density driven flow was used to study the relative importance of driving forces in shelf circulation, fate of freshwater and cross-shelf exchange processes. The inner and middle shelf mean circulation was found to be driven by four major components: (1) longshore wind, (2) longshore pressure gradient, (3) onshore wind and (4) cross-shelf density gradient including freshwater influx. Wind stress was the primary driving force for shelf circulation Southward wind stress produced a southward current with an embedded coastal jet, while weak wind stress reduced the jet strength and produced northward currents in the middle shelf. Strong southwestward wind events transported low salinity waters, from rivers in the central part of the South Atlantic Bight, southward to Cape Canaveral in a narrow baroclinic zone near the coast. Inner shelf fronts were produced by freshwater runoff. Downwelling favorable wind narrowed the baroclinic zone, inside of which a strong coastal jet developed. The runoff-induced residual circulation made a generally weak contribution to the mean flow field. Freshwater was mainly advected through the inner shelf off Savannah and Brunswick by longshore transport and through the middle shelf between Brunswick and St. Augustine sections by cross-shelf transport. Freshwater transport estimates showed that about 10% of the freshwater input off Savannah arrived at the Cape Canaveral section and a major portion of the remaining freshwater left the shelf region by offshore transport. About 30% of the freshwater flowing into the region was temporarily stored there. Cross-shelf transport was especially important during weaker winds. Salinity was used as conservative property for the calculation of the horizontal diffusion coefficient. The cross-shelf, and 10⁷ cm²s^-1 on the middle shelf locations. Most shelf regions showed dominant advective cross-shelf transport, while in frontal zone between Savannah and Brunswick sections there was an increase of diffusive cross-shelf transport. Current meter observations and surface distributions of tritium originating from the Savannah River confirmed the above analytical model and dynamical considerations.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Ocean & Earth Sciences

Year dc:date.available

1990

Author dc:creator

• Kim, Cheolsoo

Contributors dc:contributor

• Larry P. Atkinson
• Gabriel T. Csanady
• John M. Klinck
• Jackson O. Blanton

• Continental shelf
• Southeastern United States
• Freshwater transport

Statement dc:rights

• <p>In Copyright. URI: <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).</p>

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/oeas_etds/130

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.odu.edu:oeas_etds-1133