Event Title
Streaming Media
Presentation Abstract
River plumes may affect shelf ecosystem processes in a variety of ways, from the suspended sediment transport to the carbon cycling and anthropogenic nutrient delivery. In the Strait of Georgia, the Fraser River outflow (plume) is the main source of fresh water, sediments, contaminants and nutrients, which are vitally important to the biological activities and the toxic plankton blooms in the Salish Sea. In the past decades, extensive studies have shown the wind, wave and river influence on the structure, shape and area of the Fraser River plume, but the tidal modulation of this buoyant water mass is less known. To fill in this missing gap, our study examined 17 years of satellite-derived Suspended Particulate Matter images, revealing the tidal influence on the sediment dispersion as the plume area resizes and the plume front relocates. Fraser River plume area is found to expand up to 20% during the big ebb of the day, with a succeeding area decrease in the following flooding tide. This negative correlation between plume area and tidal elevation in the Strait is found to be particularly predominant under low to medium river discharge. These new findings will improve our understandings of the sediment transport within the plume and its potential impact on the coastal ecosystems of the Strait of Georgia in the Salish Sea.
Session Title
Poster Session 3: Land - Water Connections
Conference Track
SSE14: Posters
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2022 : Online)
Document Type
Event
SSEC Identifier
SSE-posters-88
Start Date
27-4-2022 4:00 PM
End Date
27-4-2022 4:30 PM
Rights
Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author's written permission.
Type
Text
Language
English
Tidal Influence on the Fraser River Plume
River plumes may affect shelf ecosystem processes in a variety of ways, from the suspended sediment transport to the carbon cycling and anthropogenic nutrient delivery. In the Strait of Georgia, the Fraser River outflow (plume) is the main source of fresh water, sediments, contaminants and nutrients, which are vitally important to the biological activities and the toxic plankton blooms in the Salish Sea. In the past decades, extensive studies have shown the wind, wave and river influence on the structure, shape and area of the Fraser River plume, but the tidal modulation of this buoyant water mass is less known. To fill in this missing gap, our study examined 17 years of satellite-derived Suspended Particulate Matter images, revealing the tidal influence on the sediment dispersion as the plume area resizes and the plume front relocates. Fraser River plume area is found to expand up to 20% during the big ebb of the day, with a succeeding area decrease in the following flooding tide. This negative correlation between plume area and tidal elevation in the Strait is found to be particularly predominant under low to medium river discharge. These new findings will improve our understandings of the sediment transport within the plume and its potential impact on the coastal ecosystems of the Strait of Georgia in the Salish Sea.
