Salinity, Tides, and Circulation
Chesapeake Bay
Salinity, Tides and Circulation
Water is the lifeblood of the Bay
Organic - carbon containing
Inorganic - minerals, dissolved gases nutrients
supports - planktonic forms ( zooplankton )
Dynamic interaction of freshwater input, salinity, tidal flow
Understand fluctuating conditions
Freshwater Input
18 trillion gallons of water. Drain it would take a year to refill it.
70,000 cubic feet ( 2,000 cubic meters ) each second flow into bay form tributaries
1/9 of volume of seawater flowing into Bay at any instant
Storm pulse like a transfusion
Bay watershed spans 64,000 square miles
6 surrounding states
Susquehanna River 50 % of Bays freshwater
drainage
Second reason - out of 150, 46 major tributaries, 8 of these contribute 90 % of freshwater inflow.
On the western side of the Bay: Potomac, James, Rappahannock, York, Patuxent, and West Chesapeake Drainage
Primary: Susquehanna - flows from north
Drains part of Eastern shore: Choptank
Chesapeake is right handed and top heavy as far as freshwater
8 major rivers and ocean: Shapes circulation and salinity character of Bay
Salinity
From Susquehanna to mouth of Bay = Zero 0 to almost marine
Define salinity: 35 g of dissolved salts/ kg of water
brackish salinity ?
freshwater salinity ?
Buoyancy difference and layers
salinity gradient - sun, moon,earths rotation
ioshalines
Coriolis force
Tides
Timetables
Phases of the moon
Tidal movement
Tidal ebb
high tide and low tide
Size and depth of basin
Semidiurnal tidal pattern
Tidal currents and horizontal movements
Vertical range
Circulation
Two - layer estuarine flow
Saltwedge
Zone of turbidity
Entrainment velocity
Retention Time
Spring
Autumn
Home for organisms " residents "
stressful
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