[1] The initial composition of a river plume depends on the cumulative turbulent entrainment within the estuary and how this dilutes the supplied freshwater. Here we examine the relative roles of turbulence and freshwater input using observations from the Columbia River estuary and plume during two periods with contrasting river flow. Within the estuary, intense turbulence observed on flood and...

BACKGROUND The tidal flat is one of the important components of coastal wetland systems in the Yellow River Delta (YRD). It can stabilize shorelines and protect coastal biodiversity. The erosion risk in tidal flats in coastal wetlands was seldom been studied. Characterizing changes of soil particle size distribution (PSD) is an important way to quantity soil erosion in tidal flats. METHOD/PRI...

The many sheltered embayments, riverine estuaries and drowned river valleys of temperate eastern Australia support a large area and a wide diversity of coastal wetlands. This region also supports over one-half of the country’s population and includes its major tourist and industrial centres. The story of Cinderella provides an excellent simile for the status of coastal wetlands in this region o...

DDT remains an important type of persistent organic pollutant (POP) in the environment of China. One of the current applications of DDT in China has been through antifouling paint for fishing ships as an active component. It has been estimated that approximately 5000 t of DDT was released into the Chinese coastal environment during the last two decades. Therefore, sediments in coastal fishing h...

Six reservoirs in North Carolina, USA, discharge into the Pee Dee River, which flows 260 kilometers through South Carolina to the coastal communities near Myrtle Beach. During the Southeast’s record-breaking drought from 1998 to 2002, salinity intrusions inundated a coastal municipal freshwater intake, limiting water supplies. The North Carolina reservoirs are currently (2006) undergoing a re-l...

Behavioral responses by top marine predators to oceanographic features such as eddies, river plumes, storms, and coastal topography suggest that biophysical interactions in these zones affect predators' prey, foraging behaviors, and potentially fitness. However, examining these pathways is challenged by the obstacles inherent in obtaining simultaneous observations of surface and subsurface envi...

A coupled circulation-and-ecosystem model, developed as part of the RISE (River Influences on Shelf Ecosystems) program, is used to examine the role of the Columbia River plume in shaping broad patterns of nutrient flux and primary production on the Washington and Oregon coasts. Realistic simulations of summer 2004 and 2005 in ROMS (Regional Ocean Modeling System) are forced by winds from the M...

Research on the land use of the coastal zone in the sea–land direction will not only reveal its land use distribution, but may also indicate the interactions between inland land use and the ocean through associations between inland land use and seaward land use indirectly. However, in the existing research, few have paid attention to the land use in sea–land direction, let alone the sequential ...

Cyanobacteria blooms are frequent in freshwaters and are responsible for water quality deterioration and human intoxication. Although, not a new phenomenon, concern exists on the increasing persistence, scale, and toxicity of these blooms. There is evidence, in recent years, of the transfer of these toxins from inland to marine waters through freshwater outflow. However, the true impact of thes...

Through their metabolic activities, microbial populations mediate the impact of high gradient regions on ecological function and productivity of the highly dynamic Columbia River coastal margin (CRCM). A 2226-probe oligonucleotide DNA microarray was developed to investigate expression patterns for microbial genes involved in nitrogen and carbon metabolism in the CRCM. Initial experiments with t...