Horizontal Lagrangian transport in a tidal-driven estuary—Transport barriers attached to prominent coastal boundaries

Horizontal Lagrangian surface transport is studied in the Ria de Vigo, an estuary in NW Spain with tidal and wind-driven dynamics. Surface drifters and the surface flow from a high-resolution 3-D hydrodynamic model are compared to each other. In particular, our analysis is based on a classical comparison of real and artificial trajectories and on Lagrangian Coherent Structures (LCS) defined as ridges in spatial fields of the Finite-Time Lyapunov Exponent (FTLE). The trajectories of the drifters are in good agreement with the prediction of the model in two out of four cases. Further, FTLE ridges computed from the model velocity fields are found to mark transport barriers for the drifters. The results indicate that the model is able to represent the general circulation in the estuary. Main patterns in the Lagrangian surface transport in the model are shown for two typical meteorological situations, north wind and south wind. They can be interpreted as an imprint of a 3-dimensional circulation pattern in the Ria de Vigo and reveal in detail the separation of the time-dependent in- and outflow at the surface of the estuary.

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► We compute 2-D Lagrangian Coherent Structures (LCS) in the estuary Ria de Vigo, Spain, from a 3-D coastal ocean model.
► LCS give a global view on surface transport and water exchange with the shelf.
► Experiments with surface drifters validate the role of LCS as transport barriers.
► The results confirm the usefulness of the LCS analysis on time-dependent velocity fields in coastal oceanography.