DOE (Department of Energy) West Coast Environmental Studies: Circulation and Particle Fluxes in the Southern California Bight. Report of Progress, May 15, 1985-November 15, 1988.

摘要

The overall objective of the DOE West Coast Basin study (CaBS) is to understand the dispersion of potential contaminants from inshore waters, where they may primarily be generated, across the shelf out to deeper waters; in particular, the role of particulate fluxes, determination of general pathways of material removal, residence times, and water column/sediment exchanges. The CaBS program differs significantly from the other DOE marine programs. In most East Coast regions, anthropogenic material is either swept away from the coastal zone by the high energy physical environment or, if it is sedimented out of the water column, is reworked by organisms to such an extent that accurate estimates of particulate fluxes cannot be obtained. The deep basins off the California coast, on the other hand, provide relatively efficient traps for anthropogenic material introduced into the coastal zone. Moreover, since the basins are anoxic, or nearly so, reworking of sediments by marine organisms is minimized, so that accurate estimates of sediment accumulation rates and recycling processes can be obtained. Specific questions to be addressed include (1) to what extent can the coastal basins safely absorb potentially harmful energy-related anthropogenic materials. and (2) to what extent do anthropogenic materials introduced into the basins find a pathway back to man. The long-term goals of the Hickey component of CaBS are to investigate (1) circulation in the Southern California Bight, including both patterns and forcing mechanisms, and (2) particle dynamics in this region; in particular, the relative importance of horizontal advection, wave/current resuspension processes, and intermediate-depth nepheloid layers, in redistributing particles, on time scales of minutes to seasons. 9 refs., 40 figs. (ERA citation 14:009629)