Semi-diurnal seiching in a shallow, micro-tidal lagoonal estuary

Abstract Analysis of current meter data in the Neuse River Estuary (NRE) associates over half of the along channel velocity variance with roughly the semi-diurnal frequency band. Velocity in this frequency range is episodic, has a typical magnitude of 10 cm s−1 and often reaches twice this speed. The NRE is a sub-estuary of the Albemarle–Pamlico Estuarine System (APES), which is the second largest estuarine complex and the largest lagoonal estuary in the United States. The astronomical tide in the NRE is negligible, owing to the APES's virtual isolation from the coastal ocean by the North Carolina Outer Banks barrier island chain. The episodic nature of the velocity signal together with the lack of an astronomical tide suggest that the semi-diurnal signal in the NRE is generated within the APES/NRE, presumably due to meteorological forcing. In the absence of a tidal current, this motion plays a significant role in determining the position and strength of the salt wedge, the thickness of the diffusive bottom boundary layer and the overall dispersion characteristics of the system. The episodic nature of the semi-diurnal signal encouraged us to pursue the use of nonstationary timeseries analysis techniques in the present study. We found wavelet analysis to be a highly effective technique for discriminating times when the semi-diurnal motion was strong and for identifying a predominant 13.2 h period in the along channel component of both 10-week wintertime and 10-week summertime current meter records. Model runs using idealized wind forcing to excite the vertically integrated version of the ADCIRC finite element circulation model indicated that the APES has a natural mode oscillation period of 13.2 h, an average “seiche depth” of 3.5 m and a “seiche length” of 139 km. This length is close to that of the long axis of Pamlico Sound, although the depth is approximately 25 percent less than the sound's 4.5 m mean bathymetric depth. Model runs using observed winds from Cape Hatteras reproduced the seiching behavior of the system during both the wintertime and summertime observational periods. Seiche events appear to be excited by significant shifts in either the magnitude or direction of the wind field.

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