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Turbulent mixing in a stratified estuarine tidal channel: Hikapu Reach, Pelorus Sound, New Zealand

ABSTRACT Channel constrictions within an estuary can influence overall estuary-sea exchange of salt or suspended/dissolved material. The exchange is modulated by turbulent mixing through its effect on density stratification. Here we quantify turbulent mixing in Hikapu Reach, an estuarine channel in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand. The focus is on a period of relatively low freshwater input but where density stratification still persists throughout the tidal cycle, although the strength of stratification and its vertical structure vary substantially. The density stratification increases through the ebb tide, and decreases through the flood tide. During the spring tides observed here, ebb tidal flow speeds reached 0.7 m s−1 and the buoyancy frequency squared was in the range 10−5 to 10−3 s−2. Turbulence parameters were estimated using both shear microstructure and velocimeter-derived inertial dissipation which compared favourably. The rate of dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy reached 1 × 10−6 m2 s−3 late in the ebb tide, and estimates of the gradient Richardson number (the ratio of stability to shear) fell as low as 0.1 (i.e. unstable) although the results show that bottom-boundary driven turbulence can dominate for periods. The implication, based on scaling, is that the mixing within the channel does not homogenise the water column within a tidal cycle. Scaling, developed to characterise the tidal advection relative to the channel length, shows how riverine-driven buoyancy fluxes can pass through the tidal channel section and the stratification can remain partially intact.