1)

a) A brown plume of water is seen on the water surface dispersing slowly seaward from
the mouth of the river Teign. Explain the key processes that are responsible for the
formation of a plume front.

Plume fronts form where relatively fresh water reaches the mouth region of an estuary and discharges
into the oceanic environment. This can occur in the lower reaches of the estuary or in the form of a fan
that protrudes from the estuary into the coastal ocean.

Key processes involved in the formation of plume are Momentum and buoyancy. Plume is defined as
column of one fluid moving to another fluid system. Since, two different fluid systems are there, higher
tendency fluid will have a tendency to settle. And at the same time, momentum factor will also be
working dependent on the plume fluid velocity.

b) The relative velocity between the buoyant plume and the underlying seawater is 0.4
m/s. the density of the buoyant upper layer and ambient seawater are 1000 kg/m 3
and 1025 kg/m3 respectively. If the thickness of the buoyant upper layer is 0.75 m,
compute the densimetric Froude number and comment on the type of flow and the
stability of the plume.
Solution:

Data given:
Relative velocity between plume and underlying seawater (u) = 0.4m/s
Density of upper layer (fresh water) d1 = 1000kgm3
Density of seawater d2 = 1250kgm3
Thickness of layer H = 0.75m

Formula:

g’ = g(d2-d1)/d1
g’ = 9.8(m/s2) x (1025-1000) / 1000 = 0.245

F = 0.4 / (0.245*0.75)^0.5 = 0.933 < 1

Type of flow is subcritical since F > 1 and stable.

c) Stating the reasons, say what would happen to the plume if the relative flow speed
between the two layers doubled during the incoming tide.

Froude number will be doubles, which is 0.933*2 = 1.866, and the flow will become supercritical.
This will create a near field plume. This is the region of strong flows associate rapid spreading of the
plume and rapid mixing as well.

d) Sometimes high levels of primary production are associated with frontal system; why
is this?
3) Write an essay on the mechanisms that contribute to the flocculation of particles and the
influence this process has on the behaviour of fine sediment in suspension and on the bed.

Flocculation is the process where suspended particles in fluid agglomerate together and come out as a floc. This
process is normally used on water/waste water treatment works.

Fine suspended sediments in water tend to aggregate and formed flocs, if they are of same nature or
neutralized. If the suspended particles are negatively charged, flocculation process is done after the
coagulation.
The size, structure and density of flocs are determined by the forces the aggregate-particles undergo. These
forces comprise: hydrodynamic forces (especially shear), collisions between particles and electrochemical forces
(determined by the composition of solid particles and dissolved ions in the ambient water). These macroflocs
generated from aggregration of microflocs tends on settle on bed, and the lighter ones remain in suspension.

6)

a) Give a brief account of the physical processes, which contribute, to the transfer of
kinetic energy and momentum from the air to the ocean surface, generating wind-
driven surface currents and waves.

Solution:

Winds are the primary source of energy for currents that flow horizontally in the ocean
surface layers (less than 100–200 m deep). These surface layers currents are often called
wind-driven currents.

As the wind blows across the surface, the surface layer is started in motion and kinetic
energy associated with this motion is transferred downward so that water below the surface
is also started in motion. However, a small amount of frictional energy is lost with increasing
depth, causing the current speed to become slower with depth below the surface. As a
result, wind-driven currents are restricted to no more than the upper 100–200 m of the
oceans.
  When winds blow over the ocean surface, each progressively deeper layer of water that is set in motion is
deflected by the Coriolis effect and does not flow in the direction of the layer above.
 The current flows in directions that progressively deflected cum sole (to the right in the Northern Hemisphere
and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere) and become progressively slower to form a spiral that extends
down into the water column. This is called the Ekman spiral.
 Winds create Ekman spiral motion if they blow for long enough and if there is no shallow sea floor or shallow
pycnocline.
 Ideally the surface current flows at 45o cum sole to the wind and the average transport direction within the
Ekman spiral depth (called Ekman transport) is at 90o cum sole to the wind, but in most instances the
deflections are somewhat smaller.

b) What is the meaning of the term wind stress? Write down and discuss the equation
for calculation of wind stress at the sea surface. What is the drag coefficient?

Solution:

Wind stress signifies the shear stress exerted by the wind on the surface of the earth and ocean.
Wind blowing over the sea surface exerts a stress on the ocean that imparts momentum. This drag
force at the surface slows the wind speed and forms a boundary layer in the atmosphere.

The drag coefficient is a dimensionless quantity used to quantify the drag or resistance of an object
in a fluid environment. A lower drag coefficient indicates the object will have
less aerodynamic or hydrodynamic drag.

For practical applications in oceanography, it’s enough for us to use an empirical formula to calculate
wind stress from wind speed.

Where

U10 = wind speed at 10 m above the sea surface

= 1.22 kg m-3

CD = dimensionless drag coefficient, a typical value might be 0.0013

This gives wind stress in units of N m-2, or Pascals (Pa).

c) Describe how the wind-derived motion penetrates from the sea surface to the
deeper layers. Discuss the difference between molecular and turbulent viscosity.

Solution:

When a wind blows over the sea surface, the surface currents will be generated and the surface
currents will accelerates in the same direction. This will experience the Coriolis effect and the
current will turn to the right in the northern hemisphere. Since the flow moved to the right of the
wind, Coriolis is force perpendicular to the motion is party again the wind. Eventually, it will reach to
a stage where wind force wind, force of the Coriolis effect, and the resistant drag of the subsurface
water balance each other. The current will flow at a constant speed and direction as long as the wind
persists.
This surface current drags on the water layer below it, applying a force in its own direction of motion
to that layer. This process is repeated the process until that layer eventually becomes a steady
current even further to the right of the wind, and so on for deeper layers of water, resulting in a
continuous rotation (or spiraling) of current direction with changing depth. As depth increases, the
force transmitted from the driving wind declines and thus the speed of the resultant steady current
decreases. This forms the Ekman spiral, which is the reason behind wind driven motion affecting
deeper layers as well.

Figure 1 An Ekman spiral is a rotating column of water that forms when water moves at an angle to the wind direction
due to the Coriolis Effect.

Molecular Velocity: This is also called as laminar velocity. It is a fixed velocity along parallel
line, which does not any exchange of mass or momentum between adjacent layers on a
microscopic scale which is not visible to the eye.

Turbulent Velocity: Turbulence is caused by excessive kinetic energy in parts of a fluid flow,
which overcomes the dampening effect of the fluid's viscosity. In contrast to laminar flow, this
allows exchange of mass, momentum and energy on a much bigger scale compared to a
laminar boundary layer. Velocity associated with turbulent fluid is called turbulent velocity.