Influence of bottom stress on the two-layer flow induced by gravity currents in estuaries

Baroclinic circulation in highly stratified and partially stratified estuaries is characterised by a two-layer flow: a bottom saltwater inflow and a surface brackish-water outflow. Tidal period variation of the thicknesses of a two-layer how is observed to be associated with mixing, bottom stress and hydraulic characteristics of superposed tidal and gravity currents. Here, both analytical two-layer hydraulic equations with weak friction and a numerical model including a turbulence closure were utilised to understand the mechanism of the layer tendency within a two-layer flow under different barotropic flow conditions. It has been found that in the weak bottom friction case, a gravity current has two critical solutions at the layer thickness equal to 0.5H and 0.292H. The layer thickness towards a particular critical solution is dependent on the sign of the bottom stress, i.e. when the bottom stress is opposite (favor) to the bottom gravity current, its layer thickness converges to 0.5H (0.292H). In the case of strong bottom stress and mixing opposing the gravity current, the solutions of the gravity current layer thickness at 0.5H and 0.292H will not be valid. Both mixing and vorticity produced by bottom stress erode the halocline, and produce a high velocity core in the mid-depth, which leads to the thickness of a bottom gravity current greater than 0.5H. These internal hydraulic tendency and mixing processes, varying with time-dependent barotropic tidal current forcing, determine the tidal period variation of the gravity current structure. (C) 1998 Academic Press Limited.