Variability of suspended-sediment concentration at tidal to annual time scales in San Francisco Bay, USA

Similar documents
Sediment Transport in San Pablo Bay

C. A. Ruhl a, D. H. Schoellhamer a, R. P. Stumpf b and C. L. Lindsay c CA , U.S.A.

Linking Sediment Transport in the Hudson from the Tidal River to the Estuary

Dynamics of the Ems Estuary

Sediment Transport at Density Fronts in Shallow Water: a Continuation of N

Lu, S., P. Craig, C. Wallen, Z. Liu, A. Stoddard, W. McAnnally and E. Maak. Dynamic Solutions, Knoxville, TN USACOE, Sacramento District

SEDIMENT TRANSPORT IN RIVER MOUTH ESTUARY

Estimates of Suspended-sediment Flux Entering San Francisco Bay from the Sacramento and San Joaquin Delta

Changing Hydrology under a Changing Climate for a Coastal Plain Watershed

WIND EFFECTS ON CHEMICAL SPILL IN ST ANDREW BAY SYSTEM

CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED FOUR

Appendix G.19 Hatch Report Pacific NorthWest LNG Lelu Island LNG Maintenance Dredging at the Materials Offloading Facility

Investigating the contribution of allochthonous subsidies to kelp forests in central California

Hydrodynamics in Shallow Estuaries with Complex Bathymetry and Large Tidal Ranges

HIGH RESOLUTION SEDIMENT DYNAMICS IN SALT-WEDGE ESTUARIES

Aquatic Transfer Facility (ATF) San Pablo Bay (SPB) Proposed Region of ATF. Proposed Seabed Pipeline

Salt intrusion response to changes in tidal amplitude during low river flow in the Modaomen Estuary, China

Applying Gerris to Mixing and Sedimentation in Estuaries

Analysis of Physical Oceanographic Data from Bonne Bay, September 2002 September 2004

UC Berkeley Technical Completion Reports

8.1 Attachment 1: Ambient Weather Conditions at Jervoise Bay, Cockburn Sound

The assessment of sediment bed properties within the York River estuary as a function of spring and neap tidal cycles

Tidal and meteorological forcing of sediment transport in tributary mudflat channels

Appendix G.18 Hatch Report Pacific NorthWest LNG Lelu Island LNG Potential Impacts of the Marine Structures on the Hydrodynamics and Sedimentation

CALCULATION OF THE SPEEDS OF SOME TIDAL HARMONIC CONSTITUENTS

B-1. Attachment B-1. Evaluation of AdH Model Simplifications in Conowingo Reservoir Sediment Transport Modeling

Exercise 6. Solar Panel Orientation EXERCISE OBJECTIVE DISCUSSION OUTLINE. Introduction to the importance of solar panel orientation DISCUSSION

Final Report Visualizing the Output Data of SUNTANS using ArcGIS

THE SETTLING OF MUD FLOCS IN THE DOLLARD ESTUARY, THE NETHERLANDS

A Report on a Statistical Model to Forecast Seasonal Inflows to Cowichan Lake

Transport and fate of sediment and associated contaminants in SF Bay. Mike Connor & John Oram 2007 LTMS Science Workshop

Comparing suspended sediment concentrations derived from a model and collected in a tidally dominated area

Ocean circulation, sedimentation in the San Juans - compilation of mainstream scientific literature by Dave Hyde -

Methane in the Changjiang (Yangtze River) Estuary and its Adjacent Marine Area: Riverine Input, Sediment Release and Atmospheric Fluxes

Seasonal Variability and Estuary-Shelf Interactions in Circulation Dynamics of a River-dominated Estuary

Sea Level Variability in the East Coast of Male, Maldives

Mercury and methylmercury transport in the Cache Creek Settling Basin, California, U.S.A.

Regents Earth Science Unit 7: Water Cycle and Climate

Technical Memo: Initial Modeling of Levee Breaches. Prepared for: Delta Levees Risk Assessment Team

UC Davis San Francisco Estuary and Watershed Science

Bathymetric controls on sediment transport in the Hudson River estuary: Lateral asymmetry and frontal trapping

THE OPEN UNIVERSITY OF SRI LANKA

2013 Tide Newsletter and occasionally by much more. What's more,

Tidal stream atlases Reprinted by PC Maritime with kind permission of Proudman Laboratory

6 THE SIZE AND SETTLING VELOCITY OF FINE-GRAINED SUSPENDED SEDIMENT IN THE DOLLARD ESTUARY. A SYNTHESIS

P1.16 RECENT MONITORING OF SUSPENDED SEDIMENT PATTERNS ALONG LOUISIANA S COASTAL ZONE USING ER-2 BASED MAS DATA AND TERRA BASED MODIS DATA.

Location. Datum. Survey. information. Etrometa. Step Gauge. Description. relative to Herne Bay is -2.72m. The site new level.

Optimal Spectral Decomposition (OSD) for Ocean Data Analysis

Monthly Long Range Weather Commentary Issued: February 15, 2015 Steven A. Root, CCM, President/CEO

Location. Datum. Survey. information. Etrometa. Step Gauge. Description. relative to Herne Bay is -2.72m. The site new level.

PDCE2007. Possibilities of minimizing sedimentation in harbours in a brackish tidal environment

Red Sea - Dead Sea Water Conveyance Study Program Additional Studies

STUDY AREA AND METHODOLOGY

Modeling of peak inflow dates for a snowmelt dominated basin Evan Heisman. CVEN 6833: Advanced Data Analysis Fall 2012 Prof. Balaji Rajagopalan

PENOBSCOT RIVER MERCURY STUDY. Chapter 7. Field Investigations of Hydrodynamics and Particle Transport in Penobscot River and Bay

Salinity Gradients in the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve. Kimberly Bittler GIS and Water Resources Fall 2011

Seasonal variability and estuary-shelf interactions in circulation dynamics of a river- dominated estuary

Optimal Spectral Decomposition (OSD) for GTSPP Data Analysis

MEMORANDUM. Scott Pickard, CELRB-TD-EH Michael Asquith, CELRB-PM-PM. From: Paul R. Schroeder, Ph.D., PE Earl Hayter, Ph.D. Date: 14 March 2016

THE BC SHELF ROMS MODEL

Wetland Sediment Dynamics at Crissy Field Marsh Annual Report

PRESENTATION TITLE. Regional Sediment Management Application of a Coastal Model at the St. Johns River Entrance BUILDING STRONG

PRELIMINARY DRAFT FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES

APPENDIX B PHYSICAL BASELINE STUDY: NORTHEAST BAFFIN BAY 1

REDWOOD VALLEY SUBAREA

Research Topic Updated on Oct. 9, 2014

Processes Controlling Transfer of Fine-Grained Sediment Within and Between Channels and Flats on Intertidal Flats

Sediment Transport and Strata Formation in the Adriatic Sea

SOUTH AFRICAN TIDE TABLES

Seasonal variability in the vertical attenuation coefficient at 490 nm (K490) in waters around Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands.

particular regional weather extremes

Chapter-3 GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION, CLIMATE AND SOIL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE STUDY SITE

TIDAL FLAT EVOLUTION AT THE CENTRAL JIANGSU COAST, CHINA

The Influence of Wind and River Pulses on an Estuarine Turbidity Maximum: Numerical Studies and Field Observations in Chesapeake Bay

P3.20 A CLIMATOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE DIURNAL PATTERNS OF PRECIPITATION OVER THE COMPLEX TERRAIN OF WESTERN COLORADO

8.1 SPATIAL VARIABILITY OF TIDAL CURRENTS IN PUGET SOUND, WASHINGTON. Gregory Dusek, Christina Pico, Christopher Paternostro and Paul Fanelli,

SOUTH AFRICAN TIDE TABLES

Fiscal Year 2017: 3 rd Quarter Status Report. 01 April 30 June, 2017

Nepheloid Layer Measurements and Floc Model for OASIS

WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION. Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering Department

Local Ctimatotogical Data Summary White Hall, Illinois

Project No India Basin Shadow Study San Francisco, California, USA

This file is part of the following reference: Access to this file is available from:

Combining SES and ADCP to measure mud transport processes in tide-controlled estuaries

Sediment Flux and Trapping on the Skagit Tidal Flats

Disentangling Impacts of Climate & Land Use Changes on the Quantity & Quality of River Flows in Southern Ontario

Shelf And Slope Sediment Transport In Strataform

Characterizing the Physical Oceanography of Coastal Waters Off Rhode Island

The Nile River Records Revisited: How good were Joseph's predictions?

Variability of Reference Evapotranspiration Across Nebraska

Sea-ice change around Alaska & Impacts on Human Activities

PROGRESS ACCOMPLISHED THIS PERIOD

Sediment Transport Modelling of Proposed Maintenance Dredging of the Outer and Inner Berths at the Aughinish Marine Terminal, Shannon Estuary

A Modeling Study of the Satilla River Estuary, Georgia. II: Suspended Sediment

Saline stratification and its influence on fine sediment transport in a semi-enclosed tidal lagoon, West Sussex, UK

WIND DATA REPORT. Vinalhaven

Lower Susquehanna River Reservoir System Proposed Modeling Enhancements

Effects of possible land reclamation projects on siltation in the Rotterdam harbour area. A model study.

Modeling the Transport and Fate of Sediments Released from Dredging Projects in the Coastal Waters of British Columbia, Canada

of ecosystem around bay. Coral Reef as one of ecosystem in Bungus Bay has boundary condition to keep functional. One

Transcription:

Continental Shelf Research 22 (22) 857 866 Variability of suspended-sediment concentration at tidal to annual time scales in San Francisco Bay, USA David H. Schoellhamer* U.S. Geological Survey, Placer Hall, 6 J Street, Sacramento, CA 9589, USA Received November 2; accepted 3 December 2 Abstract Singular spectrum analysis for time series with missing data (SSAM) was used to reconstruct components of a 6-yr time series of suspended-sediment concentration (SSC) from San Francisco Bay. Data were collected every 5 min and the time series contained missing values that primarily were due to sensor fouling. SSAM was applied in a sequential manner to calculate reconstructed components with time scales of variability that ranged from tidal to annual. Physical processes that controlled SSC and their contribution to the total variance of SSC were () diurnal, semidiurnal, and other higher frequency tidal constituents (24%), (2) semimonthly tidal cycles (2%), (3) monthly tidal cycles (9%), (4) semiannual tidal cycles (2%), and (5) annual pulses of sediment caused by freshwater inflow, deposition, and subsequent wind-wave resuspension (3%). Of the total variance 89% was explained and subtidal variability (65%) was greater than tidal variability (24%). Processes at subtidal time scales accounted for more variance of SSC than processes at tidal time scales because sediment accumulated in the water column and the supply of easily erodible bed sediment increased during periods of increased subtidal energy. This large range of time scales that each contained significant variability of SSC and associated contaminants can confound design of sampling programs and interpretation of resulting data. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. Keywords: Estuarine sedimentation; River discharge; Singular spectrum analysis; Suspended sediment; Tides; Wind waves. Introduction Various processes cause suspended-sediment concentration (SSC) in an estuary to vary over time scales ranging from seconds to years. Turbulence, semidiurnal tides, diurnal tides, other tidal harmonics, lower frequency tidal cycles, wind waves, watershed inflow, and climatic variability cause SSC to vary with time. Lower frequency variability is more difficult to quantify because continuous SSC time series are difficult to collect *Tel.: +-96-278-326; fax: +-96-278-37. E-mail address: dschoell@usgs.gov (D.H. Schoellhamer). for a long duration (months) and analytical tools typically require complete series with no missing data. Consideration of subtidal variability of SSC is necessary for evaluating some water quality objectives for San Francisco Bay. Mercury is one of many contaminants associated with sediment particles, so SSC is a good estimator of mercury concentration (Schoellhamer, 997). The waterquality objective for mercury in the water column is based on a 4-day average concentration. The 4- day averaging period virtually eliminates the influence of semidiurnal and diurnal tides, leaving subtidal processes to determine whether the 278-4343/2/$ - see front matter Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. PII: S 278-4343(2)42-

858 D.H. Schoellhamer / Continental Shelf Research 22 (22) 857 866 water-quality objective is satisfied. Schoellhamer (997) found that the objective often is violated during spring tides and is satisfied during neap tides because tidal energy, SSC, and mercury concentration covary. In this study, 6 yr of SSC data collected in San Francisco Bay were analyzed to determine the relative importance of various time scales and associated processes. Calibrated optical backscatterance sensors made measurements every 5 min; but some data were invalidated by biological fouling. A modified version of singular spectral analysis that accounts for missing data was used to determine the components of the SSC time series. 2. Methods 2.. SSC data The U.S. Geological Survey has established a network of eight sites in San Francisco Bay at which SSC is monitored (Buchanan and Ruhl, 2). Optical backscatterance sensors are deployed at two depths at each site and measurements are collected automatically every 5 min: Water samples are collected periodically, analyzed for SSC, and the results of these analyses are used to calibrate the sensors. An SSC time series collected at middepth (4 m above the bed) at Point San Pablo (Fig. ) was chosen for analysis because it is one of the longer (almost 6 yr) and more complete (73.5% valid) time series available (Fig. 2). Water-level data also are collected at Point San Pablo every 5 min (Buchanan, 999). Most freshwater inflow enters San Francisco Bay at Chipps Island and is estimated by the Interagency Ecological Program (2). Wind-speed data were available at Carneros in the southern Napa Valley across San Pablo Bay from Point San Pablo (California Irrigation and Management Information System, 999). 2.2. SSAM data SSA is essentially a principal components analysis (PCA) in the time domain that extracts information from short and noisy time series without prior knowledge of the dynamics affecting the time series (Vautard et al., 992; Dettinger et al., 995). The objective of PCA is to take a set of (often) time-dependent variables and find a new set of variables that are uncorrelated and, thus, measure different dimensions of the data with most of the variance contained in fewer variables (Manly, 992). Principal components are calculated by multiplying the eigenvectors of the covariance matrix and the data. The variance of each principal component is equal to its eigenvalue and the sum of the variances of the principal components is equal to the sum of the variances of the original variables. Each principal component describes a known fraction of the variance of the original variables. Principal components are sorted by decreasing variance and, typically, the first several contain most of the variance. SSA is similar to PCA in that M variables are created by lagging the time series of interest from zero to M time steps (Vautard et al., 992). Eigenvectors and eigenvalues of the lagged autocorrelation matrix and principal components are calculated. The time series is decomposed into reconstructed components (RCs) by multiplying the principal components and eigenvectors. With the sorting used, the RCs are ordered by decreasing information about the original time series. Most of the variance is contained in the first several RCs, which typically are nearly periodic with one or two dominant periods, and most or all of the remaining RCs contain noise. A pair of RCs containing similar variance normally represents each period that is smaller than M with significant energy in the original time series. SSA typically is successful at identifying periods in the range :2M M: One or two RCs contain variations in the time series with periodicities greater than M: SSA has been applied to continuous blocks of SSC data from San Francisco Bay that were 4 7 days long; several tidal signals were identified and the fortnightly spring/neap tidal cycle accounted for about one-half of the variance of SSC (Schoellhamer, 996). SSA was modified to permit missing data (SSAM) and the reader should refer to Schoellhamer (2b) for details. This modification eliminates the need to screen, fill, and subdivide time

D.H. Schoellhamer / Continental Shelf Research 22 (22) 857 866 859 Fig.. Study area. series prior to applying SSA and allows analysis of longer, but incomplete, time series. Missing values are ignored when computing the lagged autocorrelation matrix. When computing each value in a principal component series, if the fraction of missing data within window Mof ; then that value is assigned a missing value. In this study, f was set equal to.5. If any principal component value is missing, then the corresponding RC value also will be missing. Schoellhamer (2b) successfully tested SSAM with corrupted synthetic SSC time series. Noise, long data gaps, and randomly assigned missing values were used to corrupt a synthetic time series. Despite these defects, SSAM was able to reconstruct the known synthetic components of the time series. 2.3. Application of SSAM SSAM was applied to the SSC time series from Point San Pablo and to decimated time series, which allowed for a constant window size M ¼ 2: Window size M limits the periods that can be recognized by SSAM, and as M increases, the computational requirements increase. Initially, SSAM was applied to the 5-min data with a 3-h window (pass, Table ). Then the data were decimated with a centred,.25-h running mean (averaging five time steps). If more than one-half

86 D.H. Schoellhamer / Continental Shelf Research 22 (22) 857 866 6 SUSPENDED-SEDIMENT CONCENTRATION, MG/L 4 2 8 6 4 2 992 993 994 995 996 997 998 Fig. 2. SSC at middepth at Point San Pablo. Table SSAM passes to SSC data Pass Data time step SSAM window Optimal range of (hours) size (hours) periods for SSAM (hours).25 3 6 3 2.25 5 3 5 3 6.25 75 5 75 4 3.25 375 75 375 5 56.25 8,75 375 8,75 SSAM, singular spectrum analysis for time series with missing data. (three or more) of the values were valid, the corresponding mean was calculated, otherwise the corresponding mean was assigned a missing value. SSAM was applied to the decimated data (.25-h time step) with a window size of 2 (5 h; pass 2, Table ). The decimation and SSAM windows were increased sequentially by factors of five for passes 3 5 to allow all periods from.25 to 78.25 days to fall within the optimal range of analysis for one application of SSAM (Table ). Each SSAM pass to the data removed high frequency ðmo2þ variability from the signal, reducing the variance of the remaining time series. To calculate the relative contribution of an RC from passes 2 5 to the original time series, the eigenvalue was multiplied by the ratio of the variance of the time series used for that pass to the variance of the original time series. 3. Results Several time scales of variability were identified by the analysis and 89% of the total variability was attributable to five specific physical processes (Fig. 3). The five time scales of variability that were identified are described below: () diurnal, semidiurnal, and other higher frequency tidal constituents (24%), (2) semimonthly tidal cycles (2%), (3) monthly tidal cycles (9%), (4) semiannual tidal cycles (2%), and (5) annual pulses of sediment caused by freshwater inflow, deposition, and subsequent wind-wave resuspension (3%). Pass 5 produced an interannual RC (not shown) that contained 3% of the variance. This RC was not obviously related to climatic variations but was, in part, attributable to two shifts in sensor calibration after severe fouling and a change in the calibration method.

D.H. Schoellhamer / Continental Shelf Research 22 (22) 857 866 86 RECONSTRUCTED COMPONENTS 5 5 5 5 2 (C) (D) (E) 2 992 993 994 995 996 997 998 Fig. 3. RC primarily containing variability due to diurnal, semidiurnal, and other higher frequency tidal constituents (24% of total SSC variance, from pass ), semimonthly tidal cycles (2%, pass 3), (C) monthly tidal cycles (9%, pass 3), (D) semiannual tidal cycles (2%, pass 4), and (E) annual pulses of sediment caused by freshwater inflow, deposition, and subsequent wind-wave resuspension (3%, pass 5). 3.. Diurnal, semidiurnal, and other higher frequency tidal constituents The first pass of SSAM with a window size of 3 h separated the tidal constituents (Fig. 3A) from the subtidal components. Tidal constituents account for 24% of the total variability and contain semidiurnal, diurnal, terdiurnal, and quarter diurnal constituents. An example of 3 days of tidal variability and the corresponding SSC RC is shown in Fig. 4. During this time, three major SSC maxima occurred per day. This probably occurred because of advection of turbid water from San Pablo Bay, and perhaps resuspension, increased SSC during both ebb tides, sediment resuspended during the stronger flood tide, and SSC did not increase during the weaker flood tide. 3.2. Semimonthly tidal cycles When the principal semidiurnal tidal constituents (M2 ands2) are in phase every 4.76 days spring tides result and when the principal diurnal constituents (O and K) are in phase every 3.66 WATER LEVEL, METERS TIDAL RCS.5.5.5.6.4.2.2.4 2 JUNE 998 Fig. 4. Water level at Point San Pablo and reconstructed components primarily containing tidal variability due to diurnal, semidiurnal, and other higher frequency tidal constituents, June 2, 998. days, tropic tides result. These semimonthly perturbations of tidal range alter the tidal energy and SSC (Fig. 5). For example, greater SSC during spring tides could be caused by greater resuspension of bottom sediment by greater tidal currents

862 D.H. Schoellhamer / Continental Shelf Research 22 (22) 857 866 or by increased tidal excursion that is large enough to transport turbid water from shallower water to Point San Pablo during ebb tides (Ruhl et al., 2). Tides predominantly are semidiurnal, so spring tides have a greater effect on SSC than tropic tides. SSAM was not able to differentiate between the effects of spring and tropic tides on SSC. 3.3. Monthly tidal cycles Other tidal constituents combine to vary tidal energy on a monthly time scale, with a resulting response in SSC (Fig. 6). Spring and tropic tides combine to create strong spring tides (solstitial tides) during the summer and winter solstices and combine to create the weakest (equinoctial) tides during the spring and autumn equinoxes. Variability of the monthly RC is greatest during solstices and smallest during equinoxes. 3.4. Semiannual tidal cycles Solstitial and equinoctial tides also create a semiannual SSC signal (Fig. 7). The semiannual variation results in SSC that is greater during solstices than during equinoxes. 3.5. Annual influx, deposition, and resuspension of sediment In San Francisco Bay, an annual cycle of deposition and resuspension begins with large influx of sediment during large freshwater flows in winter (Goodwin and Denton, 99; Schoellhamer, 997; Oltmann et al., 999). The first freshwater pulse in winter delivers a relatively large amount of sediment compared to subsequent pulses. Much of this new sediment deposits in shallow water subembayments. Stronger westerly winds during spring and summer cause wind-wave resuspension of bottom sediment in these shallow waters and increase SSC (Ruhl et al., 2). The ability of wind to increase SSC is greatest early in the spring, when unconsolidated fine sediments easily can be resuspended. As the fine sediments are winnowed from the bed, however, the remaining sediments become progressively less erodible (Conomos and Peterson, 977; Krone, 979; Nichols and Thompson, 985). The annual variability of SSC detected by SSAM reflects this 2.5.5.5.5 WATER LEVEL, METERS FORTNIGHTLY RCS.5.5 OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG SEPT 995 996 Fig. 5. Water level at Point San Pablo and reconstructed components primarily containing variability associated with semimonthly tidal cycles, water year 996.

D.H. Schoellhamer / Continental Shelf Research 22 (22) 857 866 863 WATER LEVEL, METERS 2.5.5.5.5 LUNAR MONTH RCS.8.6.4.2.2.4.6 OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG SEPT 995 996 Fig. 6. Water level at Point San Pablo and reconstructed components primarily containing variability associated monthly tidal cycles, water year 996. annual cycle of sediment influx, deposition, and resuspension (Fig. 8). 4. Discussion SSC variability caused by diurnal and semidiurnal tides is most obvious in an estuary but accounts for only 24% of the SSC variance observed in this study. Recognizable variability at longer (subtidal) time scales accounted for 65% of the variance of SSC and noise accounted for the remaining variance (%). Processes at subtidal time scales accounted for more variance of SSC than processes at tidal time scales because sediment accumulated in the water column and the supply of easily erodible bed sediment increased during periods of increased subtidal energy. Sediment tended to accumulate in the water column during periods of stronger tides or wind because the duration of slack water was on the order of minutes in San Francisco Bay and, thus, limited deposition. For example, suspended sediment accumulates in the water column as a spring tide is approached and slowly deposits as a neap tide is approached (Schoellhamer, 996). During a tidal cycle, the exchange of sediment between the water column and bed via deposition and resuspension, the supply of easily erodible bed sediment, and SSC increase as the subtidal energy increases (Schoellhamer et al., 2). In addition, the supply of erodible sediment that experiences wind-wave resuspension in shallow water varies seasonally (Conomos and Peterson, 977; Krone, 979; Nichols and Thompson, 985). Shorter, continuous SSC time series from other estuaries also indicate that SSC varies with semimonthly and monthly tidal cycles. Semimonthly spring/neap tidal cycle variability of SSC has been observed in many estuaries where continuous SSC time series of 8 days to 3 months in duration have been collected (Uncles et al., 994; Wolanski et al., 995; Kappenberg et al., 996; Lindsay et al., 996; Fettweis et al., 998). To quantify the contributions of various tidal periods to SSC in the Seine estuary, Guezennec et al. (999) applied spectral analysis to 5 months of SSC data. Power spectral density was significant at 4 periods. Energy at semimonthly and semidiurnal periods was equal. Energy at monthly and

864 D.H. Schoellhamer / Continental Shelf Research 22 (22) 857 866 2 WATER LEVEL, METERS 2 SOLSTICE/EQUINOX RCS.5.5 992 993 994 995 996 997 998 Fig. 7. Water level at Point San Pablo and reconstructed components primarily containing variability associated with semiannual tidal cycles. quarter diurnal periods was equal and contained almost one-half of the energy contained in the first two periods. The ratio of semimonthly and monthly variability to tidal cycle variability was about one in the Seine estuary compared with.7 in San Francisco Bay. SSC varied semiannually in San Francisco Bay, but this was not observed by these studies, possibly because the time series were shorter or semiannual variability was unimportant or masked by other processes. The annual cycle of SSC and freshwater flow in San Francisco Bay differs from that observed in Weser and Elbe estuaries where multiyear SSC measurements also have been made. In San Francisco Bay, SSC is greatest in spring when wind waves resuspend sediment delivered during high winter flows (Fig. 8). In the Weser and Elbe estuaries, however, high-freshwater flows destroy the estuarine turbidity maxima (ETM) and reduce SSC (Grabemann et al., 996). In San Francisco Bay during low flows in summer and autumn, SSC decreases as the supply of erodible sediment decreases. In the Weser and Elbe estuaries during low flow, SSC increases as sediment accumulates in the ETM. Point San Pablo is not in an ETM but the same annual cycle that includes decreasing SSC during low flow is observed in San Francisco Bay in Carquinez Strait (Buchanan and Ruhl, 2; Fig 8) where there is an ETM (Jay and Musiak, 994; Schoellhamer, 2a). The large range of time scales present in the SSC time series from San Francisco Bay pose great technical challenges for monitoring and management of the Bay. Semiannual and annual variability are more difficult to quantify because time series of long duration (years) are difficult to collect and analyze. Variability at these larger time scales is significant (25%) in San Francisco Bay and can confound analysis of SSC and related data, such as sediment-associated contaminants, if the sampling design is short in duration or coarse, relative to the larger time scales. Tidal variability also is significant, however, and can mask subtidal variability if a sampling program is short in duration, relative to the subtidal time scales, and coarse, relative to tidal time scales. Sampling programs for SSC and related data should consider variability at all significant time scales to reduce the potential of an interpretive error. This analysis identified five time scales of variability and associated processes, but annual riverine influx of sediment was not identified as a

D.H. Schoellhamer / Continental Shelf Research 22 (22) 857 866 865 INFLOW, M 3 /S MEAN MONTHLY WIND SPEED, M/S 5 5 3 2.5 2.5 ANNUAL RCS (C) 2 992 993 994 995 996 997 998 Fig. 8. Inflow at Chipps Island, mean monthly wind speed at Carneros, and reconstructed components primarily containing annual variability (C). distinct process. Riverine influx of sediment to San Francisco Bay is greatest during the winter rainy season. This new sediment deposits on the bottom of the Bay, where it begins a cycle of resuspension, transport, and deposition. Thus, the suspended mass in the Bay is almost exclusively derived from resuspension by currents and wind waves, not riverine input. The RCs primarily contain resuspension signals, not influx signals. 5. Conclusions Singular spectrum analysis for time series with missing data was used to reconstruct components of a 6-yr time series of suspended sediment concentration from San Francisco Bay. The time scales of variability ranged from tidal to annual. Physical processes that controlled SSC and their contribution to the total variance of SSC were () diurnal, semidiurnal, and other higher frequency tidal constituents (24%), (2) semimonthly tidal cycles (2%), (3) monthly tidal cycles (9%), (4) semiannual tidal cycles (2%), and (5) annual pulses of sediment caused by freshwater inflow, deposition, and subsequent wind-wave resuspension (3%). 89% of the total variance was explained and subtidal variability (65%) was greater than tidal variability (24%). This large range of time scales with significant variability of SSC and associated contaminants can confound design of sampling programs and interpretation of resulting data. Processes at subtidal time scales accounted for more variance of SSC than processes at tidal time scales because sediment accumulated in the water column and the supply of easily erodible bed sediment increased during periods of increased subtidal energy. Acknowledgements I thank Paul Buchanan, Rob Sheipline, Brad Sullivan, and Rick Adorador for collecting the SSC data and Mike Dettinger, Cathy Ruhl, and Carol Sanchez for their assistance. The San Francisco District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, as part of the Regional Monitoring Program for Trace Substances, supported SSC data collection at Point San Pablo.

866 D.H. Schoellhamer / Continental Shelf Research 22 (22) 857 866 References Buchanan, P.A., 999. Specific conductance, water temperature, and water level data, San Francisco Bay, California, water year 998. Interagency Ecological Program Newsletter 2 (4), 46 5. Buchanan, P.A., Ruhl, C.A., 2. Summary of suspendedsolids concentration data, San Francisco Bay, California, water year 998. U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report -88, p. 4. California Irrigation and Management Information System, 999. URL: http://wwwdla.water.ca.gov/cgi-bin/cimis/ cimis/hq/main.pl. Conomos, T.J., Peterson, D.H., 977. Suspended-particle Transport and Circulation in San Francisco Bay, an Overview. Academic Press, New York. Estuarine Processes 2, 82 97. Dettinger, M.D., Ghil, M., Strong, C.M., Weibel, W., Yiou, P., 995. Software expedites singular-spectrum analysis of noisy time series. EOS 76(2), 2, 4 and 2. Fettweis, M., Sas, M., Monbaliu, J., 998. Seasonal, neapspring and tidal variation of cohesive sediment concentration in the Scheldt Estuary, Belgium. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 47, 2 36. Goodwin, P., Denton, R.A., 99. Seasonal influences on the sediment transport characteristics of the Sacramento River. Proceedings of the Institute of Civil Engineers, Part 2, 9, 63 72. Grabemann, I., Kappenberg, J., Krause, G., 996. Comparison of the dynamics of the turbidity maxima in two coastal plain estuaries. Archiv fuer Hydrobiogie Special Issues and Advance Limonology 47, 95 25. Guezennec, L., Lafite, R., Dupont, J.-P., Meyer, R., Boust, D., 999. Hydrodynamics of suspended particulate matter in the tidal freshwater zone of a macrotidal estuary (the Seine Estuary, France). Estuaries 22 (3A), 77 727. Interagency Ecological Program, 2. Dayflow program documentation and data. URL: http://www.iep.ca.gov/ dayflow/index.html. Jay, D.A., Musiak, J.D., 994. Particle trapping in estuarine tidal flows. Journal of Geophysical Research 99 (C), 2445 246. Kappenberg, J., Schymura, G., Kuhn, H., Fanger, H.U., 996. Spring-neap variations of suspended sediment concentration and transport in the turbidity maximum of the Elbe estuary. Archiv fuer Hydrobiogie Special Issues and Advance Limonology 47, 323 332. Krone, R.B., 979. Sedimentation in the San Francisco Bay system. In: Conomos, T.J. (Ed.), San Francisco Bay, the Urbanized Estuary. Pacific Division of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, San Francisco, pp. 347 385. Lindsay, P., Balls, P.W., West, J.R., 996. Influence of tidal range and river discharge on suspended particulate matter fluxes in the Forth estuary (Scotland). Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 42, 63 82. Manly, B.F.J., 992. Multivariate Statistical Methods, a Primer. Chapman & Hall, New York. Nichols, F.H., Thompson, J.K., 985. Time scales of change in the San Francisco Bay benthos. Hydrobiologia 92, 2 38. Oltmann, R.N., Schoellhamer, D.H., Dinehart, R.L., 999. Sediment inflow to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and the San Francisco Bay. Interagency Ecological Program Newsletter 2 (), 3 33. Ruhl, C.A., Schoellhamer, D.H., Stumpf, R.P., Lindsay, C.L., 2. Use of remote sensing images of San Francisco Bay to analyze suspended-sediment concentrations. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 53, 8 82. Schoellhamer, D.H., 996. Factors affecting suspended-solids concentrations in South San Francisco Bay, California. Journal of Geophysical Research (C5), 287 295. Schoellhamer, D.H., 997. Time series of SSC, salinity, temperature, and total mercury concentration in San Francisco Bay during water year 996. 996 Annual Report of the Regional Monitoring Program for Trace Substances, pp. 65 77. Schoellhamer, D.H., 2a. Influence of salinity, bottom topography, and tides on locations of estuarine turbidity maxima in northern San Francisco Bay. In: McAnally, W.H., Mehta, A.J. (Eds.), Coastal and Estuarine Fine Sediment Transport Processes. Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, pp. 343 357. URL: http://ca.water.usgs.gov/ abstract/sfbay/elsevier2.pdf. Schoellhamer, D.H., 2b. Singular spectrum analysis for time series with missing data. Geophysical Research Letters, 28(6), 387 39. URL: http://ca.water.usgs.gov/ja/grl/ ssam.pdf. Schoellhamer, D.H., Burau, J.R., Brennan, M.L., Monismith, S.G., 2. Transfer of cohesive sediment between the bed and water column at a site in San Francisco Bay, USA. Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Nearshore and Estuarine Cohesive Sediment Transport Processes, Delft, The Netherlands, September 4 8, 2, pp. 8 9. Uncles, R.J., Barton, M.L., Stephens, J.A., 994. Seasonal variability of fine-sediment concentrations in the turbidity maximum region of the Tamar Estuary. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 38, 9 39. Vautard, R., Yiou, P., Ghil, M., 992. Singular-spectrum analysis: a toolkit for short, noisy, chaotic signals. Physica D 58, 95 26. Wolanski, E., King, B., Galloway, D., 995. Dynamics of the turbidity maximum in the Fly River estuary, Papua New Guinea. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 4, 32 337.