Abstract
The industrial waste dumped 180 n. miles south of Galveston was monitored in July 1977 by water sampling, hydrographic measurements, acoustic tracking on board two vessels, and by aerial photography. The plume of the waste diffused vertically and horizontally. Photodensitometry of aerial photos of the plume showed lateral dispersion of the plume in agreement with two other methods: acoustic tracking of the waste suspensoid and transmissometer sampling. In addition, the method showed small scale features like the lateral and longitudinal variations in the photodensity, indicating the waste concentration. This waste concentration showed periodic changes in its axial distance, with the spectral peak at about 160 m wave length. It shows a sharp increase at the windward edge of the plume as do the acoustic records. This phenomenon is explained in terms of the shearing current near the surface together with vertical diffusion. The periodic change along the axis is explained in terms of the Langmuir circulation and in terms of internal ship waves.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Brooks, D. J., andSackett, W. M. (1978),Site Characterization and Dispersal Studies at Ocean Dumping Sites in the Gulf of Mexico. Report to NOAA Ocean Dumping Program, 117 pp.
Carnes, M., Ichiye, T., Inoue, M., andHuang, N. E. (1978),Surface Current Measurements off Delaware Coast. (Abstract) EOS 12, 1102.
Giam, C. S., andAtlas, E. (1978),Analytical, Biological, Geochemical and Oceanographic Studies of Ocean Dumping of Industrial Wastes in the Gulf of Mexico II. Report to NOAA Ocean Dumping Program, 122 pp.
Gill, W. N., andSankarasubramanian, R. (1970),Exact Analysis of Unsteady Convective Diffusion, Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. A316, 341–350.
Hudimac, A. A. (1961),Ship Waves in a Stratified Ocean, J. Fluid Mech.11, 229–243.
Ichiye, T. (1967),Upper Ocean Boundary-Layer Flow Determined by Dye Diffusion, Phys. Fluids Supplement 270–277.
Ichiye, T., andPlutchak, N. B. (1966),Photodensitometric Measurement of Dye Concentration in the Ocean, Limn. and Oceanog.11, 364–370.
Ichiye, T., Mungall, C., Inoue, M., andHorne, D. (1978),Gulf of Mexico Dispersion Calculations, Ref. 78-10-T. Dept. of Oceanogr. Texas A&M Univ., 73 pp.
Johnson, R. W., Dyedall, I. W., Glasgow, R. M., Proni, J. R., andNelson, T. A. (1977).Quantitative Mapping of Suspended Solids in Wastewater Sludge Plumes in the New York Bight Appex., J. Water Pollution Control Federation, 2063–2073.
Keller, J. B., andMunk, W. H. (1970),Internal Wave Wakes of a Body Moving in a Stratified Fluid, Phys. Fluids13, 1425–1431.
Miles, J. W. (1971),Internal Waves Generated by a Horizontally Moving Source, Geophys. Fluid. Dyn.2, 63–87.
Novikov, E. A. (1958),Concerning a Turbulent Diffusion in a Stream with a Transverse Gradient of Velocity, J. Appl. Math. and Mech. (English translation of PMM)22, 576–579.
Okubo, A. (1968),Some Remarks on the Importance of the ‘Shear Effect’ on Horizontal Diffusion, J. Oceanog. Soc. Japan24, 60–69.
Pollard, R. T. (1977),Observations and Theories of Langmuir Circulations and Their Role in Near Surface Mixing. InA Voyage of Discovery, George Deacon, 70th Anniversary Volume, Supplement to Deep-Sea Res (ed. M. Angel), Pergamon Press, N.Y.
Proni, J., Newman, F. C., Sellers, R. L. andParker, C. (1976),Acoustic Tracking of Oceandumped Sewage Sludge, Science193, 1005–1007.
Roberts, O. F. T. (1923),The Theoretical Scattering of Smoke in a Turbulent Atmosphere, Proc Roy. Soc. Lond. A.104, 640–663.
Smylie, D. E., Clarke, G. K. C., andUlrych, T. J. (1973),Analysis of Irregularities in the Earth's Rotation, Math. Comp. Phys.13, 391–430.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ichiye, T., Carnes, M. Application of aerial photography to the study of small scale upper ocean phenomena. PAGEOPH 119, 294–308 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00877767
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00877767