Estimates of subtidal volume flux in mid-Chesapeake Bay

Abstract Utilizing 20 days of current meter and sea level elevation records taken in two cross-sections in mid-Chesapeake Bay an objective interpolation procedure was devised to allow the computation of vertical profiles of the laterally integrated subtidal volume fluxes at each section, at 3-h intervals over the period of the experiment. The presence of a classical mean estuarine circulation was observed; however, departures from this gravitational circulation were revealed on a shorter time scale, reaching the value of 20 000 m 3 s −1 over a day, and featuring behaviors of reverse estuarine, storage and discharge modes. The volume flux computations through each cross-section based on the measured current velocities, the freshwater inflow and the calculated Stokes transport were in agreement with each other. A two-layered box model of the mean subtidal circulation in the segment of the estuary bound by the two cross-sections is offered. A comparison was made between the computations of net volume flux into and out of the Bay above these sections using two independent methods: (1) the accounting of volume continuity based upon direct measurements of volume flux through the sections; and (2) the direct calculation of the time rate of change of volume of the upper Bay obtained from tide gauge records. The agreement between the two results was found to be very good. Further evidence is provided for the upward phase propagation of the oscillations in the residual motion of estuarine waters.