Abstract
The structures of fresh water plume depending on estuarine geometries and wind directions (upwelling, onshore, downwelling, and offshore winds) were studied using the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS). Four idealized estuaries, which are different in bathymetry, were considered. The results showed that the fresh water plume was restricted close to the shore line where a river was connected to the sloping shelf rather than the flat shelf due to the fast momentum exchanges from x, y to z momentums on the sloping shelf. Mild upwelling and offshore winds ( = 0.01Pa) enhanced stratification on the contrast to previous studies which showed that winds destroyed stratification by enhanced vertical mixing. However, downwelling and onshore winds had similar effects on the vertical structure of the fresh water plume as in previous studies enhancing vertical mixing. The plume was confined above the underneath submarine channel, thus the plume path was directly affected by the direction of the submarine channel on the shelf.
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