Tidal and subtidal water volume exchange in an estuarine system |
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| Authors: | Erick M Swenson Wen-Ssn Chuang |
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| Institution: | 1. Coastal Ecology Laboratory, Center for Wetland Resources, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, U.S.A.;2. Coastal Studies Institute, Center for Wetland Resources, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, U.S.A. |
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| Abstract: | Estuarine water movements occur over a broad range of time scales. In this study, moored current meter data were used to investigate water volume exchange in the tidal passes of Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana on the tidal and subtidal time scales. A calibration technique, employing cross-channel measurements of water velocity, was used to calibrate the moored current meters, thus allowing for calculation of volume flow over a 35-day period. The local diurnal tide accounted for 50% of the total volume exchange, the rest being due to subtidal events (frontal passage). This subtidal exchange occurs primarily as large-scale events characterized by volume fluxes up to six times greater than the normal tidal prism. Neglecting this subtidal component in the determination of the volume fluxes for a system such as Lake Pontchartrain, could result in substantial underestimation (by as much as 50%) of these volume and their corresponding material fluxes. |
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| Keywords: | volume tidal subtidal current measurements estuaries Louisiana coast |
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