New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts
Short communication
Coastal circulation within the Banks Peninsula region, New Zealand
Janelle V. Reynolds-Fleming
University of Canterbury/National Institute for Water and Atmospheric
Research Limited
Centre for Excellence in Marine Ecology
and Aquaculture
10 Kyle Street
Christchurch, New Zealand
email: jv.fleming@niwa.co.nz
Jason G. Fleming
National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research Limited
10 Kyle Street
Christchurch, New Zealand
email: j.fleming@niwa.co.nz
Abstract The transport of nutrients, larvae, and sediment
around coastal headlands critically depends on the balance of forces that
direct the currents very near to the shore. The Banks Peninsula region, New
Zealand, was selected to study nearshore circulation around coastal headlands.
The relative influences of tides and wind on the current were determined
using an acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) deployed 2 km offshore
in Pegasus Bay. Results indicated that the M2 tide is the dominant tide and
explains 30% of the variance. Low frequency variability was strongly correlated
with wind in the offshore direction and explained a further 20–40% of the
variability. Finally, mean residual flows were 2 cm/s southward along shore,
which supports the hypothesis that an eddy is episodically present in Pegasus
Bay. This study is the first to quantitatively document the nearshore circulation
in the Banks Peninsula region.
Keywords Banks Peninsula; Pegasus Bay; coastal circulation;
tidal currents; wind-driven currents; ADCP
M04106; Online publication date 18 February 2005
Received 2 May 2004; accepted 29 October 2004
New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 2005, Vol. 39:
217–225
0028-8330/05/3901-0217 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2005
PDF file of entire paper: Print-quality (893K) |
screen-quality (178K)
This year's abstracts |
Journal home page |
All abstracts |
Publishing home page
