Influence of atmospheric and hydrological conditions on particle transport in the Caloosahatchee River Estuary, FL
Abstract
Estuaries are unique environments that are ecologically diverse and valuable systems worldwide. They also support many economic and recreational services to the communities in these areas. Increased human activities around estuaries can adversely affect these ecosystems' water quality, usually by modifying the concentration of dissolved chemicals. Apart from anthropogenic pressures, the water quality of an estuary also depends on the water circulation patterns and how rapidly different parts of the estuary can be "flushed". The flow patterns and the subtidal circulation in an estuary are governed by complex hydrodynamic interactions between coastal, fluvial, and atmospheric processes that cannot be ascertained by in situ measurements with the necessary resolution and need to be numerically modelled.
This study examines the fluvial and atmospheric effects on the transport of scalar magnitudes within the Caloosahatchee River Estuary and Charlotte harbor. Located on the west coast of the Florida peninsula, the Caloosahatchee River Estuary and Charlotte Harbor are vital areas for human and ecological activities. The environment is also mired with environmental issues due to harmful algal blooms and effluent discharge from Lake Okeechobee. We applied the three-dimensional Regional Ocean Modeling System, ROMS, to the Caloosahatchee River Estuary. We verified the model skill during selected periods corresponding to the wet and dry seasons. Once the hydrodynamic model was verified, we coupled it to a Lagrangian particle tracking model (Parcels) to assess the estuarine transport patterns and compute the residence times. Multiple time periods were modelled that represent the seasonal variation in forcing conditions (e.g., river discharge, wind velocity and direction) observed at the estuarine environment. These cases were further supplemented by synthetic cases, which were produced by changes to the forcing conditions in the base cases. This study expands the understanding of the seasonal effects on water quality in this environment, detects the areas most prone to water quality issues, and ascertains under what conditions they may occur. Our study is an essential step forward in forecasting water quality issues (e.g., emergence of harmful algal blooms) within this estuarine environment.- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2022
- Bibcode:
- 2022AGUFMEP12A..07H