Mixing in Shallow Coastal Sea: Case Study

Two tracer studies were used to characterize mixing and tidal exchange in a New Jersey coastal sea. Several dredged channels and complex flow patterns due to islands and embayments cause the system to exchange slowly and to be mixed relatively well internally. Tracer output at the mouth displayed multiple peaks, a long delay, and detectable concentrations for several days. A transient lumped-parameter, reacter network model was calibrated with the second data set. Agreement between the model and field data was good. The simulation did not perform well with the first data set. Further, the output was relatively insensitive to input. This model is not well suited to water quality planning and management for the estuary studied.