Numerical modeling of tides in the Great Bay Estuarine System: Dynamical balance and spring-neap residual modulation

J. W. McLaughlin; A. Bilgili; D. R. Lynch

doi:10.1016/S0272-7714(02)00355-4

Numerical modeling of tides in the Great Bay Estuarine System: Dynamical balance and spring-neap residual modulation

J. W. McLaughlin, A. Bilgili, D. R. Lynch

Dartmouth College

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

26 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The Great Bay Estuarine System, in New Hampshire, USA, has been the focus area for an attempt to develop a robust finite element method model for estuarine hydrodynamics. Past studies used a nonlinear, time stepping, kinematic model with limited success (Ip et al. Advances in fluid mechanics III, WIT, Southampton (2000) 569; Bilgili et al. J. Geophys. Res. - Oceans 107 (2002); Ertürk et al. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 47 (1998) 119). We add dynamic physics (that is, local accelerations) for deep-water areas and keep kinematic physics (that is, without local and advective accelerations), with the inclusion of a porous medium beneath the open channel, for shallow and dewatering areas. The choice of which physics set to apply is made on an elemental depth dependent basis. The addition of the local acceleration terms for deep-water areas is seen to greatly improve accuracy in matching of tidal phasing over previous studies. Simulations involving M₂/M₄/M₆ tidal constituents result in strong agreement to observed data from the 1975 Great Bay field program (Swift & Brown, Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 17 (1983) 297), in terms of both tidal heights and cross-section averaged velocities. Comparisons with 10 tidal elevation observation stations and four cross-section averaged current transects show good agreement, displaying average normalized root mean square misfit values of 0.08 and 0.25, respectively. Study of the simulated momentum balance shows the size of the contributions from acceleration terms to be on the order of a third the size of the contributions from the pressure gradient and bottom stress terms. Although relatively small, they are observed to peak at the crucial time of tidal reversal. Application of the model for long-term simulation using an M₂/N₂/S₂ forcing shows the ability to realistically capture the spring-neap cycle. The tidally rectified flow is generally described as a constant spatial pattern with overall amplitude modulation following the spring-neap cycle.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	283-296
Number of pages	14
Journal	Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science
Volume	57
Issue number	1-2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/S0272-7714(02)00355-4
Publication status	Published - 1 May 2003
Externally published	Yes

Funding

The authors wish to express their thanks to Professor M. Robinson Swift and Professor Wendell S. Brown of the University of New Hampshire, New Hampshire, USA, for their valuable assistance in the 1975 NOAA–UNH Great Bay field data set, and to Dr Michael G.G. Foreman of the Institute of Ocean Sciences, British Columbia, Canada, for his aid in the tidal analysis presented in this paper. Thanks also go to Assistant Professor Justin T.C. Ip for his contributions in developing the BELLAMY model. Funding provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Grant #536208.

Funders	Funder number
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration	536208

Keywords

Currents
Estuarine circulation
Hydrodynamic modeling
Momentum balance
New Hampshire coast
Spring-neap cycle
Tidal residual
Wetting and drying

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10.1016/S0272-7714(02)00355-4

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title = "Numerical modeling of tides in the Great Bay Estuarine System: Dynamical balance and spring-neap residual modulation",

abstract = "The Great Bay Estuarine System, in New Hampshire, USA, has been the focus area for an attempt to develop a robust finite element method model for estuarine hydrodynamics. Past studies used a nonlinear, time stepping, kinematic model with limited success (Ip et al. Advances in fluid mechanics III, WIT, Southampton (2000) 569; Bilgili et al. J. Geophys. Res. - Oceans 107 (2002); Ert{\"u}rk et al. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 47 (1998) 119). We add dynamic physics (that is, local accelerations) for deep-water areas and keep kinematic physics (that is, without local and advective accelerations), with the inclusion of a porous medium beneath the open channel, for shallow and dewatering areas. The choice of which physics set to apply is made on an elemental depth dependent basis. The addition of the local acceleration terms for deep-water areas is seen to greatly improve accuracy in matching of tidal phasing over previous studies. Simulations involving M2/M4/M6 tidal constituents result in strong agreement to observed data from the 1975 Great Bay field program (Swift & Brown, Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 17 (1983) 297), in terms of both tidal heights and cross-section averaged velocities. Comparisons with 10 tidal elevation observation stations and four cross-section averaged current transects show good agreement, displaying average normalized root mean square misfit values of 0.08 and 0.25, respectively. Study of the simulated momentum balance shows the size of the contributions from acceleration terms to be on the order of a third the size of the contributions from the pressure gradient and bottom stress terms. Although relatively small, they are observed to peak at the crucial time of tidal reversal. Application of the model for long-term simulation using an M2/N2/S2 forcing shows the ability to realistically capture the spring-neap cycle. The tidally rectified flow is generally described as a constant spatial pattern with overall amplitude modulation following the spring-neap cycle.",

keywords = "Currents, Estuarine circulation, Hydrodynamic modeling, Momentum balance, New Hampshire coast, Spring-neap cycle, Tidal residual, Wetting and drying",

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T1 - Numerical modeling of tides in the Great Bay Estuarine System

T2 - Dynamical balance and spring-neap residual modulation

AU - McLaughlin, J. W.

AU - Bilgili, A.

AU - Lynch, D. R.

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Y1 - 2003/5/1

N2 - The Great Bay Estuarine System, in New Hampshire, USA, has been the focus area for an attempt to develop a robust finite element method model for estuarine hydrodynamics. Past studies used a nonlinear, time stepping, kinematic model with limited success (Ip et al. Advances in fluid mechanics III, WIT, Southampton (2000) 569; Bilgili et al. J. Geophys. Res. - Oceans 107 (2002); Ertürk et al. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 47 (1998) 119). We add dynamic physics (that is, local accelerations) for deep-water areas and keep kinematic physics (that is, without local and advective accelerations), with the inclusion of a porous medium beneath the open channel, for shallow and dewatering areas. The choice of which physics set to apply is made on an elemental depth dependent basis. The addition of the local acceleration terms for deep-water areas is seen to greatly improve accuracy in matching of tidal phasing over previous studies. Simulations involving M2/M4/M6 tidal constituents result in strong agreement to observed data from the 1975 Great Bay field program (Swift & Brown, Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 17 (1983) 297), in terms of both tidal heights and cross-section averaged velocities. Comparisons with 10 tidal elevation observation stations and four cross-section averaged current transects show good agreement, displaying average normalized root mean square misfit values of 0.08 and 0.25, respectively. Study of the simulated momentum balance shows the size of the contributions from acceleration terms to be on the order of a third the size of the contributions from the pressure gradient and bottom stress terms. Although relatively small, they are observed to peak at the crucial time of tidal reversal. Application of the model for long-term simulation using an M2/N2/S2 forcing shows the ability to realistically capture the spring-neap cycle. The tidally rectified flow is generally described as a constant spatial pattern with overall amplitude modulation following the spring-neap cycle.

AB - The Great Bay Estuarine System, in New Hampshire, USA, has been the focus area for an attempt to develop a robust finite element method model for estuarine hydrodynamics. Past studies used a nonlinear, time stepping, kinematic model with limited success (Ip et al. Advances in fluid mechanics III, WIT, Southampton (2000) 569; Bilgili et al. J. Geophys. Res. - Oceans 107 (2002); Ertürk et al. Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 47 (1998) 119). We add dynamic physics (that is, local accelerations) for deep-water areas and keep kinematic physics (that is, without local and advective accelerations), with the inclusion of a porous medium beneath the open channel, for shallow and dewatering areas. The choice of which physics set to apply is made on an elemental depth dependent basis. The addition of the local acceleration terms for deep-water areas is seen to greatly improve accuracy in matching of tidal phasing over previous studies. Simulations involving M2/M4/M6 tidal constituents result in strong agreement to observed data from the 1975 Great Bay field program (Swift & Brown, Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci. 17 (1983) 297), in terms of both tidal heights and cross-section averaged velocities. Comparisons with 10 tidal elevation observation stations and four cross-section averaged current transects show good agreement, displaying average normalized root mean square misfit values of 0.08 and 0.25, respectively. Study of the simulated momentum balance shows the size of the contributions from acceleration terms to be on the order of a third the size of the contributions from the pressure gradient and bottom stress terms. Although relatively small, they are observed to peak at the crucial time of tidal reversal. Application of the model for long-term simulation using an M2/N2/S2 forcing shows the ability to realistically capture the spring-neap cycle. The tidally rectified flow is generally described as a constant spatial pattern with overall amplitude modulation following the spring-neap cycle.

KW - Currents

KW - Estuarine circulation

KW - Hydrodynamic modeling

KW - Momentum balance

KW - New Hampshire coast

KW - Spring-neap cycle

KW - Tidal residual

KW - Wetting and drying

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JF - Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science

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Numerical modeling of tides in the Great Bay Estuarine System: Dynamical balance and spring-neap residual modulation

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