Hydrodynamic and Salinity Modeling for Estuarine Habitat Restoration at Herring River, Wellfleet, Massachusetts
Spaulding ML and Grilli A. 2001. Hydrodynamic and Salinity Modeling for Estuarine Habitat Restoration at Herring River, Wellfleet, Massachusetts. Narragansett, Rhode Island
The present field program and modeling investigation have provided a reasonable understanding of the tidal and salt dynamics of the Herring River system for the current configuration and operation of the hydraulic control structures in the dike. To advance our understanding additional intensive tidal cycle survey data should be collected and used to refine the model calibration. Particular attention needs to be directed at making more careful measurements of the water levels inside the culverts, particularly the one containing the sluice gate, where the flows are observed to be super-critical on a substantial portion of the flood tide. The largest uncertainty in the model application to the restoration options is the specification of the surface area versus elevation relationship, particularly in the range from 0.0 to 0.7 m. It is recommended that additional surveying be performed in this area to verify and refine the assumed topography used in the present model. It has not been possible, within the context of the present study, to evaluate the model predictive performance for conditions substantially different from the present configuration. This problem could be addressed by significantly altering the hydraulic control structures in the dike (opening of the sluice gate, removal of one or more of the tidal gates) and making similar intensive tidal cycle measurements to those performed in the present study. This would only need to be done for a short period of time (several tidal cycles) to obtain the necessary data. Note that in most cases these experiments would explore conditions typical of the impact of storms on the river. Once this data was obtained and evaluated restoration options that were explored in the experiments could be considered for implementation.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Spaulding, Malcolm; Grilli, Annette
- Date of Issue
- 2001-10
- Units
- CACO
- Keywords
- Aquatic Sciences, estuarine habitat, Herring River, Hydrodynamic, Modeling, Restoration, River, Salinity