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Circulation Model

This image shows the surface flow and salinity generated from the hydrodynamic circulation component of the virtual Chesapeake Bay. Salinty data has been contoured and colored to show the head-to-mouth salinity structure in the Bay (freshwater is red, and the more salty, oceanic water is blue). Circulation vectors show the strong flow down the Bay, a rotating eddy near the Bay mouth and the outflow plume. The ODU Chesapeake Bay circulation model uses the Princeton Ocean Model and includes high-resolution bathymetry, forcing modules for wind stress, tidal forcing, runoff/precipitation and solar irradiance. The current model configurtaion consists of a dense horizontal grid of 88x163x15 which corresponds to grid spacing of .5 to 1.0 km. The model uses a stretched, terrain following coordinate system in the vertical to prevent the loss of vertical resolution in the shallow areas. Our normal Chesapeake Bay model runs use 15 levels, providing for fine vertical resolution ranging from approximately .5 m to 2.5 meters.

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