NICOP - Modeling and Observation of River-Sea Exchanges at a microtidal estuary - NICOP
Abstract
The Universit~ Politecnica delle Marche (UPM), in collaboration with the US Naval ResearchLaboratory (NRL), Stennis Space Center, w"ill perform long-term observations and intensivemathematical/numerical modeling to develop a data assimilation/morphological foreca"sting systemat the mouth of the Misa River, Senigallia, Italy. We hypothesize that morphologic changes to theestuary can be foreca"sted at timescales of 96 hours or more using our proposed approach. Theobjective is to investigate the short- to long-term dynamics of a small-scale engineered river mouthenvironment. Focus will be on both the river-sea water and sediment exchanges and the compl"exmorphodynamics that characterize the mouth of the Misa River, which is about 40 km north ofUPM. The project will heavily leverag"e existing knowledge and instrumentation including theSena Gallica Speculator (SGS) video-monitoring system installed by the same research team in2015 (EsCoSed project ~ Award # N62909-13-1-N020).The MORSE Project will support the ~Expeditionary and Irregular W"arfare~ Focus Areadescribed in the Naval Science & Technology Strategic Plan (2015), with the aim to facilitateoperations concerni""ng sea and navigable rivers. Small-scale estuaries of navigable rivers, such asthe Misa River, are less often studied than intermed"iate- and large-scale inlets despite theirubiquity and interest to Naval Special Warfare around the world. Here we will augment exi"stinglong-term monitoring with additional instrumentation to be installed as part of the proposed effort:~ A X-band radar system,"" to build, in conjunction with the available SGS video monitoringstation, an integrated observation system for the river-sea hydro-""morphodynamics.~ A USGS-style gauging station, to monitor river discharge away from the influence of tides andprovide the river bo""undary condition for modeling.~ A tide gauge station, to characterize the influence of the tidal forcing on the system.~ An offsho""re ADCP, to provide wave forcing along the offshore model boundary.We will complement the remote sensing with a pair of short durat""ion in-situ water and sedimentsampling campaigns and a series of timely multibeam bathymetric surveys.MORSE, complementary to prev"ious studies carried out under the auspices of Navy will provide:~ a contemporaneous analysis of wave-current field and bathymetric" evolution using twodifferent monitoring systems over a long time period (one year);~ an estimate of the river-plume impact, durin""g severe events/storms, on the fate of suspendedsediments/pollutants in the nearshore environment;~ calibration of numerical model""s for a small-scale estuary, representative of many environmentslocated around the world.A fundamental feature of MORSE is also th"e opportunity to assimilate field measurements intotheoretical/numerical analyses in a small-scale estuary. The same research group (UPM and NRL)that will carry out the field campaign will also analyze the experimental data to get novel insightinto the principles of flocculation/deposition of muds and derive a novel sediment transportpredictor to be implemented in large-scale numerical simulations.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Nov 03, 2017
- Source ID
- N629091712148
Entities
People
- Maurizio Brocchini
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- Polytechnic University of the Marches
- United States Navy