In Physical Processes in Estuaries the present day knowledge of the physics of transport phenomena in estuaries and their mathematical treatment is summarized: It is divided into following parts: - Water movements in estuaries - Estuarine fronts and river plumes - Internal waves and interface stability - Fine sediment transport, aggregation of particles, settling velocity of mud flocs - Sedimentation and erosion of fine sediments. For each topic an up-to-date review and recommendations for future research are given, followed by results of original studies. Since estuarine environments are the first to be threatened by urbanization and industrial exploitation this book is an important tool for students and researchers of environmental problems as well as for consultants and water authorities.

Fine Sediment in Open Water is mainly written for professional engineers working in estuaries and coastal systems. It provides the basis for a fundamental understanding of the physical, biological and chemical processes governing the transport and fate of fine sediment in open water and explains how this understanding can steer engineering studies with numerical models. This is a unique treatment of processes at a variety of spatial and temporal scales, from the micro-scale (colloid scale) to system-wide scales, and from intra-tidal time periods to decades.Beginning with the processes governing the transport and fate of fine sediment in shallow open water, the first eight chapters are dedicated to the hydrodynamic, soil mechanics and biological processes which determine fine sediment concentrations in the water column, in/on the bed and the exchange of sediment between bed and water column. The next two chapters treat the net fluxes of fine sediment as a function of asymmetries in forcing and sediment properties. These fundamental processes form the basis for the subsequent chapters on modeling in which the governing equations are presented, and tools are provided to aggregate and parameterize the various processes elaborated in the first eight chapters. Further, any numerical model study should be based on a conceptual model, as illustrated in the final five chapters, which provide examples of numerical modeling studies on the transport and fate of fine sediment in a coastal sea, an estuary, a tidal river, a lake, and around and within a harbor basin.Related Link(s)

Challenging problems involvrllg jet and plume phenomena are common to many areas of fundamental and applied scientific research, and an understanding of plume and jet behaviour is essential in many geophysical and industrial contexts. For example, in the field of meteorology, where pollutant dispersal takes place by means of atmospheric jets and plumes formed either naturally under conditions of convectively-driven flow in the atmospheric boundary layer, or anthropogenically by the release of pollutants from tall chimneys. In other fields of geophysics, buoyant plumes and jets are known to play important roles in oceanic mixing processes, both at the relatively large scale (as in deep water formation by convective sinking) and at the relatively small scale (as with plume formation beneath ice leads, for example). In the industrial context, the performances of many engineering systems are determined primarily by the behaviour of buoyant plumes and jets. For example, (i) in sea outfalls, where either sewage or thermal effluents are discharged into marine and/or freshwater environments, (ii) in solar ponds, where buoyant jets are released under density interfaces, (iii) in buildings, where thermally-generated plumes affect the air quality and ventilation properties of architectural environments, (iv) in rotating machinery where fluid jet~ are used for cooling purposes, and (v) in long road and rail tunnels, where safety and ventilation prcedures rely upon an understanding of the behaviour of buoyant jets. In many other engineering and oceanographic contexts, the properties of jets and plumes are of great importance.