What is a plume in a river?

What is a plume in a river?

River plumes are the regions where the most intense river-sea-land interaction occurs, and they are characterized by complex material transport and biogeochemical processes.

What is a freshwater plume?

A freshwater plume often forms when a river or an estuary discharges water onto the continental shelf. Freshwater plumes are ubiquitous features of the coastal ocean and usually leave a striking signature in the coastal hydrography.

Why are river plumes important?

River plumes play an important role in global and regional land-ocean interactions. River discharge provide large fluxes of buoyancy, heat, terrigenous sediments, nutrients, and anthropogenic pollutants to the ocean.

What is a plume on a lake?

The mixing of river water with lake water results in the formation of river plumes, which are heterogeneous environments relatively enriched in nutrients and suspended sediments compared to the lake.

What is plume in Ocean?

Hydrothermal plumes are areas of warm, cloudy water that rise several hundred meters above the vent sites in the middle of cold near freezing water found at the ocean bottom. Today, one of the most useful tools for detecting hydrothermal plumes is called a CTD sensor (Conductivity-Temperature-Depth).

What are low salinity plumes?

The low salinity Amazon plume creates a near-surface barrier layer that inhibits mixing, increases the sea surface temperature (SST), and enhances salinity stratification; thus, preventing vertical mixing between the upper warm mixed layer and the cold deep ocean (Ferry and Reverdin, 2004; Balaguru et al., 2012; …

What is plume front?

The method involves identifying the leading edge of the aerosol (i.e., the plume front) from the time at which the aerosol emerges from the actuator mouthpiece (start of emission), tracking the plume front’s position until the time that the emission finishes or the plume front moves out of the camera’s field of view.

What is sediment plume?

Abstract. When mixtures of aggregates and water dredged from the seabed are discharged at the surface into the adjacent water from a barge, coarse sediments sink immediately and fine sediments are suspended forming a plume.

Why are sediment plumes bad?

These plumes, according to the authors, will introduce heavy metals into the pelagic food chain, which could even contaminate the human seafood supply; clog organisms’ filtration and breathing structures; and introduce visual and mobility barriers that could prevent organisms from properly functioning.

What is the salinity of the Amazon River?

Beyond the estuary zone salinity is high (>32 parts/1,000) and nutrient levels and productivity are low. Amazon River water is pushed out into the Atlantic and then deflected northward by the North Brazilian Current along the Amapá and Guiana coasts.

What is a groundwater plume?

Groundwater plume means groundwater that has been polluted by a release and in which one or more substances from such release is present at a concentration above the laboratory reporting limit.

What is plume and its types?

1) Looping Plume: Occurs in super adiabatic environment. Unstable and need higher stacks. 2) Neutral Plume: Upward vertical rise when ELR = ALR. 3) Coning Plume: When wind velocity is high and sub-adiabatic conditions exist (ELR < ALR).

What causes sediment plumes?

When mixtures of aggregates and water dredged from the seabed are discharged at the surface into the adjacent water from a barge, coarse sediments sink immediately and fine sediments are suspended forming a plume.

Why should we not explore oceans?

“The intense pressures in the deep ocean make it an extremely difficult environment to explore.” Although you don’t notice it, the pressure of the air pushing down on your body at sea level is about 15 pounds per square inch. If you went up into space, above the Earth’s atmosphere, the pressure would decrease to zero.

Why is sea mining bad?

Besides noise pollution, studies suggest that deep-sea mining will destroy habitats and marine life with sediment plumes, chemical pollution and light pollution, not only impacting the immediate vicinity, but potentially harming migratory species and key fisheries.

Is the Amazon fresh or saltwater?

The Amazon, like almost all the rivers in the world, is freshwater. It discharges more freshwater into the ocean than any other river.

Why is the Gulf of Mexico so salty?

The Gulf of Mexico was likely formed roughly 300 million years ago when part of the ocean floor gradually sank due to plate tectonics. The area then filled with seawater, forming the Gulf of Mexico.

Why is underground water not salty?

What causes groundwater salinity? Small quantities of salt are deposited onto the landscape every time it rains. Evaporation and plant transpiration remove water from the landscape but leave the salt behind. This concentrates salt over time.