Geology topics

C. R. Sherwood

Publications and source records attributed to C. R. Sherwood.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2011

Formation dynamics of subsurface hydrocarbon intrusions following the Deepwater Horizon blowout

Hydrocarbons released following the Deepwater Horizon (DH) blowout were found in deep, subsurface horizontal intrusions, yet there has been little discussion about how these intrusions formed. We have combined measured (or estimated) observations from the DH release with empirical relationships developed from previous lab experiments to identify the mechanisms responsible for intrusion formation and to characterize the DH plume. Results indicate that the intrusions originate from a stratification‐dominated multiphase plume characterized by multiple subsurface intrusions containing dissolved gas and oil along with small droplets of liquid oil. Unlike earlier lab measurements, where the potential density in ambient water decreased linearly with elevation, at the DH site it varied quadratically. We have modified our method for estimating intrusion elevation under these conditions and the resulting estimates agree with observations that the majority of the hydrocarbons were found between 800 and 1200 m.

Geophysical Research Letters↗

USGS2010

Sediment transport on the Palos Verdes shelf, California

Sediment transport and the potential for erosion or deposition have been investigated on the Palos Verdes (PV) and San Pedro shelves in southern California to help assess the fate of an effluent-affected deposit contaminated with DDT and PCBs. Bottom boundary layer measurements at two 60-m sites in spring 2004 were used to set model parameters and evaluate a one-dimensional (vertical) model of local, steady-state resuspension, and suspended-sediment transport. The model demonstrated skill (Brier scores up to 0.75) reproducing the magnitudes of bottom shear stress, current speeds, and suspended-sediment concentrations measured during an April transport event, but the model tended to underpredict observed rotation in the bottom-boundary layer, possibly because the model did not account for the effects of temperature-salinity stratification. The model was run with wave input estimated from a nearby buoy and current input from four to six years of measurements at thirteen sites on the 35- and 65-m isobaths on the PV and San Pedro shelves. Sediment characteristics and erodibility were based on gentle wet-sieve analysis and erosion-chamber measurements. Modeled flow and sediment transport were mostly alongshelf toward the northwest on the PV shelf with a significant offshore component. The 95th percentile of bottom shear stresses ranged from 0.09 to 0.16 Pa at the 65-m sites, and the lowest values were in the middle of the PV shelf, near the Whites Point sewage outfalls where the effluent-affected layer is thickest. Long-term mean transport rates varied from 0.9 to 4.8 metric tons m -1 yr -1 along the 65-m isobaths on the PV shelf, and were much higher at the 35-m sites. Gradients in modeled alongshore transport rates suggest that, in the absence of a supply of sediment from the outfalls or PV coast, erosion at rates of ???0.2 mm yr -1 might occur in the region southeast of the outfalls. These rates are small compared to some estimates of background natural sedimentation rates (???5 mm yr -1 ), but do not preclude higher localized rates near abrupt transitions in sediment characteristics. However, low particle settling velocities and strong currents result in transport length-scales that are long relative to the narrow width of the PV shelf, which combined with the significant offshore component in transport, means that transport of resuspended sediment towards deep water is as likely as transport along the axis of the effluent-affected deposit.

Continental Shelf Research↗

USGS2010

Geophysical Data Collected off the South Shore of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts

The U.S. Geological Survey Woods Hole Science Center conducted a nearshore geophysical survey offshore of the southern coast of Martha's Vineyard, in the vicinity of the Martha's Vineyard Coastal Observatory in 2007. This mapping program was part of a larger research effort supporting the Office of Naval Research Ripples Directed-Research Initiative studies at Martha's Vineyard Coastal Observatory designed to improve our understanding of coastal sediment-transport processes. The survey was conducted aboard the Megan T. Miller August 9-13, 2007. The study area covers 35 square kilometers from about 0.2 kilometers to 5 kilometers offshore of the south shore of Martha's Vineyard, and ranges in depth from ~6 to 24 meters. The geophysical mapping utilized the following suite of high-resolution instrumentation to map the surficial sediment distribution, bathymetry, and sub-surface geology: a dual-frequency 100/500 kilohertz sidescan-sonar system, 234 kilohertz interferometric sonar, and 500 hertz -12 kilohertz chirp subbottom profiler. These geophysical data will be used to provide initial conditions for wave and circulation modeling within the study area.

Open-File Report↗

USGS2009

Deposition and flux of sediment from the Po River, Italy: An idealized and wintertime numerical modeling study

Recent studies of sediment dynamics and clinoform development in the northern Adriatic Sea focused on winter 2002-2003 and provided the data and motivation for development of a detailed sediment-transport model for the area near the Po River delta. We used both idealized test cases and more realistic simulations to improve our understanding of seasonal sediment dynamics there. We also investigated the relationship between physical processes and the observed depositional products; e.g. the accumulation of sediment very near the Po River distributary mouths. Sediment transport near the Po River was evaluated using a three-dimensional ocean model coupled to sediment-transport calculations that included wave- and current-induced resuspension, suspended-sediment transport, multiple grain classes, and fluvial input from the Po River. High-resolution estimates from available meteorological and wave models were used to specify wind, wave, and meteorological forcing. Model results indicated that more than half of the discharged sediment remained within 15??km of the Po River distributary mouths, even after two months of intensive reworking by winter storms. During floods of the Po River, transport in the middle to upper water column dominated sediment fluxes. Otherwise, sediment fluxes from the subaqueous portion of the delta were confined to the bottom few meters of the water column, and correlated with increases in current speed and wave energy. Spatial and temporal variation in wind velocities determined depositional patterns and the directions of sediment transport. Northeasterly Bora winds produced relatively more eastward transport, while southwesterly Sirocco winds generated fluxes towards both the north and the south. Eastward transport accounted for the majority of the sediment exported from the subaqueous delta, most likely due to the frequent occurrence of Bora conditions. Progradation of the Po River delta into the Adriatic Sea may restrict the formation of the Western Adriatic Coastal Current, increasing sediment retention at the Po delta and reducing the supply of sediment to the Apennine margin. A positive morphodynamic feedback may therefore be present whereby the extension of the delta into the Adriatic increases sediment accumulation at the delta and facilitates further progradation. ?? 2009 Elsevier B.V.

Marine Geology↗

USGS2008

Sediment dispersal in the northwestern Adriatic Sea

Sediment dispersal in the Adriatic Sea was evaluated using coupled three-dimensional circulation and sediment transport models, representing conditions from autumn 2002 through spring 2003. The calculations accounted for fluvial sources, resuspension by waves and currents, and suspended transport. Sediment fluxes peaked during southwestward Bora wind conditions that produced energetic waves and strengthened the Western Adriatic Coastal Current. Transport along the western Adriatic continental shelf was nearly always to the south, except during brief periods when northward Sirocco winds reduced the coastal current. Much of the modeled fluvial sediment deposition was near river mouths, such as the Po subaqueous delta. Nearly all Po sediment remained in the northern Adriatic. Material from rivers that drain the Apennine Mountains traveled farther before deposition than Po sediment, because it was modeled with a lower settling velocity. Fluvial sediment delivered to areas with high average bed shear stress was more highly dispersed than material delivered to more quiescent areas. Modeled depositional patterns were similar to observed patterns that have developed over longer timescales. Specifically, modeled Po sediment accumulation was thickest near the river mouth with a very thin deposit extending to the northeast, consistent with patterns of modern sediment texture in the northern Adriatic. Sediment resuspended from the bed and delivered by Apennine Rivers was preferentially deposited on the northern side of the Gargano Peninsula, in the location of thick Holocene accumulation. Deposition here was highest during Bora winds when convergences in current velocities and off-shelf flux enhanced delivery of material to the midshelf. Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union.

Journal of Geophysical Research C: Oceans↗

USGS2008

Calculating wave-generated bottom orbital velocities from surface-wave parameters

Near-bed wave orbital velocities and shear stresses are important parameters in many sediment-transport and hydrodynamic models of the coastal ocean, estuaries, and lakes. Simple methods for estimating bottom orbital velocities from surface-wave statistics such as significant wave height and peak period often are inaccurate except in very shallow water. This paper briefly reviews approaches for estimating wave-generated bottom orbital velocities from near-bed velocity data, surface-wave spectra, and surface-wave parameters; MATLAB code for each approach is provided. Aspects of this problem have been discussed elsewhere. We add to this work by providing a method for using a general form of the parametric surface-wave spectrum to estimate bottom orbital velocity from significant wave height and peak period, investigating effects of spectral shape on bottom orbital velocity, comparing methods for calculating bottom orbital velocity against values determined from near-bed velocity measurements at two sites on the US east and west coasts, and considering the optimal representation of bottom orbital velocity for calculations of near-bed processes. Bottom orbital velocities calculated using near-bed velocity data, measured wave spectra, and parametric spectra for a site on the northern California shelf and one in the mid-Atlantic Bight compare quite well and are relatively insensitive to spectral shape except when bimodal waves are present with maximum energy at the higher-frequency peak. These conditions, which are most likely to occur at times when bottom orbital velocities are small, can be identified with our method as cases where the measured wave statistics are inconsistent with Donelan's modified form of the Joint North Sea Wave Project (JONSWAP) spectrum. We define the 'effective' forcing for wave-driven, near-bed processes as the product of the magnitude of forcing times its probability of occurrence, and conclude that different bottom orbital velocity statistics may be appropriate for different problems. ?? 2008 Elsevier Ltd.

Computers & Geosciences↗

USGS2008

Development of a three-dimensional, regional, coupled wave, current, and sediment-transport model

We are developing a three-dimensional numerical model that implements algorithms for sediment transport and evolution of bottom morphology in the coastal-circulation model Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS v3.0), and provides a two-way link between ROMS and the wave model Simulating Waves in the Nearshore (SWAN) via the Model-Coupling Toolkit. The coupled model is applicable for fluvial, estuarine, shelf, and nearshore (surfzone) environments. Three-dimensional radiation-stress terms have been included in the momentum equations, along with effects of a surface wave roller model. The sediment-transport algorithms are implemented for an unlimited number of user-defined non-cohesive sediment classes. Each class has attributes of grain diameter, density, settling velocity, critical stress threshold for erosion, and erodibility constant. Suspended-sediment transport in the water column is computed with the same advection-diffusion algorithm used for all passive tracers and an additional algorithm for vertical settling that is not limited by the CFL criterion. Erosion and deposition are based on flux formulations. A multi-level bed framework tracks the distribution of every size class in each layer and stores bulk properties including layer thickness, porosity, and mass, allowing computation of bed morphology and stratigraphy. Also tracked are bed-surface properties including active-layer thickness, ripple geometry, and bed roughness. Bedload transport is calculated for mobile sediment classes in the top layer. Bottom-boundary layer submodels parameterize wave-current interactions that enhance bottom stresses and thereby facilitate sediment transport and increase bottom drag, creating a feedback to the circulation. The model is demonstrated in a series of simple test cases and a realistic application in Massachusetts Bay.

Computers & Geosciences↗

USGS2008

Northeast storms ranked by wind stress and wave-generated bottom stress observed in Massachusetts Bay, 1990-2006

Along the coast of the northeastern United States, strong winds blowing from the northeast are often associated with storms called northeasters, coastal storms that strongly influence weather. In addition to effects caused by wind stress, the sea floor is affected by bottom stress associated with these storms. Bottom stress caused by orbital velocities associated with surface waves integrated over the duration of a storm is a metric of storm strength at the sea floor. Near-bottom wave-orbital velocities calculated by using measurements of significant wave height and dominant wave period and the parametric spectral method described in Wiberg and Sherwood [Wiberg, P.L., Sherwood, C.R. Calculating wave-generated bottom orbital velocities from surface wave parameters. Computers in Geosciences, in press] compared well with observations in Massachusetts Bay. Integrated bottom-wave stress (called IWAVES), calculated at 30 m water depth, and a companion storm-strength metric, integrated surface wind stress at 10 m (called IWINDS), are used to provide an overview of the strength, frequency, and timing of large storms in Massachusetts Bay over a 17-year period from January 1990 through December 2006. These new metrics reflect both storm duration and intensity. Northeast storms were the major cause of large waves in Massachusetts Bay because of the long fetch to the east: of the strongest 10% of storms (n=38) ranked by IWAVES, 22 had vector-averaged wind stress from the northeast quadrant. The Blizzard of December 1992, the Perfect Storm of October 1991, and a December 2003 storm were the strongest three storms ranked by IWAVES and IWINDS, and all were northeasters. IWAVES integrated over the winter season (defined as October-May) ranged by about a factor of 11; the winters with the highest integrated IWAVES were 1992-1993 and 2004-2005 and the winter with the lowest integrated IWAVES was 2001-2002. May 2005 was the only month in the 17-year record that two of the nine strongest northeast storms ranked by IWINDS occurred in the same month or year; these were also the only storms of the nine strongest northeast storms to occur in the spring.

Massachusetts Bay↗

USGS2008

Ocean forecasting in terrain-following coordinates: Formulation and skill assessment of the Regional Ocean Modeling System

Systematic improvements in algorithmic design of regional ocean circulation models have led to significant enhancement in simulation ability across a wide range of space/time scales and marine system types. As an example, we briefly review the Regional Ocean Modeling System, a member of a general class of three-dimensional, free-surface, terrain-following numerical models. Noteworthy characteristics of the ROMS computational kernel include: consistent temporal averaging of the barotropic mode to guarantee both exact conservation and constancy preservation properties for tracers; redefined barotropic pressure-gradient terms to account for local variations in the density field; vertical interpolation performed using conservative parabolic splines; and higher-order, quasi-monotone advection algorithms. Examples of quantitative skill assessment are shown for a tidally driven estuary, an ice-covered high-latitude sea, a wind- and buoyancy-forced continental shelf, and a mid-latitude ocean basin. The combination of moderate-order spatial approximations, enhanced conservation properties, and quasi-monotone advection produces both more robust and accurate, and less diffusive, solutions than those produced in earlier terrain-following ocean models. Together with advanced methods of data assimilation and novel observing system technologies, these capabilities constitute the necessary ingredients for multi-purpose regional ocean prediction systems.

Journal of Computational Physics↗

USGS2008

Collaboration tools and techniques for large model datasets

In MREA and many other marine applications, it is common to have multiple models running with different grids, run by different institutions. Techniques and tools are described for low-bandwidth delivery of data from large multidimensional datasets, such as those from meteorological and oceanographic models, directly into generic analysis and visualization tools. Output is stored using the NetCDF CF Metadata Conventions, and then delivered to collaborators over the web via OPeNDAP. OPeNDAP datasets served by different institutions are then organized via THREDDS catalogs. Tools and procedures are then used which enable scientists to explore data on the original model grids using tools they are familiar with. It is also low-bandwidth, enabling users to extract just the data they require, an important feature for access from ship or remote areas. The entire implementation is simple enough to be handled by modelers working with their webmasters - no advanced programming support is necessary. ?? 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Journal of Marine Systems↗

USGS2007

Sensitivity of estuarine turbidity maximum to settling velocity, tidal mixing, and sediment supply

Estuarine turbidity maximum, numerical modeling, settling velocity, stratification The spatial and temporal distribution of suspended material in an Estuarine Turbidity Maxima (ETM) is primarily controlled by particle settling velocity, tidal mixing, shear-stress thresholds for resuspension, and sediment supply. We vary these parameters in numerical experiments of an idealized two-dimensional (x-z) estuary to demonstrate their affects on the development and retention of particles in an ETM. Parameters varied are the settling velocity (0.01, 0.1, and 0.5 mm/s), tidal amplitude (0.4 m 12 hour tide and 0.3 to 0.6 m 14 day spring neap cycle), and sediment availability (spatial supply limited or unlimited; and temporal supply as a riverine pulse during spring vs. neap tide). Results identify that particles with a low settling velocity are advected out of the estuary and particles with a high settling velocity provide little material transport to an ETM. Particles with an intermediate settling velocity develop an ETM with the greatest amount of material retained. For an unlimited supply of sediment the ETM and limit of salt intrusion co-vary during the spring neap cycle. The ETM migrates landward of the salt intrusion during spring tides and seaward during neap tides. For limited sediment supply the ETM does not respond as an erodible pool of sediment that advects landward and seaward with the salt front. The ETM is maintained seaward of the salt intrusion and controlled by the locus of sediment convergence in the bed. For temporal variability of sediment supplied from a riverine pulse, the ETM traps more sediment if the pulse encounters the salt intrusion at neap tides than during spring tides. ?? 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Proceedings in Marine Science↗

USGS2006

Shear velocity estimates on the inner shelf off Grays Harbor, Washington, USA

Shear velocity was estimated from current measurements near the bottom off Grays Harbor, Washington between May 4 and June 6, 2001 under mostly wave-dominated conditions. A downward-looking pulse-coherent acoustic Doppler profiler (PCADP) and two acoustic-Doppler velocimeters (field version; ADVFs) were deployed on a tripod at 9-m water depth. Measurements from these instruments were used to estimate shear velocity with (1) a modified eddy-correlation (EC) technique, (2) the log-profile (LP) method, and (3) a dissipation-rate method. Although values produced by the three methods agreed reasonably well (within their broad ranges of uncertainty), there were important systematic differences. Estimates from the EC method were generally lowest, followed by those from the inertial-dissipation method. The LP method produced the highest values and the greatest scatter. We show that these results are consistent with boundary-layer theory when sediment-induced stratification is present. The EC method provides the most fundamental estimate of kinematic stress near the bottom, and stratification causes the LP method to overestimate bottom stress. These results remind us that the methods are not equivalent and that comparison among sites and with models should be made carefully. ?? 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Oregon, Washington↗

USGS2006

Sediment distribution and transport across the continental shelf and slope under idealized wind forcing

Resuspension, transport, and deposition of sediments over the continental shelf and slope are complex processes and there is still a need to understand the underlying spatial and temporal dynamical scales. As a step towards this goal, a two-dimensional slice model (zero gradients in the alongshore direction) based on the primitive flow equations and a range of sediment classes has been developed. The circulation is forced from rest by upwelling or downwelling winds, which are spatially uniform. Results are presented for a range of wind speeds and sediment settling speeds. Upwelling flows carry fine sediments (low settling speeds) far offshore within the surface Ekman layer, and significant deposition eventually occurs beyond the shelf break. However, coarser sediments quickly settle out of the deeper onshore component of the circulation, which can lead to accumulation of bottom sediments within the coastal zone. Downwelling flows are more effective at transporting coarse sediments off the shelf. However, strong vertical mixing at the shelf break ensures that some material is also carried into the surface Ekman layer and returned onshore. The concentrations and settling fluxes of coarse sediments decrease offshore and increase with depth under both upwelling and downwelling conditions, consistent with trends observed in sediment trap data. However, finer sediments decrease with depth (upwelling) or reach a maximum around the depth of the shelf break (downwelling). It is shown that under uniform wind conditions, suspended sediment concentrations and settling fluxes decay offshore over a length scale of order τ s /ρf|w s |, where τs is the wind stress, ρ the water density, f the Coriolis parameter, and ws is the sediment settling velocity. This scaling applies to both upwelling and downwelling conditions, provided offshore transport is dominated by wind-driven advection, rather than horizontal diffusion.

Progress in Oceanography↗

USGS2005

Estimating hydrodynamic roughness in a wave-dominated environment with a high-resolution acoustic Doppler profiler

Hydrodynamic roughness is a critical parameter for characterizing bottom drag in boundary layers, and it varies both spatially and temporally due to variation in grain size, bedforms, and saltating sediment. In this paper we investigate temporal variability in hydrodynamic roughness using velocity profiles in the bottom boundary layer measured with a high-resolution acoustic Doppler profiler (PCADP). The data were collected on the ebb-tidal delta off Grays Harbor, Washington, in a mean water depth of 9 m. Significant wave height ranged from 0.5 to 3 m. Bottom roughness has rarely been determined from hydrodynamic measurements under conditions such as these, where energetic waves and medium-to-fine sand produce small bedforms. Friction velocity due to current u*c and apparent bottom roughness z0a were determined from the PCADP burst mean velocity profiles using the law of the wall. Bottom roughness kB was estimated by applying the Grant-Madsen model for wave-current interaction iteratively until the model u*c converged with values determined from the data. The resulting kB values ranged over 3 orders of magnitude (10-1 to 10-4 m) and varied inversely with wave orbital diameter. This range of kB influences predicted bottom shear stress considerably, suggesting that the use of time-varying bottom roughness could significantly improve the accuracy of sediment transport models. Bedform height was estimated from kB and is consistent with both ripple heights predicted by empirical models and bedforms in sonar images collected during the experiment. Copyright 2005 by the American Geophysical Union.

Journal of Geophysical Research C: Oceans↗

USGS2005

Performance of four turbulence closure models implemented using a generic length scale method

A two-equation turbulence model (one equation for turbulence kinetic energy and a second for a generic turbulence length-scale quantity) proposed by Umlauf and Burchard [J. Marine Research 61 (2003) 235] is implemented in a three-dimensional oceanographic model (Regional Oceanographic Modeling System; ROMS v2.0). These two equations, along with several stability functions, can represent many popular turbulence closures, including the k-kl (Mellor-Yamada Level 2.5), k-??, and k-?? schemes. The implementation adds flexibility to the model by providing an unprecedented range of turbulence closure selections in a single 3D oceanographic model and allows comparison and evaluation of turbulence models in an otherwise identical numerical environment. This also allows evaluation of the effect of turbulence models on other processes such as suspended-sediment distribution or ecological processes. Performance of the turbulence models and sediment-transport schemes is investigated with three test cases for (1) steady barotropic flow in a rectangular channel, (2) wind-induced surface mixed-layer deepening in a stratified fluid, and (3) oscillatory stratified pressure-gradient driven flow (estuarine circulation) in a rectangular channel. Results from k-??, k-??, and gen (a new closure proposed by Umlauf and Burchard [J. Marine Research 61 (2003) 235]) are very similar for these cases, but the k-kl closure results depend on a wall-proximity function that must be chosen to suit the flow. Greater variations appear in simulations of suspended-sediment concentrations than in salinity simulations because the transport of suspended-sediment amplifies minor variations in the methods. The amplification is caused by the added physics of a vertical settling rate, bottom stress dependent resuspension, and diffusive transport of sediment in regions of well mixed salt and temperature. Despite the amplified sensitivity of sediment to turbulence models in the estuary test case, the four closures investigated here all generated estuarine turbidity maxima that were similar in their shape, location, and concentrations.

Ocean Modelling↗

USGS2005

Hydratools, a MATLAB® based data processing package for Sontek Hydra data

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has developed a set of MATLAB tools to process and convert data collected by Sontek Hydra instruments to netCDF, which is a format used by the USGS to process and archive oceanographic time-series data. The USGS makes high-resolution current measurements within 1.5 meters of the bottom. These data are used in combination with other instrument data from sediment transport studies to develop sediment transport models. Instrument manufacturers provide software which outputs unique binary data formats. Multiple data formats are cumbersome. The USGS solution is to translate data streams into a common data format: netCDF. The Hydratools toolbox is written to create netCDF format files following EPIC conventions, complete with embedded metadata. Data are accepted from both the ADV and the PCADP. The toolbox will detect and remove bad data, substitute other sources of heading and tilt measurements if necessary, apply ambiguity corrections, calculate statistics, return information about data quality, and organize metadata. Standardized processing and archiving makes these data more easily and routinely accessible locally and over the Internet. In addition, documentation of the techniques used in the toolbox provides a baseline reference for others utilizing the data.

Conference Paper↗

USGS2004

Accuracy of a pulse-coherent acoustic Doppler profiler in a wave-dominated flow

The accuracy of velocities measured by a pulse-coherent acoustic Doppler profiler (PCADP) in the bottom boundary layer of a wave-dominated inner-shelf environment is evaluated. The downward-looking PCADP measured velocities in eight 10-cm cells at 1 Hz. Velocities measured by the PCADP are compared to those measured by an acoustic Doppler velocimeter for wave orbital velocities up to 95 cm s-1 and currents up to 40 cm s-1. An algorithm for correcting ambiguity errors using the resolution velocities was developed. Instrument bias, measured as the average error in burst mean speed, is -0.4 cm s-1 (standard deviation = 0.8). The accuracy (root-mean-square error) of instantaneous velocities has a mean of 8.6 cm s-1 (standard deviation = 6.5) for eastward velocities (the predominant direction of waves), 6.5 cm s-1 (standard deviation = 4.4) for northward velocities, and 2.4 cm s-1 (standard deviation = 1.6) for vertical velocities. Both burst mean and root-mean-square errors are greater for bursts with ub ??? 50 cm s-1. Profiles of burst mean speeds from the bottom five cells were fit to logarithmic curves: 92% of bursts with mean speed ??? 5 cm s-1 have a correlation coefficient R2 > 0.96. In cells close to the transducer, instantaneous velocities are noisy, burst mean velocities are biased low, and bottom orbital velocities are biased high. With adequate blanking distances for both the profile and resolution velocities, the PCADP provides sufficient accuracy to measure velocities in the bottom boundary layer under moderately energetic inner-shelf conditions.

Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology↗

USGS2003

Regional sediment budget of the Columbia River littoral cell, USA: Analysis of bathymetric- and topographic-volume change

In this Open-File Report we present calculations of changes in bathymetric and topographic volumes for the Grays Harbor, Willapa Bay, and Columbia River entrances and the adjacent coasts of North Beach, Grayland Plains, Long Beach, and Clatsop Plains for four intervals: pre-jetty - 1920s (Interval 1), 1920s - 1950s (Interval 2), 1950s - 1990s (Interval 3), and 1920s 1990s (Interval 4). This analysis is part of the Southwest Washington Coastal Erosion Study (SWCES), the goals of which are to understand and predict the morphologic behavior of the Columbia River littoral cell on a management scale of tens of kilometers and decades. We obtain topographic Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) data from a joint project by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA), and the Washington State Department of Ecology (DOE) and bathymetric data from the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (USC&GS), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), USGS, and the DOE. Shoreline data are digitized from T-Sheets and aerial photographs from the USC&GS and National Ocean Service (NOS). Instead of uncritically adjusting each survey to NAVD88, a common vertical land-based datum, we adjust some surveys to produce optimal results according to the following criteria. First, we minimize offsets in overlapping surveys within the same era, and second, we minimize bathymetric changes (relative to the 1990s) in deep water, where we assume minimal change has taken place. We grid bathymetric and topographic datasets using kriging and triangulation algorithms, calculate bathymetric-change surfaces for each interval, and calculate volume changes within polygons that are overlaid on the bathymetric-change surfaces. We find similar morphologic changes near the entrances to Grays Harbor and the Columbia River following jetty construction between 1898 and 1916 at the Grays Harbor entrance and between 1885 and 1913 at the Columbia River entrance. The inlets and inner deltas eroded and the outer deltas moved offshore and accreted. The adjacent coasts experienced accretion over alongshore distances of tens of kilometers. North of the Grays Harbor entrance along North Beach and north of the Columbia River entrance along Long Beach the shoreface and the beach-dune complex mainly prograded, whereas south of the Grays Harbor entrance along Grayland Plains and south of the Columbia River entrance along Clatsop Plains the beach-dune complex above -10 m NAVD88 prograded and the shoreface between approximately -30 m and -10 m NAVD88 eroded. In the decades following jetty construction, the rates of erosion and accretion at the entrances decreased and the centers of deposition along the adjacent coasts moved away from the entrances. The rates of change have decreased, suggesting the systems are approaching dynamic equilibrium. Exceptions to this behaviour are the accretion of the beach-dune complex of Long Beach, the erosion of Cape Shoalwater, and the northward migration of the Willapa Bay ebb-tidal delta during all intervals. The net shoreline advance of Long Beach increases from 0.28 m/yr in pre-jetty conditions to 3.78 m/yr during Interval 4. The erosion of Cape Shoalwater and the northward migration of the Willapa Bay ebb-tidal delta are related to the northern migration of the Willapa Bay North Channel. Volume changes at the Grays Harbor, Willapa Bay, and Columbia River entrances and the Columbia River estuary are balanced against losses and gains due to littoral transport and sand supply from the Columbia River. Based on these sediment balances, we infer the following pathways: sand that eroded from the inlets and inner deltas at the Grays Harbor and Columbia River entrances moved offshore and northward to accrete the outer deltas and the beaches to the north; sand from the south flank of the Grays Harbor delta and shelf along Grayland Plains moved onshore to accrete the beach dune complex of Grayland Plains and moved northward to maintain accretion of the outer delta and the beach-dune complex of North Beach; sand that eroded from the south flank of the Columbia River delta and shelf along Clatsop Plains contributed to the accretion of the beach-dune complex of Clatsop Plains and the Columbia River outer delta. The net volume change for Interval 1 and 3 at the Grays Harbor entrance and for Interval 1 at the Columbia River entrance is erosion, whereas the net change for the other intervals is accretion. For the entire CRLC, there is a net loss of 185 Mm 3 for Interval 1, a net gain of 357 Mm 3 for Interval 2, and a net gain of 187 Mm 3 for Interval 3. These imbalances can be the result of incomplete bathymetric coverage of the bays and shoreface, uncertainties in the adjustments of vertical tidal datums, inconsistencies in the bathymetric data, and uncertainties in the sediment supply of the Columbia River.

Oregon, Washington↗