Estuarine Circulation

Estuaries exist along the edge of the oceans and seas, and are char­ acterized by the dilution of sea water by inflowing fresher waters. Explores how the motion and interaction of fresh and salt water determine the salinity within a particular estuary, and thereby the balance of all living and nonliving resources there. This text, based on a conference on estuarine circulation, focuses on the many variations of the two-layered net, or nontidal gravitational pattern, which was first proposed by Dr Donald Pritchard, and pays special attention to the factors that control estuarine transport processes. Estuarine circulation is important because water movement transport marine organisms, sediments, and pollutants. In addition, estuarine circulation affects food chains, as well as the distribution and abundance of organisms that are transported by the currents during larval stages.