Tidal Trapping and Its Effect on Salinity Dispersion in Well-Mixed Estuaries Revisited
摘要
In well-mixed estuaries, the up-estuary salt flux is often dominated by tidal dispersion mechanisms, including tidal trapping. Tidal trapping involves volumes of water being temporarily trapped in dead zones or side channels adjacent to the main channel and released later in the tidal cycle, which causes an additional up-estuary salt flux. Tidal trapping can result from a diffusive exchange between a channel and a trap, or from filling and emptying of the trap by a tidal flow that is ahead in phase compared to the flow in the main channel (advective out-of-phase exchange). This study revisits the dispersive contribution from tidal trapping in a single dead-end side channel using an idealized numerical model. The results indicate that advective out-of-phase exchange yields the largest additional salt flux for the largest realistic velocity phase difference of 90