Small-scale flow features were examined near a straight coastline off Ste. Flavie and an adjacent wharf in the Lower St. Lawrence estuary, using moored current meter and acoustic doppler current profiler (ADCP) data. The leading order velocity was found to be dominated by the mean and lunar semi-diurnal (M2) tidal currents. In the straight shoreline area, no eddy was found. The presence of stratification led to baroclinic low frequency (LP, including the mean) velocities with depth. Freshwater forcing and wind stress dominated the "non-tidal" surface layer dynamics. Near the bottom, friction and other factors induced an Ekman-like spiral in the LP velocity profile. The tidal currents were barotropic, with the M2 constituent dominating the tidal energy. In the wharf area, flow in the lee was found to be an order of magnitude weaker than the free strewn flow offshore. Time-mean spatial eddies were also evident in the lee. Evolution maps within a single M2 tidal cycle show the existence of transient eddies, characterized by a pair of counter-rotating eddies generated both during maximum flood and ebb tide.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.20876 |
| Date | January 1998 |
| Creators | Sun, Xumin, 1972- |
| Contributors | Ingram, Grant (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001609838, proquestno: MQ44292, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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