Coastal Transport and Diffusion 



Flagg,C.N. 



$212,000 



Brookhaven National Laboratory 



Department of Applied Science 



C: 516-282-3128; F: 666-3128 



The project objective is to understand the processes of transport and diffusion with emphasis on their control over 

 the environmental effects of energy-related activities in the Mid- Atlantic Continental Shelf region. These processes 

 must be understood because of their direct effect on the movement of pollutants and other materials and because 

 of the critical role they play in the dynamics of shelf ecosystems. The approach involves field observations, data 

 analysis, and numerical modeling. Historically, the research is divided into five components: (1) coastal boundary 

 layer, (2) shelf circulation, (3) water mass analysis, (4) water property dispersion, and (5) air-sea interaction. The 

 Coastal Boundary Transect (COBOLT) Program observations were completed by the end of FY'78 with process- 

 ing and analysis extending through FY'83. The Spar Buoy Oceanographic Telemetry System (SBOTS I) was used in 

 a five-mooring array for Mesoscale Experiment (MESEX I), with analysis extending through FY'83. FY'83 and '84 

 marked the beginning of the Shelf Edge Exchange Processes I (SEEP-I) field program, a multi-institutional ex- 

 amination of off-shelf fluxes of material. More recent activities include: (1) analysis of data collected during SEEP- 

 I, and fabrication and testing of a bottom-mounted acoustic current profiler for use in the SEEP-III field program; 

 (2) several publications describing the water property distributions in the Mid- Atlantic Bight (MAB) and the Gulf 

 of Maine/Georges Bank region, and the dynamics of the MAB; and (3) dynamics of the MAB and outer continen- 

 tal shelf. Focus is on advection and diffusion processes on the continental shelf and the between the continental shelf 

 and slope waters. 



Coastal Ocean Margins Program A 6 December 1988 



