APPENDIX B 



Hydrography of the Nueces Delta 

 and Estuary: 1992-1999 



George H. Watd Center for Research in Water Resources, University of Texas, Austin 



BACKGROUND 



Three time scales are of pertinence to the evaluation of hydrographic data in the Nueces Estuary: intratidal, 

 intertidal, and event-duration. The intratidal (or intradiumal) time scale represents short-term behavior at an 

 hourly resolution, the intertidal (or interdiumal) time scale represents day-to-day variations of hydrographic 

 parameters averaged over 24 hours, and the event-duration scale extends over the time period encompassing all 

 responses to a specific hydrographic event, and can range from several days to many weeks. 



Data Sources 



Hydrographic data for this analysis were obtained from a variety of sources, including the Texas Coastal Ocean 

 Observing Network (TCOON) marine monitoring system of Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Conrad 

 Blucher Institute (CBI), the weather station network administered by the National Weather Service (NWS), and 

 the national stream flow gauging program conducted by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) (Table 1). 



Table 1: Summary of hydrographic data sources. 



DATA SOURCE 



Parameter 



Measurement Locatior) 



Data Type 



Nueces River at Calallen, 

 USGS 



TCOON system, CBI 



Corpus Christi Bay, NWS 



Rincon Bayou near Calallen, 

 USGS 



Estimated daily flow 



Water level 



Wind direction and velocity 



Salinity 



Daily precipitation 



Water level 

 Current velocity 

 Calculated flow 



Daily precipitation 



Nueces River 



Nueces and Corpus Christi 

 bays 



Corpus Christi 

 International Airport 



upper Rincon Bayou 



Data recorded at 

 15-minute intervals 



Data recorded as 

 6-minute averaged 

 values 



Data archived as daily 

 values 



Data recorded at 

 15-minute intervals 



Data archived as daily 

 values 



Data obtained from the TCOON system included salinity and water level. For each of these parameters, hourly 

 measurements were obtained from the CBI data archive, and for the analysis reported here, subjected to 

 24-hour averaging to obtain daily mean values. The salinity data used were from the CBI SALT03 gauge, which 

 is situated due south of White Point in the center of the bay, about equidistant from the mouth of Rincon 

 Bayou and the mouth of the Nueces River, and therefore responds to flow from both conveyances. Salinity 

 concentrations are measured by robot conductivity sensor and converted to salinity, reported in parts per 

 thousand (ppt). 



Appendix B ♦ B-1 



