Residual Currents Induced by Asymmetric Tidal Mixing in Weakly Stratified Narrow Estuaries

Abstract

Residual currents induced by asymmetric tidal mixing were examined for weakly stratified, narrow estuaries using analytical and numerical models. The analytical model is an extension of the work of R. K. McCarthy, with the addition of tidal variations of the vertical eddy viscosity in the longitudinal momentum equation. The longitudinal distribution of residual flows driven by asymmetric tidal mixing is determined by the tidal current amplitude and by asymmetries in tidal mixing between flood and ebb. In a long channel, the magnitude of the residual flow induced by asymmetric tidal mixing is maximum at the estuary mouth and decreases upstream following the longitudinal distribution of tidal current amplitude. Larger asymmetry in tidal mixing between flood and ebb produces stronger residual currents. For typical tidal asymmetry, mixing is stronger during flood than during ebb and results in two-layer residual currents with seaward flow near the surface and landward flow near the bottom. For reverse tidal asymmetry, mixing is weaker during flood than during ebb and the resulting residual flow is landward near the surface and seaward near the bottom. Also, the residual flow induced by tidal asymmetry has the same order of magnitude as the density-driven flow and therefore is important to estuarine dynamics. Numerical experiments with a primitive-equation numerical model [the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS)] generally support the pattern of residual currents driven by tidal asymmetry suggested by the analytical model.