Tidal effects on estuarine circulation and outflow plume in the Chesapeake Bay

Abstract

The response of the Chesapeake Bay to river discharge under the influence and absence of tide is simulated with a numerical model. Four numerical experiments are examined: (1) response to river discharge only; (2) response to river discharge plus an ambient coastal current along the shelf outside the bay; (3) response to river discharge and tidal forcing; and (4) response to river discharge, tidal forcing, and ambient coastal current. The general salinity distribution in the four cases is similar to observations inside the bay. Observed features, such as low salinity in the western side of the bay, are consistent in model results. Also, a typical estuarine circulation with seaward current in the upper layer and landward current in the lower layer is obtained in the four cases. The two cases without tide produce stronger subtidal currents than the cases with tide owing to greater frictional effects in the cases with tide. Differences in salinity distributions among the four cases appear mostly outside the bay in terms of the outflow plume structure. The two cases without tide produce an upstream (as in a Kelvin wave sense) or northward branch of the outflow plume, while the cases with tide produce an expected downstream or southward plume. Increased friction in the cases with tide changes the vertical structure of outflow at the entrance to the bay and induces large horizontal variations in the exchange flow. Consequently, the outflow from the bay is more influenced by the bottom than in the cases without tide. Therefore, a tendency for a bottom-advected plume appears in the cases with tide, rather than a surface-advected plume, which develops in the cases without tide. Further analysis shows that the tidal current favors a salt balance between the horizontal and vertical advection of salinity around the plume and hinders the upstream expansion of the plume outside the bay.