A comprehensive model of Coastall currents and sediment dispersion has been formulated and applied to the Mississippi Sound and adjacent continental shelf waters. The study combines mathematical modeling of various hydrodynamic and sedimentary processes with laboratory and field experiments. Of primary importance is the development of an efficient and comprehensive three-dimensional, finite-difference model of Coastal, Estuarine, and Lake Currents (CELC3D). The model resolves currents driven by tide, wind, and density gradient. It has been applied to the Mississippi Sound, and results agree well with measured surface displacements and currents during two episodes. Rates of entrainment and deposition of the Mississippi Sound sediments have been studied in a laboratory flume. Effects of (1) bottom shear stress, (2) bed properties, (3) salinity of water, and (4) sediment type on the erodability of sediments have been examined. Results of the laboratory study have been incorporated into the bottom boundary conditions for a three-dimensional sediment dispersion model. Gravitational settling and particle size distribution of the Mississippi Sound sediments were also studied in laboratories. Bottom boundary layer dynamics and wave effect on sediment dispersion have been studied by means of a turbulent transport model and a wave model. Model simulations of sediment dispersion in the Mississippi Sound agree well available data from ship surveys. (Author).

Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Coastal and Estuarine Sciences, Volume 4. The AGU Monograph Series on Coastal and Estuarine Regimes provides timely summaries and reviews of major process and regional studies, both observational and theoretical, and of theoretical and numerical models. It grew out of an IAPSO/SCOR/ECOR working group initiative several years ago intended to enhance scientific communications on this topic. The series' authors and editors are drawn from the international community. The ultimate goal is to stimulate bringing the theory, observations, and modeling of coastal and estuarine regimes together on the global scale.

These proceedings represent the most recent and complete state of the art review of three-dimensional models of the modern generation for the study of marine hydrodynamics and management of the marine system. The book is well illustrated by application to well-documented case studies.