A multi-disciplinary study of frontal systems in the Tay estuary, Scotland

The results of a remote sensing study of tidal mixing processes in the Tay Estuary have been correlated with the results of mathematical and physical models and ground sampling data in an attempt to assess the nature, the spatial and temporal extent and the variability in the formation of convergent fronts in the Tay Estuary. The application of remote sensing methods to the study of estuarine mixing processes in the Tay Estuary, supported by ground measurements, has discovered convergent front mechanisms and complex hydrodynamic processes which had not previously been recognized in the Tay Estuary. This integrated approach has enabled the various features and mixing mechanisms found in the lower section of the estuary to be interrelated. The limitations of using a two-dimensional mathematical and a physical model to predict the complex mixing processes affecting water quality in the Tay Estuary are discussed. (C) 1997 Academic Press Limited.