Fluxes of suspended particulate matter through a tidal inlet of the East Frisian Wadden Sea (southern North Sea).

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to quantify the suspended matter balance in the Otzumer Balje tidal basin in the rear of Spiekeroog Island (southern North Sea). Because of the ecological and environmental importance of organic matter, its concentration in the water column and its content in the fine-grained suspended sediment fraction was determined and its relationship with intertidal muds investigated. Since the transport of suspended material is directly related to the hydrodynamics, and because a general circulation model for the tidal basin was lacking, a two-dimensional numerical tidal flow model without wind forcing was developed. To measure suspended particulate matter concentration and transport in the tidal water column under constantly changing flow conditions, a rapid method based on the intensity of acoustic backscatter of a 1.2 MHz ADCP was developed.