Abstract
A 3D hydrodynamical model has been set up to incorporate the continental and urban run-off into the Catalan Coastal waters. Particular attention was paid to introducing correctly the freshwater plumes and attention was also paid to determinate the influence of the land discharge profile with regard to the distributed continental run-off. The model domain includes a small part of the Catalan Coast where the combination of local land topography with torrential rainfall caused considerable local runoff on a short period of time with a large impact on the receiving coastal waters.
 The Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) simulations were used to examine the dispersal to a freshwater delivery from two relevant event; a low river discharge typical of mean conditions during April 2011 and a high discharge representative of the storm event during March 2011 are considered. We have observed the plume responses to an abrupt change in river discharge. During the mean conditions, low salinity water is concentrated around the rivers mouth while during the flood event, the plume spread offshore in the direction of river water outflow and turned downstream close to the coast. The differences between a simulation including the river outflow as a land forcing and a simulation including river and urban runoff as a land forcing suggested that the urban runoff plays an important role in the spreading and shape of the river plume.
Highlights
Coastal seas are ecologically and economically among the most productive areas of the world ocean and have been the subject of many international agreements and conventions looking to preserve and exploit them in a sustainable manner
The model results were compared with CTD observations
The distribution of low salinity water was different between both discharges
Summary
Coastal seas are ecologically and economically among the most productive areas of the world ocean and have been the subject of many international agreements and conventions looking to preserve and exploit them in a sustainable manner. Different factors and forcing modify the pathways of the freshwater plume (Zhang et al 2009): outflow angle (Avicola and Huq 2003a,b; Garvine 1999), wind forcing (Fong and Geyer 2001; Berdeal et al 2002; Lentz and Chapman 2004; Whitney et al 2005; Choi and Wilkin 2007; MacCready et al 2009; Xia et al 2010; Schiller et al 2011), ambient current (Fong and Geyer 2002; Berdeal et al 2002; Hickey et al 2005), tides, and local topography (Schiller et al 2011) These factors and forcing modify the pathways of the river plume and can make it similar to the classical theory.
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