On Lagrangian residual currents with applications in south San Francisco Bay, California

Water Resources Research
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Abstract

The Lagrangian residual circulation has often been introduced as the sum of the Eulerian residual circulation and the Stokes' drift. Unfortunately, this definition of the Lagrangian residual circulation is conceptually incorrect because both the Eulerian residual circulation and the Stokes' drift are Eulerian variables. In this paper a classification of various residual variables are reviewed and properly defined. The Lagrangian residual circulation is then studied by means of a two-stage formulation of a computer model. The tidal circulation is first computed in a conventional Eulerian way, and then the Lagrangian residual circulation is determined by a method patterned after the method of markers and cells. To demonstrate properties of the Lagrangian residual circulation, application of this approach in South San Francisco Bay, California, is considered. With the aid of the model results, properties of the Eulerian and Lagrangian residual circulation are examined. It can be concluded that estimation of the Lagrangian residual circulation from Eulerian data may lead to unacceptable error, particularly in a tidal estuary where the tidal excursion is of the same order of magnitude as the length scale of the basin. A direction calculation of the Lagrangian residual circulation must be made and has been shown to be feasible.

Study Area

Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title On Lagrangian residual currents with applications in south San Francisco Bay, California
Series title Water Resources Research
DOI 10.1029/WR018i006p01652
Volume 18
Issue 6
Year Published 1982
Language English
Publisher American Geophysical Union
Contributing office(s) San Francisco Bay-Delta, Pacific Regional Director's Office
Description 11 p.
First page 1652
Last page 1662
Country United States
State California
Other Geospatial San Francisco Bay
Online Only (Y/N) N
Additional Online Files (Y/N) N
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