Session Lead: Courtney Harris (VIMS), Joe Jurisa (UMCES), and Cindy Palinkas (UMCES)
Session Format: Oral presentations
Abstract:
The importance of water-column transport and depositional processes in Chesapeake Bay and its many subenvironments has become increasingly recognized. Estuarine circulation, tides, and wind-driven currents largely control the dispersal of nutrients and suspended particulates that impact water quality. Sedimentary processes along coastlines and within marshes impact nutrient cycling, land loss, and response to sea-level changes. And, many nutrients and anthropogenic pollutants are transformed within the sediment bed and therefore sensitive to depositional processes. Understanding and quantifying these processes remain challenging, both because of the dynamic nature of transport in these shallow systems, and because much of the Chesapeake Bay is a cohesive environment, which complicates attempts at numerical modeling and observation. Additionally, processes that are most significant in terms of transport and deposition often occur during energetic conditions that are difficult to observe and monitor. However, recent advances in theoretical, observational, and numerical modeling techniques have led to increased understanding of these complex systems. The session encourages submissions covering numerical models, field studies, and remote-sensing methods aimed at furthering our understanding of physical transport and depositional processes in Chesapeake Bay, its tributaries, and associated marsh and coastal systems. Submissions may focus on water-column and/or seabed processes, in addition to coupled sediment-water column biogeochemical cycling. Studies of physical forcing, sedimentary response, different modes of transport, and particle behavior are all welcomed; as is research focused on biological and geochemical feedbacks with these transport and depositional processes.