File:Baroclinicity, forcing mechanism and prediction of chemical propagation of San Diego Bay and their effects on naval applications (IA baroclinicityfor109451943).pdf

Both instantaneous current and chemical propagation predictions are of utmost importance for all littoral naval operations, including diving, amphibious and mine warfare ones. Undoubtedly, the operating limits and environmental thresholds are crucial and highly reliant on the accuracy and precision of the predictions. San Diego Bay is important because it hosts a large part of the U.S. fleet and has special ecological significance. A hydrodynamic model, "Water Quality Management and Analysis Package" (WQMAP), is used to predict the instantaneous currents with various forcing functions (tides, winds, and lateral boundary fluxes) and a hydrochemical model, "Chemical Management and Analysis Package", (CHEMMAP) to predict the water contamination and to simulate chemical attacks/accidents in San Diego Bay, which raise considerations regarding public health, economy, ecology or even national security. The study shows the barotropic nature of San Diego Bay, the slight significance of wind and the vulnerability of a semi-enclosed tidal basin in a possible chemical attack or accident. Simultaneously, it evaluates and uses two models used by NAVOCEANO.