Newark Bay Study - Passaic River Public Digital Library
Newark Bay Study - Passaic River Public Digital Library
Newark Bay Study - Passaic River Public Digital Library
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
<strong>Newark</strong> <strong>Bay</strong> is relatively wide in comparison to the <strong>Passaic</strong> <strong>River</strong>, the Hackensack <strong>River</strong> and<br />
the Kills. Its shallow water depth has been substantially modified by the U.S. Army Corps of<br />
Engineers to ensure that the navigational channels are maintained in a condition that is suitable for<br />
shipping transit in the vicinity of the harbor facilities of the Port Elizabeth and Port <strong>Newark</strong><br />
Channels. As a result of these channel modifications, the bathymetric features of the <strong>Bay</strong> are quite<br />
complex and undergoing continual changes. A high-resolution model grid will be required to<br />
accurately represent these bathymetric features and the related processes that control sediment<br />
accumulation in the system (i.e., settling, resuspension, and dredging). Suskowski (1978) completed a<br />
relatively detailed analysis of pre-1978 bathymetric data, including a relatively detailed analysis of<br />
dredging records. More recent bathymetric data for the <strong>Bay</strong> proper have been obtained in<br />
association with maintenance dredging operations. This information will need to be analyzed in<br />
detail in association with ongoing model development efforts. Bathymetric survey data obtained<br />
during the USACE Harbor Deepening Project from 1999 through 2004 will be used to characterize<br />
model bathymetry for recent conditions.<br />
Numerous data collection and hydrodynamic modeling studies have been conducted to gain<br />
an improved understanding of the factors controlling fluid and mass transport in the <strong>Newark</strong> <strong>Bay</strong><br />
region, including the Hudson, Harlem and East <strong>River</strong>s; NY Harbor; Long Island Sound; Raritan<br />
<strong>Bay</strong>; and the NY Bight. These studies have generally shown that hydrodynamic transport in <strong>Newark</strong><br />
<strong>Bay</strong> is influenced by its bathymetry and by a number of other external forces, including the rate of<br />
freshwater inflow, the tides, and meteorological conditions, particularly winds. These many factors<br />
interact in complex ways such that it is advantageous to make use of numerical models to (i)<br />
facilitate interpretation of the data, (ii) integrate the effects of the important controlling processes,<br />
and (iii) evaluate the net effect of these controlling processes on hydrodynamic transport in the<br />
overall system.<br />
Prior to developing a conceptual site model (CSM) for <strong>Newark</strong> <strong>Bay</strong> it is appropriate to first<br />
review the results of previous efforts to investigate the factors that influence hydrodynamic<br />
transport within the <strong>Newark</strong> <strong>Bay</strong> study area. To begin, Oey et al. (1985a, 1985b) developed a 3-D<br />
model of the Hudson Raritan Estuary (including the Upper and Lower New York Harbor, Raritan<br />
<strong>Bay</strong>, the Arthru Kill, Kill Van Kull, and <strong>Newark</strong> <strong>Bay</strong>). The model was validated using data for water<br />
surface elevation, current speed and salinity. Oey et al. (1985c) also used a 2-D depth-integrated<br />
model to characterize tidal currents in the system. Blumberg et al. (1999) also developed a calibrated<br />
hydrodynamic model of the overall system. Simulations with this 3-D model showed that inflows<br />
from the northern tributaries, combined with residual inflow from the Kill van Kull, flowed out of<br />
<strong>Newark</strong> <strong>Bay</strong> via the Arthur Kill. The results also showed that, for the relatively high flow simulation<br />
conditions considered, <strong>Newark</strong> <strong>Bay</strong> and the Arthur Kill were vertically well mixed, while the Kill van<br />
Kull exhibited relatively weak stratification. This result differs from the characteristically stratified<br />
1-8