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Clyde Sea hydrography

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2011

A. Edwards ,
M. S. Baxter ,
D. J. Ellett ,
J. H. A. Martin ,
D. T. Meldrum  and
C. R. Griffiths
A. Edwards
Affiliation:
Scottish Marine Biological Association, Dunstaffnage Marine Research Laboratory, P.O. Box 3, Oban, Argyll PA34 4AD, Scotland
M. S. Baxter
Affiliation:
Scottish Universities Research and Reactor Centre, East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 OQU, Scotland
D. J. Ellett
Affiliation:
Scottish Marine Biological Association, Dunstaffnage Marine Research Laboratory, P.O. Box 3, Oban, Argyll PA34 4AD, Scotland
J. H. A. Martin
Affiliation:
Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland, Victoria Road, P.O. Box 101, Aberdeen AB9 8DB, Scotland
D. T. Meldrum
Affiliation:
Scottish Marine Biological Association, Dunstaffnage Marine Research Laboratory, P.O. Box 3, Oban, Argyll PA34 4AD, Scotland
C. R. Griffiths
Affiliation:
Scottish Marine Biological Association, Dunstaffnage Marine Research Laboratory, P.O. Box 3, Oban, Argyll PA34 4AD, Scotland
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Synopsis

A front on the Great Plateau separates tidally mixed water of the North Channel from quieter less saline surface layers of the Outer Firth. These water bodies exchange about 1·6 × 104m3 s−1, leading to a residence time of two months in the Outer Firth surface layers. The position of the front is determined by the balance of mixing and buoyancy supply. The wind modulates weak tidal currents in the Outer Firth by driving surface currents and setting up deeper compensation flows. Deep water in the Arran Deep and Kilbrannan Sound is irregularly renewed by inflow of dense water over the Eastern Plateau from autumn to spring of about 1 × 104m3 s−1 but stagnates in summer below a thermocline. A minor part of this renewal comes over the Davaar sill into Kilbrannan Sound.

Bottom water of the fjordic sea-lochs is isolated in summer and renewed during the winter. The renewals occur by density currents flowing in from the sills and these produce a characterising grading of the bottom sediments from coarse to fine away from the sills.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Section B: Biological Sciences , Volume 90: The Environment of the Estuary and Firth of Clyde , 1986 , pp. 67 - 83
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1986

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