Modeling Untreated Wastewater Evolution and Swimmer Illness for Four Wastewater Infrastructure Scenarios in the San Diego-Tijuana (US/MX) Border Region

The popular beaches of the San Diego-Tijuana (US/MX) border region are often impacted by untreated wastewater sourced from Mexico-via the Tijuana River Estuary (TJRE) and San Antonio de los Buenos outfall at the Pt. Bandera (SAB/PTB) shoreline, leading to impacted beaches and human illness. The US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement will fund border infrastructure projects reducing untreated wastewater discharges. However, estimating project benefits such as reduced human illness and beach impacts is challenging. We develop a coupled hydrodynamic, norovirus (NoV) pathogen, and swimmer illness risk model with the wastewater sources for the year 2017. The model is used to evaluate the reduction in human illness and beach impacts under baseline conditions and three infrastructure diversion scenarios which (Scenario A) reduce SAB/PTB discharges and moderately reduce TJRE inflows or (Scenarios B, C) strongly reduce TJRE in inflows only. The model estimates shoreline untreated wastewater and NoV concentrations, and the number of NoV ill swimmers at Imperial Beach CA. In the Baseline, the percentage of swimmers becoming ill is 3.8% over 2017, increasing to 4.5% during the tourist season (Memorial to Labor Day) due to south-swell driven SAB/PTB plumes. Overall, Scenario A provides the largest reduction in ill swimmers and beach impacts for the tourist season and full year. The 2017 tourist season TJRE inflows were not representative of those in 2020, yet, Scenario A likely still provides the greatest benefit in other years. This methodology can be applied to other coastal regions with wastewater inputs.

Natural and Human-Induced Flow and Sediment Transport within Tidal Creek Networks Influenced by Ocean-Bay Tides

Improving current understanding of hydrodynamics and sediment dynamics in complex tidal embayments is of major importance to face future challenges derived from climate change and increasing human pressure. This work deepens the knowledge of the hydro-morphodynamics of complex creek networks that connect basins with different characteristics, identifying their morphodynamic trends and the potential impacts of channel deepening. We selected two tidal creeks which flow through salt marshes and tidal flats of the Cádiz Bay (SW Spain) in a singular network due to their double connection to the Atlantic Ocean and the inner bay. We study the interactions between tidal waves that penetrate into the creeks from these two different bodies of water, analyzing the tidal asymmetry and the morphodynamic tendencies of the system. For the analysis, we set up a hydro-morphodynamic model specifically developed for areas with very shallow and complex channels. Results show that the tidal wave penetrates within the tidal network both from the inner Bay and the open ocean with different amplitudes, phases and flow velocities. There is also an asymmetric pattern for the tidal flows caused by the deformation of the dominant astronomical tidal constituents, M2 and M4, due to the non-linear interaction of tidal currents with the irregular creek geometry and bottom topography. Tidal asymmetry promotes the progressive infilling of the area where the tidal waves meet closing the connection between the open ocean and the inner bay, such an infilling trend being accelerated by human interventions.

Coupling Ocean Currents and Waves with Wind Stress over the Gulf Stream

This study provides the first detailed analysis of oceanic and atmospheric responses to the current-stress, wave-stress, and wave-current-stress interactions around the Gulf Stream using a high-resolution three-way coupled regional modeling system. In general, our results highlight the substantial impact of coupling currents and/or waves with wind stress on the air–sea fluxes over the Gulf Stream. The stress and the curl of the stress are crucial to mixed-layer energy budgets and sea surface temperature. In the wave-current-stress coupled experiment, wind stress increased by 15% over the Gulf Stream. Alternating positive and negative bands of changes of Ekman-related vertical velocity appeared in response to the changes of the wind stress curl along the Gulf Stream, with magnitudes exceeding 0.3 m/day (the 95th percentile). The response of wind stress and its curl to the wave-current-stress coupling was not a linear combination of responses to the wave-stress coupling and the current-stress coupling because the ocean and wave induced changes in the atmosphere showed substantial feedback on the ocean. Changes of a latent heat flux in excess of 20 W/m2 and a sensible heat flux in excess of 5 W/m2 were found over the Gulf Stream in all coupled experiments. Sensitivity tests show that sea surface temperature (SST) induced difference of air–sea humidity is a major contributor to latent heat flux (LHF) change. Validation is challenging because most satellite observations lack the spatial resolution to resolve the current-induced changes in wind stress curls and heat fluxes. Scatterometer observations can be used to examine the changes in wind stress across the Gulf Stream. The conversion of model data to equivalent neutral winds is highly dependent on the physics considered in the air–sea turbulent fluxes, as well as air–sea temperature differences. This sensitivity is shown to be large enough that satellite observations of winds can be used to test the flux parameterizations in coupled models.

Progress and challenges in coupled hydrodynamic-ecological estuarine modeling

Numerical modeling has emerged over the last several decades as a widely accepted tool for investigations in environmental sciences. In estuarine research, hydrodynamic and ecological models have moved along parallel tracks with regard to complexity, refinement, computational power, and incorporation of uncertainty. Coupled hydrodynamic-ecological models have been used to assess ecosystem processes and interactions, simulate future scenarios, and evaluate remedial actions in response to eutrophication, habitat loss, and freshwater diversion. The need to couple hydrodynamic and ecological models to address research and management questions is clear, because dynamic feedbacks between biotic and physical processes are critical interactions within ecosystems. In this review we present historical and modern perspectives on estuarine hydrodynamic and ecological modeling, consider model limitations, and address aspects of model linkage, skill assessment, and complexity. We discuss the balance between spatial and temporal resolution and present examples using different spatiotemporal scales. Finally, we recommend future lines of inquiry, approaches to balance complexity and uncertainty, and model transparency and utility. It is idealistic to think we can pursue a "theory of everything" for estuarine models, but recent advances suggest that models for both scientific investigations and management applications will continue to improve in terms of realism, precision, and accuracy.

Development and application of an oil spill model with wave-current interactions in coastal areas

The present paper focuses on developing a numerical oil spill model that incorporates the full three-dimensional wave-current interactions for a better representation of the spilled oil transport mechanics in complicated coastal environments. The incorporation of surface wave effects is not only imposing a traditional drag coefficient formulation at the free surface, but also the 3D momentum equations are adjusted to include the impact of the vertically dependent radiation stresses on the currents. Based on the current data from SELFE and wave data from SWAN, the oil spill model utilizes oil particle method to predict the trajectory of individual droplets and the oil concentration. Compared with the observations in Dalian New Port oil spill event, the developed model taking into account wave-current coupling administers to giving better conformity than the one without. The comparisons demonstrates that 3D radiation stress impacts the spill dynamics drastically near the sea surface and along the coastline, while having less impact in deeper water.