GCRC Project Summary |
Development of an Unstructured Grids, Finite-Volume Hydrodynamic and Water Quality Model
PIs:
Changsheng Chen* (University
of Massachusetts - Dartmouth, MA, USA) and Jackson
O. Blanton (Skidaway Inst of Oceanography, Savannah, GA, USA)
Support: GA DNR Coastal Zone Management (through a Coastal Incentive Grant) and Georgia Sea Grant College Program.
Timeframe: 1998 - 2004
Project Overview:
The objective of this project is to develop a new hydrodynamic, suspended sediment,
and water quality model which has the capability of simultaneously simulating
both estuary-scale and tidal creek-scale features of the water movement and
water quality in Georgia's estuaries. We have developed an unstructured grid,
finite-volume, three-dimensional, primitive equation ocean model (called FVCOM).
This new model combines the advantages of a finite element method for geometric
flexibility and a finite-difference method for the simplest discrete computation.
The currents, temperature and salinity in the model are computed following a
conservative law, which is essential in the estimation of biological and chemical
fluxes over salt-marsh, tidal creeks, and estuarine complex. This model has
been successfully applied to the Satilla River, an estuary characterized by
numerous tidal creeks, barrier islands, and inlets. The application of this
new finite-volume model to Georgia estuaries has provided us with a very efficient
scientific tool that can assist them in evaluating water quality in Georgia's
estuaries.
Accomplishments:
Readers are referred to the websites on Dr. Chen's work --
http://codfish.smast.umassd.edu/
http://www.cmast.umassd.edu/cmastweb/biochen2.htm
Publications:
Zheng, L., C. Chen, and H. Liu, 2003. A modeling study of the Satilla River Estuary, Georgia. I: Flooding-drying process and water exchange over the salt marsh-estuary-shelf complex. Estuaries, 26, 651-669.
Zheng, L. C. Chen, M. Alber and H. Liu, 2003. A modeling study of the Satilla River Estuary, Georgia. II: Suspended sediment.
Zheng, L. C. Chen, and F. Zhang, 2004. Development of water quality model in the Satilla River estuary, Georgia. Ecological Modeling, in press.
Chen, C, H. Liu, and R. C. Beardsley, 2003. An unstructured grid, finite-volume, three-dimensional, primitive equation ocean model: application to coastal ocean and estuaries. J. Atmos. Ocean. Technol., 20, 159-186.
Chen, C., J. Zhu,
R. C. Beardsley, and P. S. Franks, 2003. Physical-Biological Sources for the
Dense Algal Bloom over the Western Shelf of the East China Sea, Geophysical
Research Letter, 30(10), 1515, 22-1:4.
Related Projects:
Modeling
Study of Physical Processes over the Inner Shelf of the Georgia Coast
*Formerly -- Dept of Marine Sciences, Univ of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA