A tidal-cycle study at Destin Inlet, Northwest Florida, investigated intratidal and residual flow structures for the first time across the inlet. Underway current velocity profiles were combined with hydrographic station profiles at neap tides to document the appearance of tidal fronts, the distribution of tidal currents across two cross-sections, and the residual, or non-tidal, flow structure at the same cross-sections. Intratidal variations of water density and velocity showed the presence of fronts both in 1) late ebb-early flood and 2) late flood-early ebb tidal stages. Late ebb-early flood tidal intrusion fronts brought about depth-independent changes in water density >10kg/m3 in <2h. Their counterparts, late flood-early ebb plume-like fronts, produced similar magnitude of variations in density but were depth-dependent. Diurnal tidal current distributions across the inlet followed a general behavior of a damped wave with strongest currents appearing near the surface and near the deepest part of the cross-sections (thalweg). However, curvature effects seemed to modify this behavior locally by shifting the maximum tidal current away from the thalweg. Frictional and curvature effects on the diurnal flows were confirmed by an analytical solution for tidal currents. The observed density gradients drove residual flows that were vertically sheared, with outflow at the surface and inflow near the bottom. Such residual flow distributions were reproduced by an analytical solution that diagnosed the flow structure as inherent of a dynamically narrow inlet with relatively weak frictional effects.@en

Most harmful algal blooms (HAB) originate away from the shore and, for them to endanger human health, they must be first transported to shore after which they must enter the surf zone where they can be feed upon by filter feeders. The last step in this sequence, entrance into the surf zone, depends on surf zone hydrodynamics. During two 30-day periods, we sampled Pseudo-nitzschia and particulate domoic acid (pDA) in and offshore of a more dissipative surf zone at Sand City, California (2010) and sampled Pseudo-nitzschia in and out of reflective surf zones at a beach and rocky shores at Carmel River State Beach, California (2011). At Sand City, we measured domoic acid in sand crabs, Emerita analoga. In the more dissipative surf zone, concentrations of Pseudo-nitzschia and pDA were an order of magnitude higher in samples from a rip current than in samples collected just seaward of the surf zone and were 1000 times more abundant than in samples from the shoals separating rip currents. Domoic acid was present in all the Emerita samples and varied directly with the concentration of pDA and Pseudo-nitzschia in the rip current. In the more reflective surf zones, Pseudo-nitzschia concentrations were 1-2 orders of magnitude lower than in samples from 125 and 20 m from shore. Surf zone hydrodynamics affects the ingress of Pseudo-nitzschia into surf zones and the exposure of intertidal organisms to HABs on the inner shelf. @en

Numerical simulations of an idealized lagoon that is connected to the ocean via a tidal inlet show that the mean residence time is inversely proportional to tidal exchange. In the Delft3D model the tidal exchange is controlled by varying the inlet length, width and depth. These changes in the inlet geometry affect the tidal prism and the ebb/flood flow structure, which are shown to control the exchange of lagoon water with seawater. To map residence time within the lagoon, a new method that implements dye tracer is developed and shows that the tidally averaged residence time exhibits significant spatial variability. For inlet systems in which, as a first approximation, the lagoon can be described by a uniformly fluctuating water level, a simple transport model is developed to elucidate the specific processes that control tidal exchange and their effect on residence time. In this transport model tidal exchange is decomposed into two fractions, an ocean exchange fraction and a lagoon exchange fraction. It is shown that both fractions need to be included to better describe tidal exchange. Specifically, inclusion of a lagoon exchange fraction improves previous tidal prism models that assume complete mixing in the lagoon. The assumption of complete mixing results in an under-prediction of residence time. Relating the spatially averaged residence time results to the exchange fractions for each inlet geometry show that the residence time is inversely proportional to the product of the tidal exchange fractions. For these single inlet systems, Keulegan's 0-D hydrodynamic model shows good agreement with Delft3D in predicting the tidal prism, maximum flow velocity, and exchange fractions. With these parameters, estimates of the mean residence time can be reached through a relationship derived from the simple transport model. @en