Hydrodynamics and Mathematical Modeling of Circulation and Transport Phenomena in Tidal Estuaries

The ecosystem of a tide-affected estuary consists of an extremely complicated balance of natural processes and human induced activities. Some of the basic characteristics of such a system, for example the San Francisco Bay estuarine system, are not well understood. A comprehensive description of the hydrodynamics and the related transport phenomena is still lacking. A better understanding of the effects among the interactive natural and human induced processes on this system requires advances in basic science relating the physical, chemical and biological estuarine processes. Circulation in a tidal estuary is generated in response to astronomical tides, inflow of fresh water, winds, and stratification due to salinity. The basin topography (bathymetry), air-water interaction, water sedimentation interface, mixing characteristics, frictional loss at the bottom, and the rotational effects of the earth, together with the above mentioned driving forces, constitute an extremely complicated balance that conserves mass, momentum, energy, and conservative solutes in the system. Objectives are to understand processes and rates by which water, salt, and other solutes interact; develop methods to enable quantification of the relative importance of river inflow, winds, tides and other dynamic forcings that act upon the system; and develop and verify conceptual and numerical models of these interactions. For current information about work being done by this project, see project's home page.

REPORTS PUBLISHED 1999-2006

Liu, W.-C., Chen, W.-B., Cheng, R.T., and Hsu, M.-H., 2008, Modelling the impact of wind stress and river discharge on Danshuei River plume: Applied Mathematical Modeling, v. 32, no. 7, p. 1255-1280. (on-line abstract of journal article)

Wood, T.M., Cheng, R.T., Gartner, J.W., Hoilman, G.R., Lindenberg, M.K., and Wellman, R.E., 2008, Modeling Hydrodynamics and Heat Transport in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, and Implications for Water Quality: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2008–5076, 49 p. (on-line abstract or on-line report in pdf format, 8 MB)

Cheng, R.T., Burau, J.R., DeRose, J.B., Barrick, D.E., Teague, C.C., and Lilleboe, P.M., 2007, Measuring two-dimensional surface velocity distribution using two RiverSondes, in Cowin, E.A., ed., 2007 Hydraulic Measurements & Experimental Methods Conference: Lake Placid, New York, American Society of Civil Engineers, p. 184-189.

Cheng, R.T., Taggart, S.J., and Nielsen, J.K., 2007, Preliminary hydrodynamic modeling of tidal circulation in Glacier Bay, Alaska: Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on HydroScience and Engineering, Philadelphia, September 10-13, 2006, ISBN 0977447405, 15 p. (on-line abstract or on-line paper in pdf format, 1393 KB)

Gartner, J.W., Wellman, R.E., Wood, T.M., and Cheng, R.T., 2007, Water velocity and suspended solids measurements by in-situ instruments in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File report 2007-1279, 137 p. (on-line abstract and to download report and data files)

MacWilliams, M.L., and Cheng, R.T., 2007, Three-dimensional hydrodynamic modeling of San Pablo Bay on an unstructured grid : Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on HydroScience and Engineering, Philadelphia, September 10-13, 2006, ISBN 0977447405, 16 p., (on-line abstract or on-line paper in pdf format, 1862KB)

Teague, C.C., Barrick, D.E., Lilleboe, P.M., and Cheng, R.T., 2007, RiverSonde: Measuring river surface velocity with UHF radar, in Cowin, E.A., ed., 2007 Hydraulic Measurements & Experimental Methods Conference: Lake Placid, New York, American Society of Civil Engineers, p. 178-183.

Wood, T.M., and Cheng, R.T., 2007, Use of Untrim to investigate dissolved oxygen transport in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon : Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on HydroScience and Engineering, Philadelphia, September 10-13, 2006, ISBN 0977447405, 12 p., (on-line abstract and MPEG files or on-line paper in pdf format, 900 KB)

Costa, J.E., Cheng, R.T., Haeni, F.P., Melcher, N., Spicer, K.R., Hayes, E., Plant, W., Hayes, K., Teague, C, and Barrick, D., 2006, Use of radars to monitor stream discharge by noncontact methods: Water Resources Research, v. 42, W07422, doi:10.1029/2005WR004430. (on-line abstract of journal article)

Cheng, R. T., Gartner, J.W., and Wood, T.M., 2005, Modeling and model validation of wind-driven circulation in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon: World Water and Environmental Resources Congress 2005, Anchorage, Alaska, American Society of Civil Engineers, doi:10.1061/40792(173)426. (on-line abstract of proceedings paper)

Teague, C.C., D. E. Barrick, P. Lilleboe, R. T. Cheng, and C. Ruhl, 2005, UHF RiverSonde observations of water surface velocity at Threemile Slough, California, in Proceedings of the 2005 International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, Soul, Korea, July 9-13, 2005.

Teague, C.C., Barrick, D.E., Lilleboe, P., Cheng, R.T., and Ruhl, C., 2005, Long-term UHF RiverSonde river velocity observations at Castle Rock, Washington and Threemile Slough, California: Proceedings of 8th Working Conf. on Current Measurement Technology, IEEE, Southampton, United Kingdom, June 28-29, 2005.

Teague, C.C., Barrick, D.E., Lilleboe, P., Cheng, R.T., and C. Ruhl, C., 2005, UHF RiverSonde observations of water surface velocity at Threemile Slough, California: Proceedings of the 2005 International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, Soul, Korea, July 9-13, 2005.

Gartner, J. W., and Gray, J. R., 2005, Summary of suspended-sediment technologies considered at the interagency workshop on turbidity and other sediment surrogates,, in Gray, J.R., ed., Proceedings of the Federal Interagency Sediment Monitoring Instrument and Analysis Workshop, September 9-11, 2003, Flagstaff, Arizona: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1276, 9 p. (on-line paper in pdf format)

Cheng, R.T., and Casulli, V., 2004, Modeling a three-dimensional river plume over continental shelf using a 3D unstructured grid model: Proceedings of the 8^th Inter. Conference on Estuarine and Coastal Modeling, Monterey, CA, November 2003, p. 1027-1043.

Cheng, R.T., Costa, J.E., Mason, R.R., Plant, W.J., Gartner, J.W., Spicer, K., Haeni, F.P., and Melcher, N., 2004, Continuous non-contact river discharge measurements: Proceedings of the Ninth International Symposium on River Sedimentation, October 18-21, 2004, Yichang, China, Tsinghua University Press, p. 2,535-2,542.

Cheng, R.T., Gartner, J.W., Mason, Jr., R.R., Costa, J.E., Plant, W.J., Spicer, K.R., Haeni, F.P., Melcher, N.B., Keller, W.C., and Hayes, K., 2004, Evaluating a radar-based, non contact streamflow measurement system in the San Joaquin River at Vernalis, California: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 04-1015. (on-line report only)

Gartner, J.W., 2004, Estimating suspended solids concentrations from backscatter intensity measured by acoustic Doppler current profiler in San Francisco Bay, California: Marine Geology, v. 211, p. 169-187. (on-line abstract)

Gray, J.R. and Gartner, J.W., 2004, Surrogate technologies for continuous suspended-sediment monitoring in the United States: Proceedings of the Ninth International Symposium on River Sedimentation, October 18-21, 2004, Yichang, China, p. 2,515-2,522

Teague, C.C., Barrick, D.E., Lilleboe, P.M., and Cheng, R.T., 2004, Extended UHF radar observations of river flow velocity and comparisons with in-situ measurements: Proceedings of the Ninth International Symposium on River Sedimentation, October 18-21, 2004, Yichang, China, p. 2,528-2,534.

Barrick, D.E., Teague, C.C., Lilleboe, P., Cheng, R.T., and Gartner, J.W., 2003, Profiling river surface velocity and volume estimation with bistatic UHF RiverSonde radar: Proceedings of 7th Working Conf. on Current Measurement Technology, IEEE, San Diego, California, March 13-15, 2003, p. 55-59.

Cheng, R.T., and Gartner, J.W., 2003, Complete velocity distribution in river cross-sections measured by acoustic instruments: Proceedings of the IEEE/OESS 7th Working Conference on Current Measurement Technology, San Diego, CA, March 13-15, 2003, p. 21-26.

Gartner, J.W., Mueller, D.S., Wall, G.R., and Gray, J.R., 2003, Breakout session four: Other fluvial-sediment surrogates, in Gray, J.R., and Glysson, G.D., eds., Proceedings of the Federal Interagency Workshop on Turbidity and Other Sediment Surrogates, April 30-May 2, 2002, Reno, Nevada: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1250, p. 21-23. (on-line publication)

Teague, C.C., Barrick, D.E., Lilleboe, P.M., and Cheng, R.T., 2003, Initial test of a monostatic RiverSonde streamflow measurement system: Proceedings of the IEEE/OESS 7th Working Conference on Current Measurement Technology, San Diego, CA, March 13-15, 2003, p. 46-50.

Cheng, R.T., and Casulli, V., 2002, Evaluation of the UnTRIM model for 3-D tidal circulation: Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Estuarine Modeling, St. Petersburg, FL, November 2001.

Cheng, R.T., Costa, J.E., Haeni, F.P., Melcher, N.B., and Thurman, E.M., 2002, In search of technologies for monitoring river discharge, in Younos, T., ed., Advances in Water Monitoring Research: Denver, Water Resources Publications, LLC, p. 203-219.

Costa, J.E., Cheng, R.T., Haeni, F.P., and Melcher, N.B., 2002, Looking to the Future: Non-Contact methods for measuring streamflow: Proceedings of the ASCE 2002 Hydraulic Measurements and Experimental Methods Conference, Estes Park, CO, July 28-August 1, 2002.

Gartner, J.W., and Ganju, N.K., 2002, A preliminary evaluation of near-transducer velocities collected with low-blank acoustic doppler current profiler, in Wahl, T.L, Pugh, C.A., Oberg, K.A., and Vermeyen, T.B., eds., Hydraulic Measurements and Experimental Methods: Proceedings of the Conference, Estes Park, Colorado, July 29 - August 1, 2002, American Society of Civil Engineers (on-line file in pdf format).

Mason, R.R., Costa, J.E., and Cheng, R.T., 2002, A proposed radar-based streamflow measurement system for the San Joaquin River at Vernalis, California: Proceedings of the ASCE 2002 Hydraulic Measurements and Experimental Methods Conference, Estes Park, CO, July 28-August 1, 2002

Melcher, N.B., Costa, J.E., Haeni, F.P., Cheng, R.T., Thurman, E.M., Buursink, M., Spicer, K.R., Hayes, E., Plant, J.W., Keller, W.C., and Hayes, K., 2002, River discharge measurements by using helicopter-mounted radar: Geophysical Research Letters, v. 29, no. 22, p. 41-1 - 41-4. (on-line abstract)

Gartner, J.W., and Cheng, R.T., 2001, The promises and pitfalls of estimating total suspended solids based on backscatter intensity from acoustic Doppler current profiler: Proceedings of the Seventh Federal Interagency Sedimentation Conference, v. 1, p. III-119 - III-126. (on-line abstract)

Gartner, J.W., Cheng, R.T., Wang, P.-F., and Richter, K., 2001, Laboratory and field evaluations of the LISST-100 instrument for suspended particle size determinations: Marine Geology, v. 175, p. 199-219. (on-line abstract)

Teague, C.C., Barrick, D.E., Lilleboe, P., and Cheng, R.T., 2001, Canal and river tests of a RiverSonde streamflow measurement system: International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, Australia, July 9-13, 2001 [proceedings].

Barrick, D., Cheng, R.T., Garfield, N., Paduan, J., Lilleboe, P., Gartner, J., and Pederson, L., 2000 Toward bay/harbor circulation model improvement incorporating HF radar data based on SeaSonde deployments on San Francisco Bay: Proceedings of Oceans 2000 MTS/IEEE, Rhode Island, September 11-14, 2000.

Chen, C.L., and Ling, C.H., 2000, Fully developed snout profiles of noncohesive debris flows with internal friction: Proceedings of 2nd Inter. Conf. on Debris-Flow Harzards Mitigation Mechanics, Prediction, and Assessment, Taipei, Taiwan, August 16-18, 2000.

Cheng, R.T., Ling, C.H., and Gartner, J.W., 2000, Direct measurement of yurbulence properties by a BB-ADCP in bottom boundary layer, in Yanagi, T., ed., Interactions between estuaries, coastal seas and shelf seas: Terra Pub, Tokyo, p. 37-55.. (on-line abstract)

Cheng, R.T., and Smith, R.E., 2000, San Francisco Bay marine nowcast system: Proceedings of 2000 Inter. Conf. on Hydroscience and Engineering, Seoul, Korea, September 25-29, 2000.

Costa, J.E., Spicer, K.R., Cheng, R.T., Haeni, F.P., Melcher, N.B., Thurman, E.M., Plant, W.J., and Keller, W.C., 2000, Measuring stream discharge by non-contact methods: A proof-of-concept experiment: Geophysical Research Letter, v. 27, no. 4, p. 553-556. (on-line abstract)

Haeni, F.P., Buursink, M.L., Costa, J.E., Melcher, N.B., Cheng, R.T., Plant, W.J., 2000, Ground-penetrating radar methods used in surface-water discharge measurements, in Noon, D.A., Stickley, G.F., Longstaff, D., eds., Eighth International Conference On Ground Penetrating Radar: SPIE, v. 4084, p. 494-500. (on-line abstract)

Cheng, R.T., Ling, C.H., Gartner, J.W., and Wang, P.F., 1999, Estimates of bottom roughness length and bottom shear stress in South San Francisco Bay, California: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 104, no. C4, p. 7715-7728. (on-line abstract)

English, C.A., Gartner, J.W., Smith, R.E., and Cheng, R.T., 1999, A marine nowcast system for San Francisco Bay, California, in Morganwalp, D.W., and Buxton, H.T., eds., USGS Toxics Program Technical Meeting, Proceedings, Charleston, S.C., March 8-12, 1999, v. 2, Contamination of Hydrologic Systems and Related Ecosystems: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 99-4018B, p. 65-68. (on-line abstract)

Gartner, J.W., and Burau, J.R., 1999, Hydrodynamic measurements in Suisun Bay, California, 1992-1993: U.S. Geological Survey Water Resources Investigations Report 99-4039, 109 p. (on-line abstract)

Melcher, N.B., Cheng, R.T., Haeni, F.P., 1999, Investigating technologies to monitor open-channel discharge by direct measurement of cross-sectional area and velocity of flow: XXVIII Inter. Assoc. of Hydraulic Research, Congress, Graz, Austria, Aug 22-27, 1999, Paper No. 181, 6 p.

For information on additional projects in the National Research Program, see Indexes to NRP projects and bibliographies