565
Figure 8. 48-hour simulated drifter tracks. Dots show the release locations. Left: Particles that
are released in a box near MVCO. Right: Particles who end their 2-day journey in the MVCO
box.
This is demonstrated in Figure 8 which shows two sets of 48-hour
simulated drifter tracks. The top panel shows that within 2 days, particles
that start near MVCO will be repeatedly swept past the observatory by the
tide, but can ultimately be transported some 20 km away. In the lower panel,
the dots show the starting locations, 2 days prior, of a set of particles that
end up near MVCO. Their journey could commence as far as 50 km away if
they are caught in the tidally-driven mean flow circulating along the
southwest side of the Nantucket Shoals. Most enter and exit Nantucket
Sound several times through the Muskeget Channel. These trajectories will
carry particles through a variety of average water temperatures,
stratifications, and light regimes. Regionally varying vertical mixing rates
could affect the availability of nutrients sourced from deeper, cooler, waters
circumnavigating the Nantucket Shoals.
3.3
ROMS modeling for LATTE
Modeling studies conducted to date for LATTE are limited to
preliminary forecast simulations for the 2003 Pilot Program dye release.
Differences in the model configuration, compared to CBLAST, are few. The
major distinction is the need, obviously, to include the time dependent
inflow of the Hudson River. Eight rivers are included in the model domain,
of which the Hudson is by far the dominant. Hudson River daily flow data
are available on the internet from USGS automated stream-flow gauges. We
adopt a rule-of-thumb that the discharge at the first model grid point, near
the southern end of Manhattan Island, is 1.3 times the sum of gauges on the
Mohawk River and the Hudson River at Fort Edward. We have not yet found
a source of prognostic hydrological data, so in order to provide a ROMS
forecast we use observed daily averaged river flow up until the initialization
FORECAST AND MODELS FOR COASTAL OBSERVATORIES
Figure 8. 48-hour simulated drifter tracks. Dots show the release locations. Left: Particles that
are released in a box near MVCO. Right: Particles who end their 2-day journey in the MVCO
box.
This is demonstrated in Figure 8 which shows two sets of 48-hour
simulated drifter tracks. The top panel shows that within 2 days, particles
that start near MVCO will be repeatedly swept past the observatory by the
tide, but can ultimately be transported some 20 km away. In the lower panel,
the dots show the starting locations, 2 days prior, of a set of particles that
end up near MVCO. Their journey could commence as far as 50 km away if
they are caught in the tidally-driven mean flow circulating along the
southwest side of the Nantucket Shoals. Most enter and exit Nantucket
Sound several times through the Muskeget Channel. These trajectories will
carry particles through a variety of average water temperatures,
stratifications, and light regimes. Regionally varying vertical mixing rates
could affect the availability of nutrients sourced from deeper, cooler, waters
circumnavigating the Nantucket Shoals.
3.3
ROMS modeling for LATTE
Modeling studies conducted to date for LATTE are limited to
preliminary forecast simulations for the 2003 Pilot Program dye release.
Differences in the model configuration, compared to CBLAST, are few. The
major distinction is the need, obviously, to include the time dependent
inflow of the Hudson River. Eight rivers are included in the model domain,
of which the Hudson is by far the dominant. Hudson River daily flow data
are available on the internet from USGS automated stream-flow gauges. We
adopt a rule-of-thumb that the discharge at the first model grid point, near
the southern end of Manhattan Island, is 1.3 times the sum of gauges on the
Mohawk River and the Hudson River at Fort Edward. We have not yet found
a source of prognostic hydrological data, so in order to provide a ROMS
forecast we use observed daily averaged river flow up until the initialization
FORECAST AND MODELS FOR COASTAL OBSERVATORIES