Effect of tidal flat on seawater temperature variation in the southwest coast of Korea

Abstract

[1] The seawater temperature observed near macrotidal flats demonstrates distinguished semidiurnal variations. The range of seawater temperature variations was approximately 2-4°C during a clear day in spring. The seawater temperature increased during flood tides but decreased during ebb tides in spring and summer, while the opposite occurred in autumn and winter. A model was developed to evaluate the effect of the tidal flat on changes in the seawater temperature. The seawater temperature, calculated using this model, was verified with observed seawater temperatures. The heat of seawater in shallow zones changed more than 581 J m

Calculation of heat flux in a macrotidal flat using FVCOM

“…In equation (A5), Q MS is the incoming short-wave solar radiation, and Q ML , Q ME and Q MH are the long-wave radiation, latent heat transfer and sensible heat transfer from the sediment surface to atmosphere, respectively. In equation (A6), H Sed is the effective thickness of the sediment layer (0.01 m) [Kim et al, 2010], ST is the seawater temperature at the tidal flat seawater interface, and MT is the calculated sediment temperature at 0.01 m [Losordo and Piedrahita, 1991]. C S and are the volumetric heat capacity (3.65 × 10 6 J m ) of the sediment, respectively [Kim et al, 2007].…”

“…The sediment temperature of the bottom layer (1 m) was estimated from the temperatures observed over the study period at depths of 2, 20 and 40 cm [Kim et al, 2010]. The sediment temperature was predicted by the difference between the incoming heat flux through the tidal flat surface and the change in the heat content of the tidal flat, expect the surface layer.…”

“…Yanagi et al [2005] predicted the seawater temperature using the ocean numerical model, which considers the heat exchange between seawater and the tidal flat. Our previous study reported the effect of the tidal flat on the variability in the seawater temperature using the one-dimensional temperature prediction model on the western coast of Korea [Kim et al, 2010]. The effects of the tidal flat on the seawater temperature and local climatic changes were quantitatively evaluated from the results of the one-dimensional model in coastal areas with macrotidal flats.…”

Stratification on the Skagit Bay tidal flats

“…Although tidal flats form a relatively small portion of the total coastal and estuarine area, they can affect the circulation patterns throughout larger basins by increasing heating (Kim et al, 2010;Kim and Cho, 2011), bed friction (Nicolle and Karpytchev, 2007), and tidal volume storage (Friedrichs and Aubrey, 1988), and by altering basin resonance characteristics (Fortunato et al, 1997(Fortunato et al, , 1999 and nonlinear tidal interactions (Speer and Aubrey, 1985;Fortunato et al, 1999;Blanton et al, 2002). Tidal flats also can provide a coastal buffer (Kirby, 2000;Kim, 2003) and important habitat for fish and game (Grossman et al, 2007).…”

Use of vertical temperature gradients for prediction of tidal flat sediment characteristics

“…While tidal flat sediment temperature is largely influenced by the duration of exposure and solar radiation [Cho et al, 2005], sediment type is extremely important in dictating the magnitude and direction of heat flux between the sediments and air/water [Harrison, 1985;Harrison and Phizacklea, 1987]. The heat capacity of tidal flat sediments has been shown to influence the temperature of seawater [Vugts and Zimmerman, 1985;Kim et al, 2010], which has important implications for biological productivity [Guarini et al, 1997;van der Wal et al, 2010] and coastal ocean-atmosphere interactions [Skyllingstad et al, 2005].…”