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Coastal Circulations Driven By River Outflow, Shuliang Zhang

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Variable-density, 1^1/2- and 2^1/2- layer models are used to examine the behavior of plumes resulting from a fresher outflow of transport M_r and salinity S_r into a pre-existing oceanic layer of initial thickness H₁ and salinity S₁. It is found that the plumes exhibit a variety of features depending on conditions of the outflow, the situation of the ambient ocean, and external forcing. Perhaps the most interesting feature is that the plume can flow along the upstream (to the left of the river mouth, looking seaward in the northern hemisphere) coast …