New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts

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Aspects of the hydrodynamics of Beatrix Bay and Pelorus Sound, New Zealand

P. J. H. SUTTON
M. G. HADFIELD

New Zealand Oceanographic Institute
National Institute of Water & Atmospheric
Research Ltd
P. O. Box 14-901, Kilbirnie
Wellington, New Zealand

Abstract  Hydrographic and current meter measurements were performed to determine the important physical processes in Beatrix Bay, an enclosed bay in Pelorus Sound, South Island, New Zealand over a 9-month period. The water within the bay was highly variable in temperature, salinity, and density, but strongly stratified on all occasions, with the stratification approximating a two-layer system. The stratification was usually dominated by salinity, but on one occasion, following a period of low rainfall, the stratification was dominated by temperature. A crude estimate of the residence time for the water in Pelorus Sound is calculated from the relaxation towards oceanic salinities during the dry period. The currents measured were largely tidal, and showed evidence of a strong internal tide as a result of the quasi-two-layer stratification. The tidal flows were larger than those predicted by a simple model.

Keywords  Beatrix Bay; stratification; currents; freshwater residence time

New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 1997, Vol. 31: 271-279

0028-8330/97/3102-0271 $7.00/0 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand 1997

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (661K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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