1 / 34

Salinity Intrusion: Integrating Riverine and Coastal Forces

Salinity Intrusion: Integrating Riverine and Coastal Forces. Paul Conrads U . S. Geological Survey SC Water Science Center Columbia , SC . NIDIS Carolinas Pilot Project Scoping Workshop July 31, 2012. Outline. Conceptual model of salinity intrusion Look at some data

micheal
Download Presentation

Salinity Intrusion: Integrating Riverine and Coastal Forces

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Salinity Intrusion: Integrating Riverine and Coastal Forces Paul Conrads U. S. Geological Survey SC Water Science Center Columbia, SC NIDIS Carolinas Pilot Project Scoping Workshop July 31, 2012

  2. Outline • Conceptual model of salinity intrusion • Look at some data • Drought and salinity intrusion • Coastal drought index and data resource • Summary

  3. Freshwater Saltwater Short Review Salinity Dynamics Tidal Forcing mean water level, tidal range Riverine Flow “…estuaries may never really be steady-state systems; they may be trying to reach a balance they never achieve.” Keith Dyer, from Estuaries – A Physical Introduction (1997)

  4. Saltwater-Freshwater Interface Low water levels High flows Tidal Marshes Critter Communities

  5. Saltwater-Freshwater Interface High water levels Low flows Tidal Marshes Critter Communities

  6. Freshwater Saltwater Example of Data: Yadkin-Pee Dee Basin Tidal Forcing mean water level, tidal range Riverine Flow Flow: Pee Dee River at Pee Dee Water level and Tidal Range: Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway at Little River Inlet Specific conductance (salinity): Waccamaw River the Hagley Landing

  7. Freshwater Saltwater Example of Data: Streamflow Tidal Forcing mean water level, tidal range Riverine Flow

  8. Freshwater Saltwater Example of Data: Water level Tidal Forcing mean water level, tidal range Riverine Flow Mean Water Level Two signals: Mean water level & Tidal Range Tide Range

  9. Water Level and Tidal Range

  10. Pee Dee River Flows

  11. Waccamaw River Specific Conductance

  12. Flows and Specific Conductance

  13. Converging Conditions GAGE HEIGHTS AND FILTERED GAGES HEIGHT, FEET SPECIFIC CONDUCTANCE, UG/CM and FLOW, FT3/S

  14. Looking Inside the Black Box • 3D response surfaces • Surface created by model • “Unseen” variables set to constant value • Manifestation of historical behavior of system • Insight to the process dynamics or physics

  15. What Conditions Cause Large Intrusions? 3-D Response surface – Flow, Tidal Range, and Salinity Low water High water Salinity > Salinity > Tide range > Tide range > Flow > Flow > Low Coastal Water Level High Coastal Water Level

  16. Freshwater Saltwater Savannah River • Riverine Flows • Savannah River at Clyo • Tidal Forcing • Mean Water level • Tidal Range • Fort Pulaski • Specific conductance • I-95

  17. Savannah River at I-95

  18. Converging Conditions:Savannah River

  19. Flow and Drought Index Very quick look at South Carolina Coast Weekly drought index for Marion County Plot with 7-day average flow & 7-day average specific conductance

  20. Flow and Drought Index D4 D3 D2 D1 0-D0

  21. Specific Conductance and Drought Index D4 D3 D2 D1 0-D0

  22. Data Resource – USGS Real-time Network

  23. USGS Coastal Carolina Real-time Network ~50 active gages: Parameters: water level, sp. cond., temperature, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, pH, and/velocity

  24. Summary • Salinity dynamics results of flow and coastal water interaction • Salinity intrusion events caused by convergence of conditions • Potential of a salinity coastal drought index • Real-time data networks available to support potential coastal drought index

  25. Paul Conrads USGS South Carolina Science Center pconrads@usgs.gov

  26. Fast Forward FERC Re-licensing

  27. AIW/North End Salinity

  28. Freshwater Saltwater Example of Data: Streamflow Tidal Forcing water level, tidal range Riverine Flow

  29. Convergence of Conditions

  30. Orbital Mechanics and Tide Range Neap Tides Spring Tides

  31. Tidal Range and Specific Conductance

  32. Water Level and Specific Conductance

  33. Converging Conditions:South End – Waccamaw River

More Related