A tidally and cross-sectionally averaged model based on the temporal evolution of the quasi-steady Hansen and Rattray equations is applied to simulate the salinity distribution and vertical exchange flow along the Hudson River estuary. The model achieves high skill at hindcasting salinity and residual velocity variation during a 110-day period in 2004 covering a wide range of river discharges and tidal forcing. The approach is based on an existing model framework that has been modified to improve model skill relative to observations. The external forcing has been modified to capture meteorological time-scale variability in salinity, stratification, and residual velocity due to sea level fluctuations at the open boundary and alongestuary wind stress. To reflect changes in vertical mixing due to stratification, the vertical mixing coefficients have been modified to use the bottom boundary layer height rather than the water depth as an effective mixing length scale. The boundary layer parameterization depends on the tidal amplitude and the local baroclinic pressure gradient through the longitudinal Richardson number, and improves the model response to spring-neap variability in tidal amplitude during periods of high river discharge. Finally, steady-state model solutions are evaluated for both the Hudson River and northern San Francisco Bay over a range of forcing conditions. Agreement between the model and scaling of equilibrium salinity intrusions lends confidence that the approach is transferable to other estuaries, despite significant differences in bathymetry. Discrepancies between the model results and observations at high river discharge are indicative of limits at which the formulation begins to fail, and where an alternative approach that captures two-layer dynamics would be more appropriate.

Estuarine turbidity maxima (ETMs) are generated by a large suite of hydrodynamic and sediment dynamic processes, leading to longitudinal convergence of cross-sectionally integrated and tidally averaged transport of cohesive and noncohesive suspended particulate matter (SPM). The relative importance of these processes for SPM trapping varies substantially among estuaries depending on topography, fluvial and tidal forcing, and SPM composition. The high-frequency dynamics of ETMs are constrained by interactions with the low-frequency dynamics of the bottom pool of easily erodible sediments. Here, we use a transport decomposition to present processes that lead to convergent SPM transport, and review trapping mechanisms that lead to ETMs at the landward limit of the salt intrusion, in the freshwater zone, at topographic transitions, and by lateral processes within the cross section. We use model simulations of example estuaries to demonstrate the complex concurrence of ETM formation mechanisms. We also discuss how changes in SPM trapping mechanisms, often caused by direct human interference, can lead to the generation of hyperturbid estuaries.

[1] The tidally varying circulation, stratification, and salt flux mechanisms are investigated in a shallow salt wedge estuary where fluvial and tidal velocities are large and the steady baroclinic circulation is comparatively weak. The study integrates field observations and numerical simulations of the Merrimack River estuary. At moderate to high discharge the estuary is short and highly stratified, while at lower discharges it shifts to a longer, more weakly stratified estuary; the transition occurs when the length of the salinity intrusion is similar to the tidal excursion. The Merrimack is highly variable at tidal time scales owing to the advection and mixing of a bottom salinity front. Salt flux is predominantly due to tidal processes rather than steady baroclinic or bathymetric shear. Tidal pumping is important near the mouth, but inside the estuary salt flux is due to tidal asymmetries in the elevation and thickness of the halocline that depend on the tidal amplitude and river discharge. Conditions in the Merrimack, including the salinity intrusion length and stratification, vary more with event to seasonal shifts in river discharge than with spring-neap changes in tidal amplitude. An unstructured grid hydrodynamic model is used to simulate conditions in the Merrimack and model results are compared quantitatively against field observations. The model achieves a high skill against time series of water level, salinity, and velocity and captures the spatial structures of salinity, velocity, and salt flux observed in along-and across-estuary transects. High model skills depend on accurate and well-resolved grid bathymetry and low background vertical and horizontal diffusivities.

Since the late nineteenth century, channel depths have more than doubled in parts of New York Harbor and the tidal Hudson River, wetlands have been reclaimed and navigational channels widened, and river flow has been regulated. To quantify the effects of these modifications, observations and numerical simulations using historical and modern bathymetry are used to analyze changes in the barotropic dynamics. Model results and water level records for Albany (1868 to present) and New York Harbor (1844 to present) recovered from archives show that the tidal amplitude has more than doubled near the head of tides, whereas increases in the lower estuary have been slight (<10%). Channel deepening has reduced the effective drag in the upper tidal river, shifting the system from hyposynchronous (tide decaying landward) to hypersynchronous (tide amplifying). Similarly, modeling shows that coastal storm effects propagate farther landward, with a 20% increase in amplitude for a major event. In contrast, the decrease in friction with channel deepening has lowered the tidally averaged water level during discharge events, more than compensating for increased surge amplitude. Combined with river regulation that reduced peak discharges, the overall risk of extreme water levels in the upper tidal river decreased after channel construction, reducing the water level for the 10-year recurrence interval event by almost 3 m. Mean water level decreased sharply with channel modifications around 1930, and subsequent decadal variability has depended both on river discharge and sea level rise. Channel construction has only slightly altered tidal and storm surge amplitudes in the lower estuary. Plain Language SummaryDredging for navigation has deepened harbors and estuaries around the world, altering circulation patterns and tidal water levels. In the Hudson River estuary, channel construction for ports in New York Harbor and Albany more than doubled channel depths in some regions. Major dredging began in the late 1800s, so to characterize associated changes in the hydrodynamic conditions, we analyzed archival water level records and navigational charts back to that period. Water level records from Albany show that channel construction reduced the effects of friction such that the tide now amplifies in the upper estuary, more than doubling the tidal amplitude compared with before dredging. The lower friction also allows storm surge from the coast to travel farther landward. However, major flooding in the upper tidal river historically was mainly due to river discharge events, and the deeper channel allows for more effective conveyance of flood waves. Thus, despite the increases in tides and storm surge, the risk of flooding in the upper estuary decreased with construction of the navigational channel. The Hudson provides a well-documented example of how multiple anthropogenic factors can significantly influence physical processes in extensively modified estuaries. Key Points:• Archival records over the past 150 years show that the tidal amplitu...

Isohaline coordinate analysis is used to compare the exchange flow in two contrasting estuaries, the long (with respect to tidal excursion) Hudson River and the short Merrimack River, using validated numerical models. The isohaline analysis averages fluxes in salinity space rather than in physical space, yielding the isohaline exchange flow that incorporates both subtidal and tidal fluxes and precisely satisfies the Knudsen relation. The isohaline analysis can be consistently applied to both subtidally and tidally dominated estuaries. In the Hudson, the isohaline exchange flow is similar to results from the Eulerian analysis, and the conventional estuarine theory can be used to quantify the salt transport based on scaling with the baroclinic pressure gradient. In the Merrimack, the isohaline exchange flow is much larger than the Eulerian quantity, indicating the dominance of tidal salt flux. The exchange flow does not scale with the baroclinic pressure gradient but rather with tidal volume flux. This tidal exchange is driven by tidal pumping due to the jet-sink flow at the mouth constriction, leading to a linear dependence of exchange flow on tidal volume flux. Finally, a tidal conversion parameter Q in /Q prism , measuring the fraction of tidal inflow Q prism that is converted into net exchange Q in , is proposed to characterize the exchange processes among different systems. It is found that the length scale ratio between tidal excursion and salinity intrusion provides a characteristic to distinguish estuarine regimes.