Residence time in lagoons on the coast of Virginia, 2002 and 2009

To better understand the factors controlling residence time and exchange in coastal bays, a three-dimensional finite-volume coastal ocean model (FVCOM) was set up, validated with field observations, and used to calculate residence times in a system of 14 shallow coastal bays on the Atlantic coast of the USA (Virginia Coast Reserve). Simulations were run using measured tide and with & without wind forcing for November 2002-January 2003 and January-March 2009. Residence times are determined by tracking a large number of neutrally buoyant particles in the FVCOM simulations. Particles were released each high and low tide for the first 30 days of the simulations (30 high-tide and 30 low-tide releases). Each value of residence time is the average elapsed time from when a particle was released to when it exited through an inlet to the ocean. Each line of the table corresponds to a site where particles were released.