Document Type
Article
Department/Program
Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Publication Date
7-2018
Journal
Ocean Modelling
Volume
127
First Page
16
Last Page
39
Abstract
We extend the 3D unstructured-grid model previously developed for the Upper Chesapeake Bay to cover the entire Bay and its adjacent shelf, and assess its skill in simulating saltwater intrusion and the coastal plume. Recently developed techniques, including a flexible vertical grid system and a 2nd-order, monotone and implicit transport solver are critical in successfully capturing the baroclinic responses. Most importantly, good accuracy is achieved through an accurate representation of the underlying bathymetry, without any smoothing. The model in general exhibits a good skill for all hydrodynamic variables: the averaged root-mean-square errors (RMSE‟s) in the Bay are 9 cm for sub-tidal frequency elevation, 17 cm/s for 3D velocity time series, 1.5 PSU and 1.9 PSU for surface and bottom salinity respectively, 1.1 °C and 1.6 °C for surface and bottom temperature respectively. On the shelf, the average RMSE for the surface temperature is 1.4 °C. We highlight, through results from sensitivity tests, the central role played by bathymetry in this estuarine system and the detrimental effects, from a common class of bathymetry smoothers, on volumetric and tracer fluxes as well as key processes such as the channel-shoal contrast in the estuary and plume propagation in the coast.
Associated Data is available: https://doi.org/10.21220/V5HK5S
DOI
10.1016/j.ocemod.2018.05.002
Keywords
Keywords: bathymetry; cross-scale; SCHISM; estuarine circulation; Chesapeake Bay, USA
Publication Statement
Accepted manuscript version.
Recommended Citation
Fei Ye , Yinglong J. Zhang , Harry V. Wang , Marjorie A.M. Friedrichs , Isaac D. Irby , Eli Alteljevich , Arnoldo Valle-Levinson , Zhengui Wang , Hai Huang , Jian Shen , Jiabi Du , A 3D unstructured-grid model for Chesapeake Bay: importance of bathymetry, Ocean Modelling (2018), doi: 10.1016/j.ocemod.2018.05.002
