Abstract
Estuarine budget studies often suffer from uncertainties of net flux estimates in view of large temporal and spatial variabilities. Optimum spatial measurement density and material flux errors for a reasonably well mixed estuary were estimated by sampling 10 stations from surface to bottom simultaneously every hour for two tidal cycles in a 320‐m‐wide cross section in North Inlet, South Carolina. Discharge and ATP and NII4+‐N fluxes were computed. The analysis method was to form a number of cases, each based on a different number and combination of stations and compare these fluxes to the ideal case using all 10 stations. A percentage error, γ, (rms derivation of a given case from the ideal case compared to the tidal prism) was <15% with only three lateral stations, each located to cover a separate bathymetric regime. In estuaries with dimensions similar to North Inlet, these results should prove useful in selecting an optimum (or minimum) number of required stations.
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