1. Modeling the Washington Coastal Ocean Focus on estuary-shelf connections Parker MacCready, Dave Sutherland, Neil Banas University of Washington ePOPf September 2010, Portland

2. MoSSea: Modeling the Salish Sea faculty.washington.edu/dsuth/MoSSea Realistic hindcasts ROMS v.3 Tides TPXO 7.1 Rivers (16): USGS Wind & Heat Flux: MM5 Ocean OBC: Global NCOM

3. Annual Cycle

4. Annual-mean Exchange Flow in the Salish Sea

5. Nested sub-model of Admiralty Inlet

6. Comparison: Monthly CTD Casts

7. Comparison: Low-passed velocity

8. Comparison: Mooring T & S SHELFHOOD CANAL

9. Comparison: Seaglider GH Line

10. RISE Ecosystem Modeling: Neil Banas “NPZD” 4-box system N = nitrate P = phytoplankton Z = (micro)zooplakton D = detritus

11. RISE Ecosystem model-data comparisons

12. Conclusions Exchange flow pulls coastal nitrate into estuaries Exchange flow provides buoyancy to the shelf (=> new pathways) Modeling estuaries requires high resolution Modeling the shelf and open ocean requires boundary conditions (wind & ocean) Both require data, especially ecosystem rates

13. LINKS Many papers available at: http://faculty.washington.edu/pmacc/publicatio ns.htm MoSSea: http://faculty.washington.edu/dsuth/MoSSea/in dex.html