Introduction to Estuarine Hydrodynamics

by Arnoldo Valle-Levinson

Overview

This textbook provides an in-depth overview of the hydrodynamics of estuaries and semi-enclosed bodies of water. It begins by describing the typical classification of estuaries, followed by a presentation of the quantitative tools needed to study these basins: conservation of mass, salt, heat, momentum, and the thermodynamic equation of seawater. Further topics explore tides in homogeneous basins, including shallow water tides and tidal residual flows, wind-driven flows in homogeneous basins, density-driven flows, as well as interactions among tides, winds and density gradients. The book proposes a classification of semi-enclosed basins that is based on dominant dynamics, comparing forcing agents and restorative or balancing forces. Introduction to Estuarine Hydrodynamics provides an introduction for advanced students and researchers across a range of disciplines - Earth science, environmental science, biology, chemistry, geology, hydrology, physics - related to the study of estuarine systems.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781108838252
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	03/03/2022
Pages:	250
Sales rank:	534,120
Product dimensions:	6.89(w) x 9.84(h) x 0.67(d)

About the Author

Arnoldo Valle-Levinson is a professor in the Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering at the University of Florida, Gainesville. Throughout his career, he has carried out observational and theoretical studies on exchange processes in semi-enclosed ocean basins. His work has concentrated on the hydrodynamics of fjords and estuaries, as well as of temperate, subtropical, and tropical systems. He is an editor for Continental Shelf Research. He is an associate editor for Estuaries and Coasts and the Journal of Oceanography. Valle-Levinson is the editor of the book Contemporary Issues in Estuarine Physics (2010, Cambridge). He has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles and is a Corresponding Member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences. An estuary in Chile has been named in his honor: 'estero Arnoldo.'

Table of Contents

Preface; Introduction and classification; 2. Conservation equations; 3. Tides in semienclosed basins; 4. Shallow water tides; 5. Tidal residual flows in homogeneous, semienclosed basins; 6. Wind-driven flows in homogeneous, semienclosed basins; 7. Flows driven by density gradients; 8. Interactions among tides, density radients and wind; 9. Fronts; 10. Time scales in semienclosed basins; 11. Semienclosed basins with low or no discharge; 12. Classification of semienclosed basins, based on dynamics. Index.