Modeling freshwater from a subset of rivers throughout the Salish Sea using dye tracers
department or school: Science, Faculty of
department or school: Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Department of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Donaldson, Cassidy
issued: 2025-04-23T17:00:16Z
issued: 2025
related degree: Master of Science - MSc
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: The Salish Sea is a biologically productive coastal sea that is home to a human population of over 8.9 million residents shared between the USA and Canada, and supports high but threatened ecosystem diversity and species richness. It is an estuarine system with freshwater inputs from numerous rivers that influence ocean dynamics, biogeochemistry, and ecosystem processes. While previous studies have examined circulation and salinity patterns of freshwater, primarily focusing on the Fraser River in the Strait of Georgia or Puget Rivers in Puget Sound, the relative influence of different riverine sources on basins other than the one they directly feed into is unclear. This study first evaluates the performance of the SalishSeaCast model at capturing salinity patterns in small river plume regions for 11 key rivers using two different model versions, finding that the newer version with daily estimates of river flow improves the model's performance. Then, passive model dye tracers are used to examine the distribution of freshwater from river inputs in the Salish Sea from those 11 rivers using the new model version, with emphasis on examining inter-basin transport between the Strait of Georgia and Puget Sound. The study utilizes a physics-only version of SalishSeaCast, a 3-D ocean model built on the NEMO framework with half-kilometer horizontal grid resolution. Model results indicate that while the Fraser River has the largest influence on riverine freshwater compared to any other individual river, smaller rivers are non-negligible in relative magnitude and their influences are present throughout the Salish Sea. The findings suggest that smaller rivers play a role in salinity distributions and freshwater content throughout the Salish Sea, highlighting the need to consider their contributions in model development and analyses across Salish Sea basins. By advancing the understanding of freshwater dynamics in the Salish Sea, this study provides insights for future research on…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/90733
note: Modeling Freshwater from a Subset ofRivers Throughout the Salish Sea Using DyeTracersbyCassidy DonaldsonB.Sc. Physics and Oceanography, The University of British Columbia, 2022A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OFTHE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OFMASTER OF SCIENCEinThe Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies(Oceanography)THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA(Vancouver)April 2025© Cassidy Donaldson 2025The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Post-doctoral Studies for acceptance, the thesis entitled:Modeling Freshwater from a Subset of Rivers Throughout the Salish Sea Using Dye Tracerssubmitted by Cassidy Donaldson in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OFSCIENCE in Oceanography.Examining Committee:Susan Allen, Professor, Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, The University of British ColumbiaSupervisorDebby Ianson, Professor, Earth and Ocean Sciences, The University of VictoriaSupervisory Committee MemberGregory Lawrence, Professor, Civil Engineering, The University of British ColumbiaSupervisory Committee MemberStephanie Waterman, Professor, Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, The University of British ColumbiaAdditional ExamineriiAbstractThe Salish Sea is a biologically productive coastal sea that is home to a human population of over 8.9 millionresidents shared between the USA and Canada, and supports high but threatened ecosystem diversity andspecies richness. It is an estuarine system with freshwater inputs from numerous rivers that influence oceandynamics, biogeochemistry, and ecosystem processes. While previous studies have examined circulationand salinity patterns of freshwater, primarily focusing on the Fraser River in the Strait of Georgia or PugetRivers in Puget Sound, the relative influence of different riverine sources on basins other than the onethey directly feed into is unclear. This study first evaluates the performance of the SalishSeaCast model a…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2025-05
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0448514
language: eng
degree discipline: Oceanography
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Allen, Susan Elizabeth
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/90733