Wind and river induced fluctuations in a small, shallow, tributary estuary

Abstract

Two years of wind and water level data and 18 months of runoff data from Weeks Bay, Alabama, a small tributary estuary of Mobile Bay have been analyzed. These data were supplemented with occasional current meter records of a few months’ duration. The subtidal barotropic exchange of water between Weeks Bay and Mobile Bay is predominantly a response to the shelf-estuarine exchange of waters between the Gulf of Mexico and Mobile Bay. The local north-south wind stress modifies this response at very low frequencies. Runoff to Weeks Bay is episodic and of short duration. It drives shortlived exhanges between the two bays. These exchanges are modified by the local winds and are probably strongly baroclinic.