Transport and Water Quality Modelling in the Southern North Sea in Relation to Coastal Pollution Research and Control

1986 ◽  
Vol 18 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 245-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. van Pagee ◽  
H. Gerritsen ◽  
W P. M. de Ruijter
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metals ◽  
Water Quality ◽  
Coastal Zone ◽  
North Sea ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Coastal Pollution ◽  
The North ◽  
Pollution Research ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
And Control

Mathematical modelling techniques are used to quantify the transport in the southern part of the North Sea of pollutants originating from various inputs. Special attention was given to the anthropogenic increase in local concentrations of nutrients (N, P) and heavy metals (Cd, Hg, Cu, Pb, Zn, Cr) and their potential impact on marine organisms. A depth-averaged hydrodynamic model is used to calculate tidal and wind driven velocities and water levels. By averaging, residual flows are calculated, forming the basis for advective transports in a water quality model. Dispersive transports are derived from a comparison of simulated and observed salinity distributions. Water mass distributions and age functions for various inflowing water types are determined with the model. Transports of nutrients and heavy metals in the southern part of the North Sea are calculated using annual pollution inputs for 1980. Although interactions with bottom sediments are not considered, the calculated and measured concentrations show good similarities. The water quality in the Dutch coastal zone and German Bight area is shown to be highly determined by local pollution loads from the rivers Rhine, Weser and Elbe respectively. Comparison of simulated concentrations for 1980 with those resulting from simulations with estimated natural river inputs, shows that more than 50% of nutrients and heavy metal concentrations originate from human activities in large coastal zone areas. From toxicological information and standards, it is concluded that Cd, Hg and Cu are substances that need special attention in pollution research and control for the Dutch coastal waters.

scholarly journals An estimation of the effects of Ensis directus on the transport and burial of silt in the near-shore Dutch coastal zone of the North Sea

2017 ◽  
Vol 127 ◽  
pp. 95-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rob Witbaard ◽  
Magda J.N. Bergman ◽  
Evaline van Weerlee ◽  
Gerard C.A. Duineveld
Keyword(s):  
Coastal Zone ◽  
North Sea ◽  
The North ◽  
Near Shore ◽  
The North Sea

What can idealized storm surge simulations tell us about worst case scenarios?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elin Andrée ◽  
Jian Su ◽  
Martin Drews ◽  
Morten Andreas Dahl Larsen ◽  
Asger Bendix Hansen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wind Speed ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
North Sea ◽  
Wind Direction ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Sea Coast ◽  
North Sea Coast

<p>The potential impacts of extreme sea level events are becoming more apparent to the public and policy makers alike. As the magnitude of these events are expected to increase due to climate change, and increased coastal urbanization results in ever increasing stakes in the coastal zones, the need for risk assessments is growing too.</p><p>The physical conditions that generate extreme sea levels are highly dependent on site specific conditions, such as bathymetry, tidal regime, wind fetch and the shape of the coastline. For a low-lying country like Denmark, which consists of a peninsula and islands that partition off the semi-enclosed Baltic Sea from the North Sea, a better understanding of how the local sea level responds to wind forcing is urgently called for.</p><p>We here present a map for Denmark that shows the most efficient wind directions for generating extreme sea levels, for a total of 70 locations distributed all over the country’s coastlines. The maps are produced by conducting simulations with a high resolution, 3D-ocean model, which is used for operational storm surge modelling at the Danish Meteorological Institute. We force the model with idealized wind fields that maintain a fixed wind speed and wind direction over the entire model domain. Simulations are conducted for one wind speed and one wind direction at a time, generating ensembles of a set of wind directions for a fixed wind speed, as well as a set of wind speeds for a fixed wind direction, respectively.</p><p>For each wind direction, we find that the maximum water level at a given location increases linearly with the wind speed, and the slope values show clear spatial patterns, for example distinguishing the Danish southern North Sea coast from the central or northern North Sea Coast. The slope values are highest along the southwestern North Sea coast, where the passage of North Atlantic low pressure systems over the shallow North Sea, as well as the large tidal range, result in a much larger range of variability than in the more sheltered Inner Danish Waters. However, in our simulations the large fetch of the Baltic Sea, in combination with the funneling effect of the Danish Straits, result in almost as high water levels as along the North Sea coast.</p><p>Although the wind forcing is completely synthetic with no spatial and temporal structure of a real storm, this idealized approach allows us to systematically investigate the sea level response at the boundaries of what is physically plausible. We evaluate the results from these simulations by comparison to peak water levels from a 58 year long, high resolution ocean hindcast, with promising agreement.</p>

Distribution and Fate of Heavy Metals in the North Sea

1993 ◽  
pp. 300-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Kersten ◽  
M. Dicke ◽  
M. Kriews ◽  
K. Naumann ◽  
D. Schmidt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metals ◽  
North Sea ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Sea

scholarly journals The impact of sedimentary alkalinity release on the water column CO<sub>2</sub> system in the North Sea

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 841-863 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Brenner ◽  
U. Braeckman ◽  
M. Le Guitton ◽  
F. J. R. Meysman
Keyword(s):  
Coastal Zone ◽  
North Sea ◽  
Dissolved Inorganic Carbon ◽  
Co2 Uptake ◽  
Overlying Water ◽  
Southern North Sea ◽  
The North ◽  
Alkalinity Generation ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. It has been previously proposed that alkalinity release from sediments can play an important role in the carbonate dynamics on continental shelves, lowering the pCO2 of seawater and hence increasing the CO2 uptake from the atmosphere. To test this hypothesis, sedimentary alkalinity generation was quantified within cohesive and permeable sediments across the North Sea during two cruises in September 2011 (basin-wide) and June 2012 (Dutch coastal zone). Benthic fluxes of oxygen (O2), alkalinity (AT) and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) were determined using shipboard closed sediment incubations. Our results show that sediments can form an important source of alkalinity for the overlying water, particularly in the shallow southern North Sea, where high AT and DIC fluxes were recorded in near-shore sediments of the Belgian, Dutch and German coastal zone. In contrast, fluxes of AT and DIC are substantially lower in the deeper, seasonally stratified, northern part of the North Sea. Based on the data collected, we performed a model analysis to constrain the main pathways of alkalinity generation in the sediment, and to quantify how sedimentary alkalinity drives atmospheric CO2 uptake in the southern North Sea. Overall, our results show that sedimentary alkalinity generation should be regarded as a key component in the CO2 dynamics of shallow coastal systems.

scholarly journals An ensemble study of extreme storm surge related water levels in the North Sea in a changing climate

Ocean Science ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 369-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Sterl ◽  
H. van den Brink ◽  
H. de Vries ◽  
R. Haarsma ◽  
E. van Meijgaard
Keyword(s):  
North Sea ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Sea Water ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Global Climate Model ◽  
Storm Surges ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
The North ◽  
Extreme Storm ◽  
The North Sea

Abstract. The height of storm surges is extremely important for a low-lying country like The Netherlands. By law, part of the coastal defence system has to withstand a water level that on average occurs only once every 10 000 years. The question then arises whether and how climate change affects the heights of extreme storm surges. Published research points to only small changes. However, due to the limited amount of data available results are usually limited to relatively frequent extremes like the annual 99%-ile. We here report on results from a 17-member ensemble of North Sea water levels spaning the period 1950–2100. It was created by forcing a surge model of the North Sea with meteorological output from a state-of-the-art global climate model which has been driven by greenhouse gas emissions following the SRES A1b scenario. The large ensemble size enables us to calculate 10 000 year return water levels with a low statistical uncertainty. In the one model used in this study, we find no statistically significant change in the 10 000 year return values of surge heights along the Dutch during the 21st century. Also a higher sea level resulting from global warming does not impact the height of the storm surges. As a side effect of our simulations we also obtain results on the interplay between surge and tide.

The water quality of UK rivers entering the North Sea

2000 ◽  
Vol 251-252 ◽  
pp. 5-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
C Neal ◽  
W.A House ◽  
G.J.L Leeks ◽  
B.A Whitton ◽  
R.J Williams
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
North Sea ◽  
The North ◽  
The North Sea

Clay mineral distribution and provenance in Mesozoic and Tertiary mudrocks of the Moray Firth and northern North Sea

Clay Minerals ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 519-541 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Pearson
Keyword(s):  
Clay Mineral ◽  
North Sea ◽  
Volcanic Activity ◽  
Volcanic Material ◽  
The North ◽  
Moray Firth ◽  
History Of ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Northern North Sea ◽  
And Control

AbstractClay mineral abundances in Mesozoic and Tertiary argillaceous strata from 15 exploration wells in the Inner and Outer Moray Firth, Viking Graben and East Shetland Basins of the northern North Sea have been determined in <0·2 µm fractions of cuttings samples. The clay assemblages of more deeply-buried samples cannot be unambiguously related to sedimentary input because of the diagenetic overprint which may account for much of the chlorite and related interstratified minerals. Other sediments, discussed on a regional basis and related to the geological history of the basins, are interpreted in terms of clay mineral provenance and control by climate, tectonic and volcanic activity. The distribution of illite-smectite can often be related to volcanic activity both in the Forties area during the M. Jurassic, and on the NE Atlantic continental margin during the U. Cretaceous-Early Tertiary which affected the North Sea more widely and left a prominent record in the Viking Graben and East Shetland Basin. Kaolinite associated with lignite-bearing sediments in the Outer Moray Firth Basin was probably derived by alteration of volcanic material in lagoonal or deltaic environments. Some U. Jurassic and L. Cretaceous sediments of the Inner Moray Basin are rich in illite-smectite, the origin of which is not clear.

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