E31A:
The Dynamics of Estuaries and Coastal Buoyancy-Driven Flows I


Session ID#: 36829

Session Description:
Estuaries and coastal buoyant plumes are ubiquitous and diverse features along continental margins that exist at the confluence of terrestrial and oceanic waters, ranging from small tropical lagoons to glacial meltwater plumes in high-latitude fjords. The dynamics of these systems cover a wide spectrum of spatial and temporal scales, spanning stratified turbulence to frontal instabilities to shelf-wide circulation scales.  Estuarine and coastal buoyancy-driven flows are influenced by numerous factors including tides, freshwater discharge, wind, surface and internal waves, frontal processes, and flow-topography interactions.  These factors ultimately influence the turbulence and mixing processes in the system, serving as a link between the terrestrial and oceanic domains.  Hydrodynamics in these systems profoundly impact the regional-scale ecological and biogeochemical processes in addition to various physical processes such as sediment transport and ocean-cryosphere interactions.  Consequently, understanding the processes governing the coupling of the estuary-coastal ocean system is vital to advancing the knowledge of the system-wide response to climate change and anthropogenic activities.  We welcome submissions examining the complex, multi-scale nature of estuarine and coastal buoyancy-driven flow dynamics using observational, numerical, theoretical, and/or laboratory methods.
Primary Chair:  Joseph T Jurisa, Portland State University, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Portland, OR, United States
Co-chairs:  Sarah N Giddings, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD, La Jolla, CA, United States, Piero Luigi F Mazzini, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA, United States and Rebecca H Jackson, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, United States
Moderators:  Joseph T Jurisa, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science Horn Point Laboratory, Cambridge, MD, United States and Piero Luigi F Mazzini, EOS Center - San Francisco State University, Tiburon, CA, United States
Student Paper Review Liaison:  Rebecca H Jackson, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, United States
Index Terms:

4217 Coastal processes [OCEANOGRAPHY: GENERAL]
4235 Estuarine processes [OCEANOGRAPHY: GENERAL]
4528 Fronts and jets [OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL]
4568 Turbulence, diffusion, and mixing processes [OCEANOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL]
Cross-Topics:
  • CD - Coastal Dynamics
  • OM - Ocean Modeling
  • PS - Physical Oceanography: Mesoscale and Smaller
  • PO - Physical Oceanography: Other

Abstracts Submitted to this Session:

Large-eddy simulation of freshwater subglacial discharge plumes (325567)
Eric D Skyllingstad1, Jonathan D Nash1 and Rebecca H Jackson2, (1)Oregon State Univ, Corvallis, OR, United States, (2)Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, United States

See more of: Estuarine Processes