Nontidal Circulation and Mixing Processes in the Lower Potomac Estuary

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Abstract
An analysis of the vertical structure of nontidal longitudinal currents and salinity in a reach of the lower Potomac River Estuary suggests that values for vertical eddy viscosity and eddy diffusivity scale with water depth H, tidal current amplitude U and bulk Richardson number according to conventional empirical formulas. However, the constant which relates the vertical eddy coefficients under conditions of neutral stability to UH is found to be an order of magnitude less than that expected for tidal conditions. Analyses also suggest that the degree of enhancement of longitudinal dispersion by the shear effect associated with the nontidal currents is a strong function of bulk Richardson number.

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