Coastal morphometry as regulator of water exchange—a Swedish example

Abstract

This is a paper from the Swedish research project ‘The coastal zone—scientific criteria for planners’. The goal has been to establish simple, general scientific methods for management of Swedish coastal waters. In this paper the focus is on a set of empirical data from 21 so-called type areas and on the exchange of surface water. The working hypothesis has been that the water retention (or residence) time is regulated by the morphometry. The theory has been verified. It has been shown that the water retention time can be determined from a formula based on only two key morphometric parameters, the exposure and the mean coastal width. It provides an 86% degree of explanation ( r 2=0·86) of the variation in empirically determined retention times and can be physically linked to the basic mass balance equation. The formula is valid for the bioproductive season (May–Oct.) and for small (1–100 km 2) Swedish coastal areas. It cannot be directly applied to areas affected by heavy tides.