Estimating estuarine flushing and residence times in Charlotte Harbor, Florida, via salt balance and a box model

Limnology and Oceanography
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Abstract

The new concept is that, over many tidal cycles, the tidally averaged "flow' (Qg) of water from the Gulf of Mexico, with a salinity of 35???, can be treated as a constant at any point in the estuary. This flow is used in a simple mixing equation to predict salinity in the estuary at different river inflows, and the predicted salinities are used to compute residence times for water in the estuary. The techniques developed to achieve optimal precision in the relation between river inflow and salinity include a newly derived equation to fit Qg by a least-squares method and a procedure to determine the optimal averaging period for river inflow. Results from Charlotte Harbor indicate that, under average (70 m3s-1) river inflow, 95% of the original water present in the harbor flushes into the gulf in 130 d. -from Authors
Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Estimating estuarine flushing and residence times in Charlotte Harbor, Florida, via salt balance and a box model
Series title Limnology and Oceanography
Volume 36
Issue 3
Year Published 1991
Language English
Publisher American Society of Limnology and Oceanography
Larger Work Type Article
Larger Work Subtype Journal Article
Larger Work Title Limnology and Oceanography
First page 602
Last page 612
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