engleski

Exchange of Water in the Stratified Zrmanja Estuary (Adriatic Sea)

The paper presents the estimation of flushing time in the Zrmanja estuary. The method used is based on adapted Knudsen’ s hydrographic theorem. Flushing time (tf) is defined as the time needed to replace the volume of the estuary (V) with new fresh water coming from the river flow (R). It was calculated by using the salt balance and water balance in the estuary. Water balance between stations and salt balance in the Zrmanja estuary were computed from the river flow and measured salinity profiles in the Zrmanja estuary. The LOICZ model was applied (Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal zone) and the computation included the determination of halocline depth at the stations together with average values of salinity above and below the halocline. The shortest flushing time in the Zrmanja estuary was determined during spring season (around 1.5 days) whilst the longest flushing time was computed for summer season (about 8.6 days). The time needed to exchange the water in the estuary during autumn and winter was about 3 days.

Zrmanja estuary (Adriatic Sea); Knudsen’ s theorem; flushing time; LOICZ model; halocline; salinity.

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