Abstract
The estuary offers many interesting and important problems to the physical hydrographer, and it is encouraging to find that hydrologists are extending their work into this intermediate zone between the river and the ocean. It is unfortunate, however, that this paper by Todd and Lau exhibits a lack of understanding of the mechanisms of circulation and mixing in a tidal estuary.To a casual reader the concepts presented by these authors are disarmingly clear and simple. Unfortunately, they have not used the basic hydrodynamic concept of continuity in its complete form which has led them to misinterpret the equations they develop, particularly their Equ. (1). The error results from the assumption that sea water on the one hand and fresh water on the other can be considered as the two species involved on the mixing processes in an estuary when, in fact, the two separate species which are involved are the salt and the water. The processes of turbulent diffusion, or ‘mixing,’ can lead to a net upstream transport of salt without a net upstream transport of water. This point will be discussed further below. Let us now consider some specific aspects of the paper.
Published Version
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