Assessment of Contaminant Transport in Waterways Around Major Population Centers by Deliberately Gas Tracer Releases
Abstract
Pollution of water through leakage, catastrophic or climate-induced release of toxic chemicals, sewage, and fertilizer threaten the health of human inhabited areas. In order to assess pathways and mixing of such substances, small amounts of the inert gas tracer sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) was released at strategically chosen points in New York Harbor, the East River, the Houston Ship Channel, and the Stockton Deep Water Channel. Subsequently, the tracer movement was mapped for 7 to 10 days in near real-time mode. The results of these experiments revealed advective pathways, mixing patterns, exchange between individual subdomains of the water bodies, and mean residence times of substances in the system. These experiments demonstrated that the SF6 tracer technique could be used to examine persistent or emerging events that could affect human health.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2005
- Bibcode:
- 2005AGUFM.U51A0004H
- Keywords:
-
- 0345 Pollution: urban and regional (0305;
- 0478;
- 4251);
- 1834 Human impacts;
- 1856 River channels (0483;
- 0744);
- 4235 Estuarine processes (0442)