Modeling the Chesapeake Bay and Tributaries: a synopsis

The last decade has seen the development and application of a spectrum of physical and numerical hydrographic models of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. The success of the James River Hydraulic Model has initiated the construction of an estuarine hydraulic model of the entire Chesapeake System. Numerical analogues for hydrographic behavior and contaminant dispersion in one-, two-, and three dimensional model estuaries exist for various regions of the Bay. From an engineering viewpoint, one dimensional models are sufficiently advanced to be routinely employed in aiding management decisions. Bay investigators are playing leading roles in the development of two- and three-dimensional models of estuarine flows.