How tides significantly alter the flushing of two large neighboring inverse estuaries

IF 2.3 3区地球科学 Q2 OCEANOGRAPHY

Continental Shelf Research Pub Date : 2026-01-01 Epub Date: 2025-11-10 DOI:10.1016/j.csr.2025.105605

J. Kämpf

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

A three-dimensional hydrodynamic model is applied to study the flushing of two large neighboring inverse estuaries, Spencer Gulf and Gulf St. Vincent, South Australia, with and without tides. A density-driven overturning circulation, peaking in austral late winter and spring, controls the flushing of both gulfs. Tidal effects significantly affect the flushing of both estuaries with seawater from the ambient continental shelf. Tidally enhanced friction slows the mean flow and significantly reduces the flushing of the Upper Spencer Gulf by ∼9 months. Here, the tidal effect indirectly creates a more hypersaline, dynamically sheltered environment that ecologically supports the world's only mass aggregation of the Giant Australian Cuttlefish (Sepia apama). On the other hand, tidal mixing prevents the accumulation of dense water in a seafloor depression in the lower Gulf St. Vincent which increases the flushing of this region by ∼6 months. Findings of this study reveal the significance and opposite roles that tides play in the unique marine environment of South Australian gulfs.

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潮汐是如何显著地改变两个相邻的反向河口的冲刷的

应用三维水动力模型研究了南澳大利亚斯宾塞湾和圣文森特湾两个相邻的大型逆河口在有潮和无潮情况下的冲刷。密度驱动的翻转环流在冬末和春季达到顶峰，控制着两个海湾的冲刷。潮汐效应显著地影响了来自周围大陆架的海水对两个河口的冲刷。潮汐增强的摩擦减缓了平均流量，并显著减少了上斯宾塞湾的冲刷约9个月。在这里，潮汐效应间接地创造了一个高盐的、动态遮蔽的环境，在生态上支持着世界上唯一的巨型澳大利亚乌贼（Sepia apama）的大量聚集。另一方面，潮汐混合阻止了圣文森特湾下游海底洼地密集水的积聚，从而使该地区的冲刷时间增加了约6个月。这项研究的发现揭示了潮汐在南澳大利亚湾独特的海洋环境中发挥的重要作用和相反的作用。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Continental Shelf Research 地学-海洋学

CiteScore

4.30

自引率

4.30%

发文量

136

审稿时长

6.1 months

期刊介绍： Continental Shelf Research publishes articles dealing with the biological, chemical, geological and physical oceanography of the shallow marine environment, from coastal and estuarine waters out to the shelf break. The continental shelf is a critical environment within the land-ocean continuum, and many processes, functions and problems in the continental shelf are driven by terrestrial inputs transported through the rivers and estuaries to the coastal and continental shelf areas. Manuscripts that deal with these topics must make a clear link to the continental shelf. Examples of research areas include: Physical sedimentology and geomorphology Geochemistry of the coastal ocean (inorganic and organic) Marine environment and anthropogenic effects Interaction of physical dynamics with natural and manmade shoreline features Benthic, phytoplankton and zooplankton ecology Coastal water and sediment quality, and ecosystem health Benthic-pelagic coupling (physical and biogeochemical) Interactions between physical dynamics (waves, currents, mixing, etc.) and biogeochemical cycles Estuarine, coastal and shelf sea modelling and process studies.