Estuary Stratification Numeration Classifier

Screen river buoyancy versus tidal stirring with an estuarine Richardson-number convention and caller regimes; depth cancels in this convention, not a universal mixing classifier.

Description

An estuarine Richardson convention compares river buoyancy input with tidal stirring.

An estuarine Richardson convention compares river buoyancy input with tidal stirring. Its chosen balance eliminates depth.

Screen river buoyancy versus tidal stirring with an estuarine Richardson-number convention and caller regimes; depth cancels in this convention, not a universal mixing classifier.

When to use Estuary Stratification Numeration Classifier

Use this tool to screen river buoyancy versus tidal stirring with an estuarine Richardson-number convention and caller regimes; depth cancels in this convention, not a universal mixing classifier.

Gather the water, wave, current or profile observations and any supplied calibration constants. Confirm units and the stated coordinate and pressure conventions.

How to use Estuary Stratification Numeration Classifier and understand its results

Gather the water, wave, current or profile observations and any supplied calibration constants. Confirm units and the stated coordinate and pressure conventions.
Enter riverDischargeM3PerSecond, estuaryWidthM, tidalVelocityAmplitudeMPerSecond, gravityMPerSecondSquared, relativeOceanRiverDensityDifference, callerStratificationBounds using the field table and calculation rules, then run the tool.
Read estuarineRichardsonNumber, callerMixingRegimeCode. The explanation below defines the units, signs, ordering and any flags or placeholder values.
If the tool reports an input issue, correct the values and run it again. Apply the stated assumptions when interpreting a successfully returned result.

Input field	Meaning	Value type; see rules below	Requirement
riverDischargeM3PerSecond	River discharge m3 per second	number	Required
estuaryWidthM	Estuary width m	number	Required
tidalVelocityAmplitudeMPerSecond	Tidal velocity amplitude m per second	number	Required
gravityMPerSecondSquared	Gravity m per second squared	number	Required
relativeOceanRiverDensityDifference	Relative ocean river density difference	number	Required
callerStratificationBounds	Caller stratification bounds	list of number	Required

Use positive width, tidal velocity and gravity, nonnegative river flow and density contrast, and two increasing positive thresholds. Codes 0,1,2 enter each higher band at equality.^[1]

Richardson = gravity × relative density contrast × river discharge/(width × tidal velocity³)

Units, indexing, boundary conditions and exceptional cases are defined in the calculation rules above.

Output field	Meaning	Value type
estuarineRichardsonNumber	Estuarine richardson number	number
callerMixingRegimeCode	Caller mixing regime code	number

json

{
  "input": {
    "riverDischargeM3PerSecond": 10,
    "estuaryWidthM": 10,
    "tidalVelocityAmplitudeMPerSecond": 1,
    "gravityMPerSecondSquared": 10,
    "relativeOceanRiverDensityDifference": 0.01,
    "callerStratificationBounds": [
      0.1,
      1
    ]
  },
  "output": {
    "estuarineRichardsonNumber": 0.1,
    "callerMixingRegimeCode": 1
  }
}

Limitations and assumptions

Caller regimes are not a universal estuary-mixing classification.

Numbers and computed results must be finite; overflow produces an error. Numeric lists are limited to 100,000 entries; the rules above may require smaller limits. Missing required fields, extra fields, wrong value types and violations of the calculation rules are input errors.

Alternative or Complementary methods

Use Knudsen Relationship Flow Ratio: Solve steady two-layer Knudsen volume/salt balances including nonzero river salinity, excluding evaporation/storage; salinities must share the same conservative concentration basis. For a complementary task, use Salt Wedge Intrusion Length: Fit an exponential salt-intrusion profile and locate a caller salinity crossing, explicitly flagging extrapolation; not a salt-wedge hydraulics solution or freshwater-use guarantee.

References

Estuary Stratification Numeration Classifier — tool.io

Similar or alternative tools

Knudsen Relationship Flow Ratio
Solve steady two-layer Knudsen volume/salt balances including nonzero river salinity, excluding evaporation/storage; salinities must share the same conservative concentration basis.
Salt Wedge Intrusion Length
Fit an exponential salt-intrusion profile and locate a caller salinity crossing, explicitly flagging extrapolation; not a salt-wedge hydraulics solution or freshwater-use guarantee.