Abstract
An analysis of tidal current variability is performed over seasonal scales for an 11-year record of estuarine currents at two locations in Tampa Bay, Florida. From 2002 to 2012, bimonthly harmonic analyses were performed on current observations collected near the entrance to Old Tampa Bay and at the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. The resultant tidal constituents and nontidal residual were then correlated with other parameters to determine potential physical forcing. Comparison with local wind data suggests that the land-sea breeze cycle can have significant impact on diurnal tidal current flow. Periods of strong land-sea breeze are found to have up to a 30% increase in K1 amplitude compared with periods of weak land-sea breeze. Subtidal weather-scale wind forcing with periods from 2 to 7 days demonstrates a strong correlation with nontidal residual flow, likely resulting from both direct wind forcing as well as the modification of along-estuary water-level gradients. Additionally, the M2 constituent correlates with changes in freshwater discharge and inversely correlated with wind variance. The depth-averaged M2 current amplitude can increase by more than 10 cm/s during periods of high discharge, representing a roughly 25% increase in the amplitude. The seasonal variability observed significantly impacts the accuracy of tidal current predictions for marine navigation and other uses. Predictions of peak flood or ebb currents can vary by more than 40 cm/s, depending on when observations are collected and when predictions are made.
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Acknowledgments
The authors thank Armin Pruessner, Paul Fanelli, and Colleen Fanelli for their assistance with data retrieval. The authors also thank Stephen Gill, Chris Zervas, Lyon Lanerolle, and three anonymous reviewers for their review and feedback.
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Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering
Volume 143 • Issue 3 • May 2017
Copyright
© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 30, 2016
Accepted: Aug 10, 2016
Published online: Oct 27, 2016
Discussion open until: Mar 27, 2017
Published in print: May 1, 2017
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