3.0 HYDROGRAPHY OF NEW HAVEN HARBOR AND PHYSICAL/CHEMICAL 

 EFFECTS FROM OPERATION OF NEW HAVEN HARBOR STATION 



By Michael Tubman, David Pease and Allan Hartwell 



Normandeau Associates, Inc. 



Bedford, N. H. 



INTRODUCTION 



The purpose of this section is to describe the results of more 

 than seven years of intensive, year-round hydrographic studies in New 

 Haven Harbor. The data, which were collected as part of UI ' s ongoing 

 ecological monitoring studies for the New Haven Harbor Station, have 

 been used in combination with various other studies of the Harbor and 

 adjacent waters of Long Island Sound to present a comprehensive picture 

 of hydrographic conditions both before and after plant startup in 1975. 

 The seasonal variability of the inner and the outer harbor waters has 

 received particular emphasis, and the hydrographic impacts of plant 

 operation are reviewed in detail. 



Study Area 



New Haven Harbor is a shallow embayment located on the north- 

 ern shore of Long Island Sound slightly east of its midpoint, roughly 

 halfway between New York City and Providence, Rhode Island. It is one 

 of the largest harbors on Long Island Sound. Hydrographically , New 

 Haven Harbor is an estuary as defined by Pritchard (1967) . Circulation 

 and mixing patterns, which dominate almost all other aspects of estu- 

 arine behavior, are difficult to measure and analyze because they are 

 cumulative results of tides, freshwater flow, irregularities in the 

 estuarine configuration, and density differences between fresh and salt 

 water (National Academy of Sciences, 1977) . 



New Haven Harbor is largely surrounded by urbanized land. The 

 intensity of this urbanization and associated industrialization has 

 brought with it all the attendant problems of municipal and industrial 

 pollution ranging from sewage to oil spills . 



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