Hydrodynamics of the Southwest Coast Estuaries

Principal Investigators: Eduardo Patino, Lars Soderqvist, and Victor Levesque

Southwest Coast Study status

Boundary Water Level and Salinity Stations Shark Point started February 2001 Chatham River entrance started March 2001	Boundary station off Shark Point. [larger image]
River Level and Salinity Stations Barron River started May 2001 Turner River started May 2001 Lopez River started April 2001 New River started April 2001
Discharge stations Chatham River installed March 2001 Lostman's River installed March 2001 Lostman's Creek discontinued (April 1999 - May 2001) Broad River station moved downstream February 2001 Broad River upstream station discontinued (January 1997 - May 2001) Harney River station discontinued (January 1997 - March 2001) Shark River station started November 1996 North River station started April 1999	Broad River discharge station. [larger image]

Southwest Coast Discharge Stations Mean and Median Residual Discharges.

CY = Calendar Year (Jan 1 - Dec 31).
WY = Water Year (Oct 1 - Sep 30).

Mean Residual Discharge in cubic feet per second.

Station Name	WY97	WY98	WY99
Broad River	149	219	281
Harney River	206	137	424
Shark River	242	196	279
Water Year mean residual discharge values for stations.

Median Residual Discharge in cubic feet per second.

Station Name	WY97	WY98	WY99
Broad River	123	184	254
Harney River	145	58	378
Shark River	204	146	212
Water Year median residual discharge values for stations.

Mangrove Island in Whitewater Bay. [larger image]

Red mangroves at the Buttonwood canal. [larger image]

Discharge stations are equiped with velocity, water level, temperature, and salinity sensors. Data is collected every 15 minutes. Velocity ratings are developed for each station using discharge measurements and station instrument data.	Broad River station Velocity Rating [larger image]
Harney River station Velocity Rating [larger image]	Shark River station Velocity Rating [larger image]

Instantaneous discharge for each 15 minute interval is calculated for each station (blue line in figure below). Instantaneous discharge is filtered using a low-pass filter to remove semi-diurnal tidal frequencies. The residual discharge data reveal responses to meteorological and long-term tidal forcing (red line in figure below).
Instantaneous and Residual Discharges [larger image]	North River station. [larger image]