Estuarine and Coastal Transport Mechanisms and Models—Xxxxx Xxxxx and Xxxx Xxxxxxxxxx [Xxx Xxxxx (NOAA Sample Clauses

Estuarine and Coastal Transport Mechanisms and Models—Xxxxx Xxxxx and Xxxx Xxxxxxxxxx [Xxx Xxxxx (NOAA. NOS)] The protection and management of coastal and estuarine resources requires understanding and prediction of physical transport processes. Eutrophication, hypoxia, harmful algal blooms and contaminant transport are all strongly influenced by the physical transport and mixing pro- cesses in coastal environments. Three-dimensional models are now capable of simulating many of the hydrodynamic and ecological processes, and increasingly complex models are being relied upon as management tools. Yet there are key physical processes that are not adequately under- stood or parameterized in models, on which the model predictions and management decisions may sensitively depend. Bottom stress, vertical mixing and horizontal dispersion are particularly important processes with respect to water quality, sediment and contaminant transport modeling, yet these are some of the most difficult processes to simulate in numerical models. WHOI’s coastal oceanographers have made considerable progress in understanding the underlying physi- cal processes, and the focus is beginning to shift toward their influence on water quality, sedi- ment and contaminant transport, and harmful algal blooms. We propose an interdisciplinary program of field observations and modeling to address the rates of vertical mixing and horizontal dispersion in estuarine and near-shore coastal environ- ments, with particular attention to the factors influencing the transport and fate of sediment, organic carbon, and other biogeochemical fluxes. The field effort will include estuarine and coastal environments in the U.S. northeast, selected for logistical, scientific and programmatic considerations. Potential sites include the New York Bight and Xxxxxx River estuary, the New Jersey inner shelf, and the continental shelf south of Cape Cod. The research plan would include new approaches to resolving bottom stress and turbulent mixing, using high-resolution acoustic velocimeters and microstructure sensors as well as conventional moored instrumentation. Addi- tional measurements related to sediment transport and biogeochemical transport processes will be incorporated into the field effort as appropriate for the different efforts. The principal objec- tive of the field studies will be to quantify vertical, turbulent fluxes and horizontal dispersion in coastal and estuarine environments, and then to develop and refine the parameterizations of these fluxes for inclusion into numerical models. The numerical modeli...