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Estimation of material fluxes in an estuarine cross section: A critical analysis of spatial measurement density and errors 1
Author(s) -
Kjerfve Bjorn,
Stevenson L. Harold,
Proehl Jeffrey A.,
Chrzanowski Thomas H.,
Kitchens Wiley M.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 197
eISSN - 1939-5590
pISSN - 0024-3590
DOI - 10.4319/lo.1981.26.2.0325
Subject(s) - bathymetry , estuary , inlet , sampling (signal processing) , flux (metallurgy) , environmental science , spatial variability , hydrology (agriculture) , geology , oceanography , statistics , mathematics , physics , materials science , geotechnical engineering , detector , optics , metallurgy
Estuarine budget studies often suffer from uncertainties of net flux estimates in view of large temporal and spatial variabilities. Optimum spatial measurement density and material flux errors for a reasonably well mixed estuary were estimated by sampling 10 stations from surface to bottom simultaneously every hour for two tidal cycles in a 320‐m‐wide cross section in North Inlet, South Carolina. Discharge and ATP and NII 4 + ‐N fluxes were computed. The analysis method was to form a number of cases, each based on a different number and combination of stations and compare these fluxes to the ideal case using all 10 stations. A percentage error, γ , (rms derivation of a given case from the ideal case compared to the tidal prism) was <15% with only three lateral stations, each located to cover a separate bathymetric regime. In estuaries with dimensions similar to North Inlet, these results should prove useful in selecting an optimum (or minimum) number of required stations.